Quoted from TakingItBack

McCarthy is in way over his head.  Very skilled in his communication though.  The sheeple are
still on board.  

They are? Who? McCheese sounded like Alfred E Newman with his what me worry crap. The guy is an
unqualified DEM hack who shouldn't be allowed to be dog catcher. He sounded like a complete politard on
radio. Only idiots voted for him and those still supporting him are brain dead. He will never survive a DEM
primary. Even the DEM spinmeisters here have dropped him like a hot potato.

LOL @ Alfred, I thought the same thing.. some serious ineptness being shown on several fronts.

What me worry,or not to worry (unless you are a struggling homeowner trying to keep up with taxes, fees, etc.)   But, not to worry.   The police, fireman, city employees,council members,teachers, will be paid.    Pensions,health ins. benefits will be paid.   Trash will be picked up, teachers will report for work.   The City utility bills will be paid etc.   City employee residency law not enforced,city vehicles still being driven home.   Any tax/fee increases or gov't savings are just used to keep the status quo going.    So no,not to worry, but only for the oxen pulling the overweighted cart.

PLEase dont worry about the garage- in 749 years it will be worth it.

Folks who work close to cuomo's office have said that cuomo is aware of schenectady and other municipalities that have created a dismal financial outlook....they say that cuomo will NOT bail them out.... that they will be on their own!!!

Quoted from bumblethru

Folks who work close to cuomo's office have said that cuomo is aware of schenectady and other municipalities that have created a dismal financial outlook....they say that cuomo will NOT bail them out.... that they will be on their own!!!

If this is true, and many cities fail throughout the state as a result of his abstaining from help, I wonder how this will look on his resume when he takes a shot at a presidental run in the next election.

Quoted Text

SCHENECTADY
Mayor to trim city staff
7 cuts planned; budget proposal on tap Sunday
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

Mayor Gary McCarthy said he is cutting seven jobs from the city payroll, even though the City Council voted Sept. 10 to stop those layoffs. At least four of the seven workers will be able to “bump down” to vacant positions at lesser pay. Others also have bumping rights but might push another employee out of the workforce. McCarthy said he believes bumping could be done in such a way as to keep every current employee in a job because there are a number of vacant positions at the bottom of the ladder.
    Among the jobs being eliminated is Michael Burke’s position as parks director. Others are in the Bureau of Service, where McCarthy said he has four supervisors overseeing 12 to 16 workers.
    He doesn’t need that many supervisors, he said.
    “It’s an ongoing review of city operations: what’s necessary, what isn’t necessary,” he said. “Some of these [positions] are less critical than others.”
    The positions will be cut on Monday, he said.
    The cuts also will be included in the proposed 2013 budget, which McCarthy will unveil in a pubic presentation Sunday at 4 p.m. at City Hall.
    In the past the budget has been presented to the council at a Monday meeting. But this time, McCarthy said, he wants to give a full presentation to the public.
    The city’s fiscal state has been of increasing concern, leading to criticism from the public and fear among city workers who worry about massive layoffs.
    McCarthy said he will give a full “narrative” of the budget during the Sunday presentation. He will also present the budget to the council at 5:30 p.m. Monday, during the council’s regular committee meeting.
    As for the layoffs, the mayor said he can take action without the council’s permission.
    He said he only asked for a council vote because he was hoping to show Moody’s that he had the support of the council to cut costs.
    “And I thought I had it,” McCarthy said.
    But the council voted down the layoffs with a tie vote of 3-3.
    On Thursday, Moody’s downgraded the city’s credit rating, which will increase the city’s interest rate for new loans. That’s a problem because within a year the city must get a bond for the $20 million Bureau of Service complex. Before the downgrade, city offi cials estimated the city would pay $800,000 a year in interest on that loan.
    McCarthy said he has the power to cut the positions without the council’s approval. ...........................>>>>........................>>>>.........................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00101&AppName=1

So, if the position are already vacant then there is no cash flow savings to be felt.  

Quoted Text

More people might pay taxes if they were lower

    Re the Sept. 26 article on the city of Schenectady being downgraded by Moody’s Investors Service: I read with amusement Mayor Gary McCarthy’s response to the credit downgrading of our city.
    He stated that “if everybody paid their taxes, we wouldn’t have an issue” — basically admitting the city hadn’t collected $12 million in taxes.
    This made me think of how promoters would try to fi ll a half-fi lled stadium. They would lower ticket prices.
    Is it possible the city could collect more money if the bill was lowered?

    PETER BUTRYN
    Schenectady

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r03200&AppName=1

Quoted Text

In the past the budget has been presented to the council at a Monday meeting. But this time, McCarthy said, he wants to give a full presentation to the public

.


Can you hear it now?  

McCarthy standing in in the taxpayer paid tour bus.    "Thank you for coming today, I assure you I have things under control here.   Before I present to you the details of my budget, I want you to know that the state is mandating us to do things, but they won't pay us, and then there are property owners who won't pay us, and then the unions won't give in, so none of it is anything we in the city can do anything about.  As you buy houses, and more houses are occupied, more houses will be paying taxes and the taxes will go down.   Now remember to, you are getting a real bargain when you buy a house here in the city."

