Your response is incorrect due to several factors:
#1) The main driver of increased property taxes is the INCREASE in the cost of UNFUNDED STATE MANDATES        and the INCREASE in the cost of employee pensions and benefits.   At the same time there was a nation-wide decrease in home values which also served to raise tax assessments. so there are too many pigs at the trough.
#2) A PILOT is a payment in lieu of taxes, made to compensate a local government for some or all of the t       ax revenue that it loses because of the nature of the ownership or use of a particular piece of real prop       erty.  Thus the PILOT is not taking money it is actually making a payment TO the government to offset      some special tax incentive.  So I give you a tax break, I give you money for nothing and you give me some of the money for nothing back to me cool idea.
#3)  The accusation was that the "bureaucrats are stealing" and your feeble attempt to respond shows ABS        OLUTELY NO PROOF that any bureaucrat or group of bureaucrats stole or took money. no they recieved it volutarily
#4) You fail to show that you comprehend that when economic development projects are approved with tax exemptions that they do produce economic benefits to the community and the state .. such as increased sales tax revenue, increased income tax revenue (from jobs created), etc. increased revenue for who ? the same deal I take it from you give you back some then you give me back some that I took from you

Quoted from ditcher

Your response is incorrect due to several factors:
#1) The main driver of increased property taxes is the INCREASE in the cost of UNFUNDED STATE MANDATES        and the INCREASE in the cost of employee pensions and benefits.   At the same time there was a nation-wide decrease in home values which also served to raise tax assessments. so there are too many pigs at the trough.
#2) A PILOT is a payment in lieu of taxes, made to compensate a local government for some or all of the t       ax revenue that it loses because of the nature of the ownership or use of a particular piece of real prop       erty.  Thus the PILOT is not taking money it is actually making a payment TO the government to offset      some special tax incentive.  So I give you a tax break, I give you money for nothing and you give me some of the money for nothing back to me cool idea.
#3)  The accusation was that the "bureaucrats are stealing" and your feeble attempt to respond shows ABS        OLUTELY NO PROOF that any bureaucrat or group of bureaucrats stole or took money. no they recieved it volutarily
#4) You fail to show that you comprehend that when economic development projects are approved with tax exemptions that they do produce economic benefits to the community and the state .. such as increased sales tax revenue, increased income tax revenue (from jobs created), etc. increased revenue for who ? the same deal I take it from you give you back some then you give me back some that I took from you

A Nayboob made the reckless and malicious statement that  "the bureaucrats are stealing" and provided absolutely no evidence to support his/her ignorant statement.
Another Nayboob made an equally ignorant statement suggesting that PILOTS and tax assessments are evidence of "the bureaucrats are stealing".
And you just don't make any sense at all.

The FACT is that tax assessments and pilots are NOT stealing -- and certainly are not evidence to support an accusation that "the bureaucrats are stealing".   If the nayboobs want to actually participate in a discussion of local government taxes, spending and economic development and actually be given any credibility -- the nayboobs have to cease making asinine and uninformed accusations and attacks .. and at least make some effort to understand the basic facts surrounding those issues.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

The FACT is that tax assessments and pilots are NOT stealing -- and certainly are not evidence to support an accusation that "the bureaucrats are stealing".  

Redistribution of wealth using the force of the law is legal theft.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

A Nayboob made the reckless and malicious statement that  "the bureaucrats are stealing" and provided absolutely no evidence to support his/her ignorant statement.
Another Nayboob made an equally ignorant statement suggesting that PILOTS and tax assessments are evidence of "the bureaucrats are stealing".
And you just don't make any sense at all.

The FACT is that tax assessments and pilots are NOT stealing -- and certainly are not evidence to support an accusation that "the bureaucrats are stealing".   If the nayboobs want to actually participate in a discussion of local government taxes, spending and economic development and actually be given any credibility -- the nayboobs have to cease making asinine and uninformed accusations and attacks .. and at least make some effort to understand the basic facts surrounding those issues.

facts hahahahahahh

Thank you DEM morons! Smashing the Cuomo tax crap at the County/City and Town levels. A new record of
incompetence and fiscal mismanagement. And it is theft. By the DEM morons giving never ending tax exemptions to connected millionaires poor homeowners must pay more.

They didn't break through the tax cap- the democraps BLASTED THROUGH WITH BIG BERTHA!

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

The FACT is that tax assessments and pilots are NOT stealing -- and certainly are not evidence to support an accusation that "the bureaucrats are stealing".  .

Oh, so when the government exempts a property. e.g., the Hampton Hotel downtown (owned by a multi-million dollar family), from paying property and school taxes, then, DV, you are saying that when the government increases taxes on the financially struggling homeowners, that's not stealing, huh?

What do YOU call it?  

What do YOU call it when your dem buddies tell the homeowner that they have to pay the taxes on their own homes AND pay the taxes of the downtown property owned by the Hilton family as well?  

And DV, what do YOU call it when your dem buddies tell the homeowners, "if you don't pay the increased taxes resulting form you having to pay the taxes of the Hiltons, then we will take your house from you.

