We received our property tax bill today. It is $239.14 higher this year. Here is my breakdown:
NYS & Fed. Mandates - + $256.17 Town Tax - + $1.42 Highway Tax - + $4.28 Election Tax - + $6.85 Water Dist. - <-$15.93> Fire Dist. - <-$13.65>
My mom got hers yesterday ... >$100 more. I don't have the breakdown, but she's NOT happy. Surprise / Macejka - I dont know who's responsible, but it aint funny anymore guys.
The state and federal mandate charge is actulaly the county tax, which Sue Savage had changed on the bills so people would think there is no county tax. I am not making that up.
"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."
The state and federal mandate charge is actulaly the county tax, which Sue Savage had changed on the bills so people would think there is no county tax. I am not making that up.
At the public hearing re: the 2009 County Budget, I opined, during the privilege of the floor, that the the "NYS & Fed Mandates" tax that appears on the property tax bills is deceptive labeling because not all of the county spending is mandated by state and federal government. As I recall, one of the local newspapers reported that about 60-65% of the county budget results from government mandates. My statement was apparently not well received by our County Legislators as the tax continues to be misidentified. Interestingly, our esteemed print media doesn't report on this type of manipulation of the public by our elected "leaders".
No one should be surprised that their county taxes increased from 2008. The advertised increase in the tax rate is 9%. Let us each do the math and report the actual percentage increase. As I have been stating for some time, last years increase in the county budget resulted in folks' county tax rates increasing by up to ~20% (Princetown). Niskayuna (Savage's home town) escaped with the lowest year over year tax increase in 2008 of ~6%.
It is time that the taxpaying residents of Schenectady County stand up to the county government, led by the tax and spend Democratic majority, and demand spending cuts and lower taxes. I am dismayed to predict that it will likely not happen.
The sheeple are too concerned with their own lives so that they just don't care about what's going on with the budget and taxes, They feel that there's nothing they can do because our elected officials just do what they want and don't give a damn what the people want IMHO.
Posting below a Letter to the Editor that I submitted to the Daily Gazette and Spotlight Newspapers this morning.
Quoted Text
Property Tax Bills Distort Government Spending Reality
In reviewing my 2009 tax bill, I was incensed by the rampant annual increases in taxation on county property owners brought about by the irresponsible tax and spend policies of the Schenectady County Legislature. Further, the misrepresentation by county government representatives that the excessive spending results overwhelmingly from mandated state and federal programs is an insult to the intelligence of tax-paying property owners. A Daily Gazette story ("Democrats to send state message 3 on county board call idea a 'distraction'") written by Michael Lamendola and published on October 14, 2008, reported that mandates, which were described as, "basically, health and human service programs delivered locally and funded, in part, by county property taxes" comprise 77% of the 2009 county budget. Additional statistics provided in the story, however, of $155M in mandated program spending represents approximately 55% of the $279.9M spending plan, not the cited 77%. As further deception, the county property tax is represented on 2009 property tax bills as "NYS & Fed Mandates". As such, it suggests that none of the revenues collected through taxation are used to fund non-mandated programs and services. These include services for senior citizens, veteran and youth programs, the county library system, the county nursing home, the Albany Street business center, a full-scale health department, funding for arts and entertainment, and political patronage positions. Such representation suggests to uninformed citizens that there are no areas in which responsible government leaders could implement meaningful cuts in spending. Playing an accounting "shell game" with collected revenues to advance a claim that 100% of property taxes fund mandated programs is political folly. Should residents thus presume that the sales tax revenues and county fees fund non-mandated expenditures? The presentation of the "% Levy Change from Prior Year" misleads property owners to believe that the year over year increases in their property tax bill are lower than actual. In 2007, the Schenectady County Legislature passed a 2008 County budget that was advertised to carry a 4.5% property tax hike. The year-over-year increase in property tax rates per one thousand dollars in property assessment, however, ranged from 6.07% in the Town of Niskayuna to nearly 19.97% in the Town of Princetown. The 2009 Schenectady County budget of $279.9M is reported to carry a 8.9% increase in the tax levy.
I propose that the annual property tax bills be revised to delineate the taxes charged to support NYS and federally mandated spending from the amount billed to support non-mandated county expenditures and to include a % change in county property tax rate from the prior year. If the county Democrats want to help the taxpayers "connect the dots" between state program requirements and local costs, as quoted from County Legislator Hughes in the aforementioned article, such delineation in accounting is required.
Only with the recommended changes and full disclosure will the public be ensured transparency and accountability of the cost of government.
It is my understanding that Schenectady county awards more in public assistance & social program benefits than that mandated by the state and federal government. Does anyone know how to confirm or disprove?
Someone should write a Letter to the Editor suggesting that, if indeed, the mandated programs do account for 77% of the annual county budget, that the county government needs to reduce the benefit levels and make the criteria for receiving public assistance more difficult to achieve. Further, effort should be exerted to identify fraudulent claims and to prosecute those involved.
It is my understanding that Schenectady county awards more in public assistance & social program benefits than that mandated by the state and federal government. Does anyone know how to confirm or disprove?
Someone should write a Letter to the Editor suggesting that, if indeed, the mandated programs do account for 77% of the annual county budget, that the county government needs to reduce the benefit levels and make the criteria for receiving public assistance more stringent. Further, effort should be exerted to identify fraudulent claims and to prosecute those involved.
this is mostly the problem of Steve T and his new assessor to. Also Lazzari and Surhada should get the blame to.
OH NO!!! HE'S BACK!!!
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
well the facts is that Steve spends more and more on studies then legal, and then he hid the money from the assesment that Macejka was trying to save the taxpayers, and it was proved in the papers. Also Lazzari addmited to the taking of pork and Surhad doesnt work with the powers that be to help the town he works to go against things and be a loud mouth and then it ends up hurting the town over here
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