I just got around to reading the boards today, am shocked!!
I do not know who the people are that post here, I just know you by your forum names but we need to be calling Paul Vandenberg, write the newspapers (even the gaz) going to the next committee meeting and Council meetings and keep going till we get this bullcrap stopped. We can't speak at the committee meeting but we sure can show them that folks are not pleased with this crap and show Riggi the support.
Even if there is a law on the books it sucks and I for one am calling my state reps to complain, let them know this law needs to be removed!!!!!!
How about it folks? It's OUR money and he is OUR rep and he or any council member should NEVER be denied representing me!
Had Leesa Perazzo return my call.. I just made them a half hour ago.
Her response is that as a collective the Dems met to get an idea of where they all stood on the issues as a group of Dems. Hey, isn't that what we don't want! We want independent thinkers, people who stand up for the people without regard to what party they belong to!
I am against the dems meeting as as group to figure out what it is they as a group want.... it is the reason why this country is falling apart. No one represents the people, they represent the party. I have never been a party person and don't belong to any party.
I missed the public meeting yesterday I guess it was on TV, blasted, but she indicated some of what the Dems positions are on the budget Vince agreed should be done and was discussed yesterday I am so mad I missed the show. Vince represents us and is not a lemming. When he has a position on something that he feels is in the taxpayers best interest he does his best to represent that whether is is a Dem position or not.
She also indicated she wrote an opinion response to the article the gaz wrote and they refused to print it. She feels the Moore article was biased, slanted and opinion based. The Gaz reason given to her is they feel the reporter is just doing their job, reporting the facts. They feel the Moore article is facts based on what she heard and not one coming from an opinion perspective.
I told her I recognize the move of the Dems meeting as a collective but want to hear from all the other council people about this issue.
This we stick together stuff is what is killing us locally and as a country.
I also suggested that she tell Porterfield to get a Magic Jack and allow us the people to contact her. I can understand if she does not want to field calls on her home phone but the resolution is a few bucks. Get the MJ, put that number up on the cc web page!.
We still need to attend as a group to the meetings, write the papers and call Talk 1300 and show our displeasure at this party game.
Had Leesa Perazzo return my call.. I just made them a half hour ago.
Her response is that as a collective the Dems met to get an idea of where they all stood on the issues as a group of Dems.
Right on, as elected officials, were they elected to represent the residents of the city? Or the Dem party? Or the rich political cronies downtown?
If I were you, I would virtually repeat that post in a letter to both the Gaz and the TU. And clarify the two main messages -- that the dem council seem to think they represent the party instead of the people and second that as a council rep running for election next week, that Marion Porterfield does not want to take phone calls from her constituents!
Post it also all over FB and/or Twitter
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
Riggi needs all the folks who voted for him and support him to start attending the meetings. And yes.....shout loud and clear to 1300 talk radio (call or email PV), FB, TWITTER and letters to the editor in ALL that are available!!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Council takes ax to tax hike Former analyst's suggestions guide Schenectady reductions; increase would dip to 1.7% By Lauren Stanforth Published 11:05 p.m., Tuesday, October 30, 2012
SCHENECTADY — Fired city budget analyst Jason Cuthbert appeared to quietly get his revenge Tuesday night as the City Council passed along some of Cuthbert's suggestions to cut hundreds of thousands of dollars out of Mayor Gary McCarthy's 2013 budget.
The City Council made budget reductions that would now result in a 1.7 percent tax increase, a change from the 4.2 percent tax increase McCarthy had proposed in his spending plan.
But what was most striking was the revelation that McCarthy's budget had overestimated lines for things like vehicle leases, dental expenses and workers' compensation medical expenses to the tune of $1.5 million – information Cuthbert had quietly passed along to City Council member and lone non-Democrat Vincent Riggi.
On Tuesday night, Riggi provided detailed spreadsheets he said Cuthbert gave him. Cuthbert's suggested cuts were almost exactly the same as the money the council voted to take out of McCarthy's spending plan.
Finance committee chairman City Councilman Carl Erikson said Cuthbert did provide some suggestions for cuts, but that ideas came from unnamed others as well.
In September, Cuthbert thrust himself into the public spotlight when he openly criticized McCarthy for not negotiating for more money in the sales tax agreement with McCarthy's Democratic allies in the county. McCarthy said the city's sales tax deal was great in that it guaranteed increases for the first time in 15 years. He fired Cuthbert a few days later.
Cuthbert, who said he has yet to get another job, attended Tuesday night's meeting. He said it's common for governments to pad budget lines and then cheer about the millions they save in reserves at year's end. "But this was too extreme this year," he said outside the meeting.
As one example, Cuthbert took what actual lease expenses will be for four fire trucks and found that the estimates were overstated by $252,000.
The council made other cuts to the budget, like eliminating some raises that were scheduled for the city clerk and other administrators. In a surprise move, the council also agreed to cut a second assistant police chief. It was always assumed the first eliminated position would be an assistant chief moving up to take retiring Chief Mark Chaires' place. But under the new scenario, Assistant Chief Brian Kilcullen will get demoted to lieutenant and take a $40,000 pay cut. Kilcullen has applied for the chief's job, in addition to assistant chiefs Mark Seber and Patrick Leguire.
"I don't think it's directed at me," Kilcullen said about the cut.
In the end, the council took $868,645 out of the budget to offset the tax increase, but kept $1.38 million in a contingency fund in case the overestimates pan out. Council members voted 5-1 in favor of the new spending plan. Riggi voted against it, saying he wanted more cut out of the budget to bring the tax rate increase down to zero.
Meanwhile, McCarthy sat silent throughout the two-hour meeting. Afterward, McCarthy said briefly that he will review what the council did to see if it has any negative financial impacts.
City Attorney John Polster said he has to investigate how McCarthy would go about vetoing the budget, but he doesn't believe the mayor will do so.
The $20 hike in trash collection fees stayed in the budget.
When is HAZMAT ALAM AND THE MAYOR GOING TO BE ARRESTED FOR PRESENTING SUCH A FRAUDULENT DOCUMENT?
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
I see it a little differently. It is not a bad thing they publically had this caucus. Nothing stops them from having a dinner at one of their private residences and discussing the same things. Either way while I love Riggi, he did not come to the plate with specific areas where the additional cuts should be made.......just that they need to cut more. In the end, the budget means nothing. Look at the adopted budgets from 2008 to 2012. We aren't even close. The "budget" only sets the tax rate. In the end spending, waste and corruptions continue which drive up actuals which change the budgets years later. The process is broken and there is no accountability.
Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid - John Wayne
TIP TO NEW VISITORS TO THIS FORUM - To improve your blogging pleasure it is recommended to ignore (Through editing your prefere) the posts of the following bloggers - DemocraticVoiceofReason, Scotsgod08 and Smoking Bananas. They continually go off topic, do not provide facts and make irrational remarks. If you do not believe me, this can be proven by their reputation scores or by a sampling of their posts.
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