THat's what they were saying at tonight's council meeting, what is possible.   It's ONLY January, it's ONLY 10 days into the budget year !!!!!!!!

One of the speakers, referencing the HUGE pay raise for the fireman (who then pad their pension with OT), will not only get the HUGE 12% raise over three years, but they will also get their like step increases every year.  

And of course, while they do their work regardig fires, they really don't care about the people in the city, people who probably should be upgrading their electrical, doing other maintenance, etc, to ward off fires, but the people can't afford to fix their homes, they are paying the fire fighters over $100,000 a year plus whatever to pad their pension.

And these are struggling families whose total household (both incomes) income is mostly $30,000!   How the heck can people fix up their homes when they have to pay these employees to get huge raises.

Most working people deserve and need a raise, but this economy prevents it, and many are losing their jobs (and along with it their health insurance and their pensions IF their employers provided something like that).

And the city is facing yet another year of an even bigger deficit, and the greed of these employees who won't live anywhere remotely near the city, they don't want to pay the high taxes, but they force the low income people to pay their fat salaries or lose their homes.

And then, in yet another year of fiscal crisis and HUGE deficit in the city, do you think this mayor and council, (and Savage and Gillen) would remotly think to help the struggling people and take away those tax exemptions?   NOT A CHANCE!!!!!!!!    For them and their wealthy millionaire cronies, the low income people have to pay and this leadership team does NOT care if people lose their homes in the process, they do NOT care if people are cited for code violations and can't afford to fix up their homes because their income has to go pay the property taxes of the millionaires, well they'll get cited and penalized and penalties added on to their taxes and then they will lose their homes anyway.

And the people are stuck.  Most want to leave the city and put their homes up for sale.  But who will buy?   NO ONE is buying a house in the city.   Is DV buying a house in the city? (hell NO, he knows the taxes are far too high, but he refuses to post that comment on these boards because Savage will probably kick him out of "the party.")    Does the leadership care?  NO.

Home values have dropped so much in the city that you can often buy a house for not much more than buying an SUV and you've got 30 years to pay for it instead of 3  (which would make a mortgage payment only a small fraction compared to rent---except that the taxes probably cause the payment to be double what people pay for rent).  And interest rates for mortgages have been record lows.  And the president was on a wild spending spree giving people money left and right.  Did ANY of that result in people buying houses in the city??????   Not in the least.    Since virtualy no one is willing to buy a house in the city, guess that proves that the leadership of the city is so wrong, so out of touch with reality.  

Schenectady's upcoming miracle - an 8 to 13% tax increase!

That's just NUTS

Quoted from 147

That's just NUTS

It's    It's     It's      Schenectady's miracle!


Wait, isn't "miracle" a word to define good things?

just burn out the city and start over.....

Quoted from mikechristine1

One of the speakers, referencing the HUGE pay raise for the fireman (who then pad their pension with OT), will not only get the HUGE 12% raise over three years, but they will also get their like step increases every year.  

Schenectady's upcoming miracle - an 8 to 13% tax increase!

Was this the closed door deal the Mayor made with the firefighters?! This was the best they could do?! Again, another shady, backroom deal which the public is not privy to and will cost the taxpayers hundreds of thousands in tax increases.

When do the firings begin.

Quoted from senders

just burn out the city and start over.....

"Someone should have lit a match long ago"-Tevya

     It's going to be more than 13% as stated by Jason Platte. That's just salary increases. This years budget is a total fraud depending on back taxes {that no one will pay} to balance. In the meantime hundreds of additional properties are going into foreclosure. By mid-year these DEM fiscal incompetents will be borrowing to pay expenses. Just like they were doing when the worst Mayor in Schenectady history took over.

      In 8 years we have come full circle back to the mess we started with. There is no REP left to blame. The DEMS cannot balance a budget nor handle the City's finances. Another fee, another tax, another pay increase, another commissioner. It's so bad long time DEM leaders are now at the rail saying they will leave. GOOD-you've done enough damage.

         Doesn't this constitute an illegal land taking?  You raise taxes to such an opressive level that people start walking away from their homes.  The City takes the property for back taxes.  Can't we get the State Comptroller to provide a consulting group to evaluate the way the City does business?  This is absolute crazy talk given the state of the economy!

What an absolute disgrace! It is time to run schenectady as a business and not an empire...aka sh!thole!

Quoted from rachel72

When do the firings begin?

   Don't hold your breath. At last night meeting there was a huge number of new hires! So bad that even Joe Allen demanded answers. Another act done under cover of darkness. "Mayor's list of appointments"-no one named, no residence given and no one knows from nuthin. Pass out the flashlights!

     This is the way DEMS have always done it? Working together works! Start doing things differently instead of talking about doing things differently.  And the worst Mayor in City history has the nerve to say with a straight face Schenectady is world renowned? Right! Worst administered schools, worst City government, highest taxes, worst local politicians, most self serving public servants.

His father must be rolling in his grave

Working together works! To give connected millionaires tax give aways while forcing out every middle/working class family. You can't give your property away. No price is low enough to cover for the outrageous City/School taxes. It's so bad that even a DEM stooge like Sidewalk Bob Sanders is at the rail, complaining about his tax bill {not others}.Why waste time? The tin eared DEMS take orders only from above and don't give a hot damn about taxpayers. It's all about feathering their nests.

     Wait to you see your new improved SCOPE school tax bill. You ain't seen nothing yet. They have done nothing to control costs and have been on a hiring and spending spree. And pathetic SCOPE wants two more seats? A minority is not enough. All dissent must be totally eliminated. Then we can walk in lock step to the foreclosure attorney.

The democrap miracle is the best thing to ever happen to America.   -DV

So what happens when no one can pay the taxes and everyone moves out and abandons their homes?  The gangs take them and live happily ever after?  That seems to be whats happening.  I was driving by a boarded up building a couple of weeks ago and saw some people going in and out of it.  This is where they live and no one does anything.  The city will be left with gangs and welfare housing and everyone else listening to crickets.  

The people coming in and out of vacant houses could very easily be dealing and buying drugs as well.