Blame game


Of course, McC won't divulge the additional buildings downtown that will be fixed up that will not pay taxes.   People you have to understand HOW the taxes work.

If there is a building today that is worth $1 million, you homeowners in the city are currently covering the cost IF the owner is not paying taxes on it.   When the city spends $8 million of YOUR money to fix it up and then the building is worth $15 million on the assessment roll, and then McC and his hacks exempt the property from taxes, the tax dollars that would otherwise be derived from that $15 million will be paid by YOU, the homeonwers, so your taxes will go up even ore as the city fixes up downtown and exempts them from taxes.   And ANY properties downtown that allegedly pay these so called PILOTs, open your eyes people, those PILOTs aren't bringing in an annual sum anywhere remotely close to what the full tax bill would be.

And where McC get's that it's a bargain to buy a house in the city, is it is own idea?  Is it what his council puppets say?   Is it Chris Gardner's words?   Maybe Savage's lame brain?   Or is it that foreigner Ismat who has backwards math?

In Schenectady, sure, you can buy a house for $100,000 and it's assessed for $200,000 by the city.  When you appear before the assessment board with hundreds of sale prices of houses that are substantially lower than the assessed values, the board tells you that the documentation of sale prices (which by STATE LAW is the full market value) is insufficient data so your assessment stays up there at $200,000 and you pay $8,000 in taxes.  Your house continues to drop in value but your taxes keep going up.   But that's what McC says is affordable.   At least in Saratoga when you buy a $300,000 house and you pay $6,000 in taxes, you are getting a return on your investment because your house value goes up while in Schenectady the values go down

Quoted from TakingItBack

So, if the position are already vacant then there is no cash flow savings to be felt.  

DUH.

The people in Schenectady are too dumb to figure that out.

And must be McC fired Cuthbert before Cuthbert could explain it in laymens terms to the city residents

Quoted from Admin

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r03200&AppName=1

YA THINK?



If these socialist dems would make fat Morris pay his taxes and all the other businesses downtown pay their full taxes, then the tax BILLS for the homeowners would go down SUBSTANTIALLY and people would pay their taxes and there wouldn't be so many tax delinquent homes.

DUH!


And it's quite obvious that the claim that downtown would be the saving grace of the city, and spending hundreds of millions of taxpayers money has not even resulted in an increase in sales tax revenue becuase, as McC stated himself, the sale tax revenue is being generated in the suburbs.   Now, wait, wasn't the city supposed to see a return on the so called "investment" in downtown?

The city will be a ghost town BEFORE they finish fixing up buildings downtown!

Quoted from Admin

More people might pay taxes if they were lower

    Re the Sept. 26 article on the city of Schenectady being downgraded by Moody’s Investors Service: I read with amusement Mayor Gary McCarthy’s response to the credit downgrading of our city.
    He stated that “if everybody paid their taxes, we wouldn’t have an issue” — basically admitting the city hadn’t collected $12 million in taxes.
    This made me think of how promoters would try to fi ll a half-fi lled stadium. They would lower ticket prices.
    Is it possible the city could collect more money if the bill was lowered?

    PETER BUTRYN
    Schenectady

Hire priceright.com to collect tax offers on the newly vacated rooms/homes.

Obviously this Peter Butryn doesn't understand " the importance of high taxes"

Quoted Text

After credit rating cut, McCarthy is the one who looks foolish

    Re Sept. 27 article, “Moody’s lowers city’s rating”: For the past two weeks Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy has been describing the recent city-county sales tax agreement as “fair,” while characterizing attempts to gain a better deal for the city as being based upon “overly simplistic” or “flawed” analysis that only a “foolish” person would believe. As the city’s former budget analyst who provided the analysis, I’d like to respond.
    The city relies on three sources for the bulk of its revenues: state aid, sales tax and property tax. Together these comprise about 70 percent of the city operating budget. State aid amounts are set in state law, leaving only two options for signifi - cant revenue which are under city control: sales tax and property tax. If one of these lags, the other must be increased to make up the shortfall.
    The facts bear this out. In 1998, Schenectady County kept $25 million in sales tax revenue. In 2012, the county will keep $60 million. During this time frame, the county property tax rate has been cut 24 percent. By comparison, in 1998 the city kept $11 million in sales tax revenue and will receive the same $11 million in 2012. During this time frame the city property tax rate has been increased 37 percent.
    This is not rocket science. If the key non-property tax revenue is increased, then property tax rates can be decreased; if the key non-property tax revenue is stagnant, then property tax rates will be increased. Schenectadians have lived this for the past 15 years. It is doubtful that many city residents would label the result as “fair.”
    The only “flawed” or “overly simplistic” piece of the analysis is that it doesn’t consider the mayor’s fealty to the county. On this, I plead guilty to being naive and perhaps even “foolish.”
    But on the financial facts, with Moody’s downgrading the city’s credit rating by two notches, assigning us a negative outlook and stating directly in its report that “the [city sales] tax has experienced minimal growth since the agreement was fi rst enacted,” it is apparent that someone else is wearing the “foolish” crown.

    JASON CUTHBERT
    Schenectady

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00703&AppName=1