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Draft audit: Schenectady faces $13 million budget gap by 2016
By Lauren Stanforth
Published 6:52 p.m., Monday, November 12, 2012
  


SCHENECTADY — The city will experience a $12.9 million budget gap by 2016 and have almost no fund balance to plug the hole unless there are serious cost reductions or other revenue is found, according to a draft of a state comptroller's audit obtained by the Times Union.

The 19-page audit, which the state finished in late September, sought to diagnose the city's financial ills as its uncollected property taxes rise while employment benefit costs skyrocket.

Auditors were complimentary of city officials, saying their annual debt over the last few years has come in less than expected and that the city is trying to project budget figures years in advance.

But the projections provide a stark reality: If not for the state property tax cap, the city would have to raise the tax levy 44 percent by the end of 2016 to balance the budget.

The state Comptroller's office could not provide specific answers on how to fix Schenectady's finances, only saying the city must create a plan to address the increasing deficit, and that it must identify other monies to use besides the city's fund balance. City officials used $5.3 million to balance this year's budget. But by 2016, there will only be $400,000 left, according to the audit.

The state praised the city for its plan to foreclose on tax-delinquent properties and move them into a land bank, thus relieving it of paying taxes back to the city school district.

But the audit also explains why it's hard for Schenectady to solve its financial woes: Its unemployment and poverty rates are higher than the average for all New York cities and median incomes are lower than all the cities' average..........................>>>>.....................>>>>....................Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/loca.....13.php#ixzz2C3mnL5x6

Where's that Metroplex magic we were repeatedly told about? Unemployment, poverty levels higher? We have been screwed right into the ground by this working together works crap.

Schenectady is dead.

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But the audit also explains why it's hard for Schenectady to solve its financial woes: Its unemployment and poverty rates are higher than the average for all New York cities and median incomes are lower than all the cities' average

Thank you METROPLEX/GILLEN and the liberal wackos for RAISING taxes, unemployment, poverty and crime in schenectady while LOWERING the bar with an urban substandard culture!!!

Schenectady isn't becoming..........IT IS officially an URBAN SLUM!!!

for those interested YNN will have the story on at 10pm about the dem. caucus, Riggi excluded and comments made after.

miracle on the mohawk

Another caucus tommorrow before the council meeting, time for people to be vocal.

Working together works! This is happening in every NE City? Like Scranton, PA and Camden, NJ also run by DEM morons. Nobody cares as exhibited by 60% voting for DEM stooge Marion.
They refuse to cut anything. Serious cuts should have happened 2 years ago while McCheese was still lying about nonexistent job creation. The audit cites the HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT RATE.
Further proof that Death Ray and McCheese are lying about job creation. Or drive by the Food Bank.

    Bring in the State Control Board! There's no sign of intelligent life at City Hall.

As all the "nayboobs" know, since we have intelligence on these things, the reference to the 44% tax LEVY increase means a SUBSTANTIALLY LARGER increase in the tax BILLS

Anyone want to guess what the percentage increase in the tax BILLS will be because of this?

Then add on the constant increasing of the "fees" (which are NOT tax deductible) and what have you got?  

Perhaps the tax BILLS may end up being twice what they are now!!!!!!!

DV, what have YOU got to say about this?   Spending money on downtown was supposed to help the city, would you care to explain HOW it is accomplishing that?   OF COURSE, it's much much too embarrassing for DV to address the FACT that his beloved dems are RUINING THE CITY!!!!!!!



STOP THE TAX EXEMPTIONS ON DOWNTOWN NOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's what would happen in any other County. Metrograft would be dissolved, {No other County in America would raise sales taxes to give funds to millionaire developers}
Death Ray and his useless idiots all fired, DSIC dissolved and every City tax exemption revoked. All Metrograft sales tax money returned to the City as happens in every town.

     But NO! The County keeps running interference. Never has one commentator mentioned Metrograft and how it is tanking tax revenues. Everything Rachel, Graham, MC1, Dirt2 and I have said
is spot on. The chickens are coming home to roost big time. This report should have been released BEFORE Election Day. Maybe we would have one less DEM
Stooge? Maybe not.

well, that emmy night at proctors and all those building blocks...

I see them NOT paying their 'fair share'.....

Watch tonights council meeting.

Quoted from rpforpres

Watch tonights council meeting.

I may watch it, but most of the intelligent people in the city have left.   Notice how few people attend these days!   Or those that would otherwise care, have given up going to the meetings because THE DEMOCRATS DO NOT REPRESENT THE PEOPLE.

It DOES NOT MATTER what the residents of the city want, the DUMOCRAT party does whatever the hell it wants, it does NOT represent the people.  

Even the board cheerleader for the dems has stopped cheering for them.   He even has stopped talking about how great the city is.

He doesn't even post messages anymore that says "the renaissance continues" or something similar

So people largely have given up, no more taking the time to go to city hall because city hall does not listen to them and doesn't represent them.   City hall says to the taxpayers "screw you"

they have the zombie army of welfarites to come out and pull the D lever so they dont lose sleep

We know a ton of folks that will NOT vote nor get involved in city politics again................they say it is a waste of their time cause they do what they wanna do anyway.

People feel like victims to a corrupt government....they feel beat down.....basically the liberal wackos have succeeded in created an urban SLUM!!
That is what they do and nobody does it better than the liberal wackos!