Of course, since I AM a property taxpayer and DV is not and therefore he knows nothing about property taxes, he will not respond and answer what it is called when the city dems make the homeowners pay the property and school taxes of all the downtown properties!!!!!!!




  

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

A Nayboob made the reckless and malicious statement that  "the bureaucrats are stealing" and provided absolutely no evidence to support his/her ignorant statement.
Another Nayboob made an equally ignorant statement suggesting that PILOTS and tax assessments are evidence of "the bureaucrats are stealing".
And you just don't make any sense at all.

The FACT is that tax assessments and pilots are NOT stealing -- and certainly are not evidence to support an accusation that "the bureaucrats are stealing".   If the nayboobs want to actually participate in a discussion of local government taxes, spending and economic development and actually be given any credibility -- the nayboobs have to cease making asinine and uninformed accusations and attacks .. and at least make some effort to understand the basic facts surrounding those issues.

JUST BECAUSE SOMETHING IS LEGAL(easy to do when all the elected are lawyers) DOESN'T MAKE IT RIGHT
JUST BECAUSE SOMETHING IS ILLEGAL(as above elected do pre-emptively of course) DOESN'T MAKE IT WRONG

THEY ALWAYS LEGALIZE STEALING/RESHUFFLING ETC ETC.....
THEY ALWAYS MAKE ILLEGAL THAT WHICH ACTION MAY PROVE THAT ABOVE, IS ACTUALLY WRONG

OBFUSCATION WITH LEGAL LINGO.....

The Nayboobs can rant all they want but they can't refute the FACT that the biggest driver of the county's spending increase are UNFUNDED STATE MANDATES and rising costs associated with employees benefits and pensions.  And the problem with unfunded mandates begins and will only end at the hands of the Governor and State Legislature.   The fact is that Assembly Democrats and Senate Republicans and governors of both parties simply refuse to deal with the problem of unfunded state mandates.   State Government is just as dysfunctional as it ever was and IMHO just as incompetent and self-serving as ever before.  

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

The Nayboobs can rant all they want but they can't refute the FACT that the biggest driver of the county's spending increase are UNFUNDED STATE MANDATES and rising costs associated with employees benefits and pensions.  And the problem with unfunded mandates begins and will only end at the hands of the Governor and State Legislature.   The fact is that Assembly Democrats and Senate Republicans and governors of both parties simply refuse to deal with the problem of unfunded state mandates.   State Government is just as dysfunctional as it ever was and IMHO just as incompetent and self-serving as ever before.  

And once again, a county run nursing home with the lavish benefits is NOT a state mandate!

Metroplex is NOT a state mandate

100% property tax exemptions are NOT state mandates

So STOP blaming other levels of government for the WILD, UNCONTROLLED spending of your buddy dems at the local level!!!!!!!!!!!

He must really have my posts on ignore! He cant read it AT ALL!

Yes GB

And now, DV REFUSES to respond and explain how taxes are going up BECAUSE of the nursing home, the lavish benefits, paying for Proctors, the drastic reduction of the tax base, Metroplex, the homeowners paying the taxes of downtown, etc.

DV REFUSES to address those things which are THEE ITEMS that are causing the taxes to be ever increasing.

Quoted Text

Democrats: ‘Tax cap?! We don’t need no
stinking tax cap!’

    Schenectady County Democratic leaders are fighting their own Democratic governor.
    Cuomo passed a 2 percent cap on all local governments in his effort to make New York more competitive and keep local property taxes from soaring. But the wise men in Schenectady County know better.
    On Oct. 1, county legislators voted to override the governor’s cap, and the county manager Kathleen Rooney issued a 2013 budget that would raise taxes by 7.49 percent. It did not take even one minute for the higher tax budget to emerge, as she knew ahead of time the Democrats would get their way.
    Note that Gov. Cuomo recently reported that the tax cap held the average tax hike by school districts and town and county governments to a remarkably low 2 percent — less than half the annual average for the past 10 years of 5.3 percent. The vast majority of local governments chose to live within the cap rather than exceed it by super-majority vote.
    For school districts, the compliance rate was an impressive 95 percent. And among village, town and county governments — which can bust the cap more easily, by a 60 percent vote of their governing board — 81 percent stayed in line.
    The New York Daily News reported, “All of this means that the tax cap has forced fiscal discipline on local politicians. They’re paring down payrolls, cutting back on overtime, spending down slush funds. They even got their public employee unions to agree to contract concessions to avoid layoffs — all necessary steps in these tough economic times.” Of course, this was not true in our county. These spenders still need more money.
    At the public hearing on Sept. 28, the vast majority of folks speaking were strongly opposed to going over the cap. But of course, as usual, our elected politicians do what they want.
    I hope that Cuomo raps these Schenectady Democrats on their collective wrists. Further, the voters should vote the highspending politicians out of office.


    DON CAZER
    Niskayuna

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00901&AppName=1

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

The Nayboobs can rant all they want but they can't refute the FACT that the biggest driver of the county's spending increase are UNFUNDED STATE MANDATES ...  

Quoted from mikechristine1

And once again, a county run nursing home with the lavish benefits is NOT a state mandate!

Metroplex is NOT a state mandate

100% property tax exemptions are NOT state mandates

So STOP blaming other levels of government for the WILD, UNCONTROLLED spending of your buddy dems at the local level!!!!!!!!!!!

Proctors is not a state mandate
Paying Morris' salary is not a state mandate
Size of house numbers on a house is not a state mandate
Cars for high paid city employees to take pleasure drives is not a state mandate
Nursing home is not a state mandate
Spending hundreds of millions of tax dollars on downtown is not a state mandate


How about this one quote from DV on April 28. 3:24 pm.  

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

…

and since most of you folks just cry about high taxes but aren't willing to actually do anything sensible -- like grow the tax base through economic development

And here we have a comment made on July 16, 2011 at 10:04 pm    

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

I think folks would much rather … expand the tax base than keep some old   …

So, he thinks that taxpayer funded economic development will alleviate the tax burden, then why are the taxes going up?   Now it's the state

Quoted Text

SCHENECTADY COUNTY
Businesses oppose tax levy increase
Chamber members press Legislature to trim spending
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter

Evan Christou says increasing menu prices at his Tops American Grill wouldn’t guarantee him any additional revenue.
    In truth, a sizable percentage of customers would see the new prices and likely decide to take their business elsewhere, he explained. And if enough customers stopped coming through the door, he’d eventually see his bottom line dip.
    “You’re going to get pushback, you’re going to get stoppage and you’re going to get a slowdown of patronage,” he said. “Increasing taxes does the same thing.”
    Christou, who employs 45 people at his Rotterdam restaurant, used the illustration to show why he believes the proposed 7.49 percent increase in the property tax levy included in the county Legislature’s 2013 budget will ultimately reduce county revenues. The additional taxes could have a cooling effect on the pace of business for both owners and customers.
    Some businesses might close and others could have less capital to reinvest, Christou said. The increase could also prompt county residents to cut costs, meaning fewer dollars spent eating out or making casual purchases.
    “That tax increase has such a snowball effect on the spending habits of the community at large,” he said. “In the end, it could actually decrease the amount of revenue.”
    Christou is among businesses in the Chamber of Schenectady County urging legislators to reconsider such a tax load increase. On Thursday, the chamber called on its members to either voice opposition to the increase at the county’s budget hearing Monday evening or speak out to local legislators about their fi nancial struggles.
    Chamber President Charles Steiner said the call to action is aimed at getting the county Legislature to understand their plight, especially after they voted to override the state tax cap earlier this month. He said members of the chamber are committed to working with the county, but they simply can’t afford a tax levy increase that exceeds the 2.95 percent cap imposed by state guidelines.
    “The whole point is that we have to jar ourselves to look at the total cost of government,” he said. “We’re passing these costs on to taxpayers and we need to get hold of them.”
    Steiner said the proposed increase will discourage investment at a time when many businesses are struggling. Not to mention, he said, the increase proposed by the county also falls on top of other municipal tax hikes, meaning some members could face a double-digit jump in tax rates.
    “The members have come to us and said this is a concern and we believe the business voice needs to be heard in this discussion,” he said.
2013 SPENDING
    The county’s proposed 2013 budget projects $296 million in spending, with about $69.24 million to be raised through property taxes — the total tax levy. County Manager Kathleen Rooney said she already cut $5.5 million from the budget, but the lion’s share of the increase was caused by mandated costs. These include the District Attorney’s Office, the Sheriff’s Department, Medicaid and child welfare programs. Discretionary items are a much smaller percentage of the budget and include services such as the library system.
    County legislators have been working through the 271-page spending plan since it was proposed last week and could make changes. Philip Fields, chairman of the Legislature’s Ways and Means Committee, said the budget is a living document and no firm decisions have been made on what the final tax levy will be. The actual tax rates for each municipality in the county have not been set, as they vary depending on local assessment fi gures.
    “We’re still reviewing and formulating decisions as to the direction of changes in the budget,” he said.
    Fields acknowledged the Legislature has some tough decisions ahead. But he said cutting the budget beyond what was proposed may also mean sacrifi cing services. “Any cuts could only be taking place in the areas we’re not mandated to serve,” he said.
    Business owners like Christou aren’t convinced. He said county needs to find areas to cut, or risk having businesses scale back or even close.
    “This could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back,” he said.
    One of those businesses could be the Katbird Shop in Schenectady. Owner Kathy Fitzmaurice said the property taxes on her Liberty Street building that were manageable when she bought the business seven years ago have since increased to a point where she’s having to make tough decisions.
    Today, Fitzmaurice said she pays about $10,000 per year in taxes. She said an increase in that figure will only make it harder for her to run the small gift shop.
    “It’s not going to help things,” she said. “It has me looking at other options.”

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00102&AppName=1