King Phillip is talking at the council meeting.

Gee, the people that pay the taxes are limited to three minutes.  

But the high paid, taxpayer paid king, dem crony can speak a lot longer.   Let's hear what he says.


Go to it Mary McClane!   She stood up and requested that he state where he lives!

Ah, the council must have went to do this new idea of having people speak at every meeting at the beginning (let's see how long this will last), but sounds like Queen Leesa must have colluded with the king to do this, he talks like they have so much expenses, he's obviously looking for more handouts from the taxpayers.

If you didn't hear it you need to listen to it, he talks about Proctors (or Proctors AND downtown) having an effect on the city, and he goes on, "....affect on housing...."

He has spoken the truth.  The affect on housing - MASSIVE reduction in home values, MASSIVE reduction in sale prices, MASSIVE increase in people trying to leave the city, MASSIVE increase in vacant and abandoned houses, MASSIVE increase in blight.

by the way King Phillip STILL has not paid his school taxes!  

Quoted from mikechristine1

by the way King Phillip STILL has not paid his school taxes!  

Looks like he doesn't have to either.

Better start sending this info to Greg Floyd and talk radio.

Someone who puts outright lies on a website in order to make himself look good, is someone who cannot be trusted to speak the truth either.
If Proctor's is having a positive financial effect on the city, that shouldn't be too hard to demonstrate, should it? Isn't money easily measured, and aren't dollars and cents a unit of measure? In most cases, isn't it required BY LAW to track dollars and cents? Then why are we still hearing how Proctor's?/downtown is great because unicorns and rainbows?

Wonder if he is also behind on his city/county taxes and "fees" too?


Hey, remember how he is mortgaged way over what his Stockade house is worth.  And as few people want to buy in the city, he was doing "for rent" thing.

How about this question.  Has the city issued a rental certificate of occupancy?    OK, listen, I'm sure it would pass inspection, however, remember when the house was listed for sale, it showed two kitchens but the property records only showed one.  There was something also about number of fireplaces it had vs on record.  If the property record card is incorrect, then it needs to be corrected and assessment increased accordingly, right?  And if an inspection in a certificate of occupancy application shows incorrect records, then would that negate issuing the CO?  And in terms of the second kitchen, as the property record inventory does not show it, then doesn't King Phillip have to hire someone to remove the extra kitchen?

Of course, King Phillip taxpayer paid political crony of the dems, is exempt from ordinances in the city as well, right?

That last assessment was all over the place, a very poor job, so it is pretty hard to tell whether somebody got favors or it was just incompetence. All our ordinances are randomly enforced, if they are enforced at all.
BTW, everybody needs to register their STAR with the State, if they haven't done so. It is easy to do, and if you forget and miss the deadline, no STAR for you.

I see Proctors in this way, if it did not exist downtown would be in real trouble. At least the theater is an anchor and no doubt gets hundreds of people per day. That has to mean something.

Quoted from Jaystreet

That has to mean something.

Yes, it means a handsome paycheck for Phillip Morris.  

Quoted from CICERO

Yes, it means a handsome paycheck for Phillip Morris.  

As I mentioned in another post, I enjoy the arts. Proctors does put on a good show so the question would be if Morris's salary was on par with theater directors with similar off Broadway fare. He earns about $200000 correct? If he were to be hired elsewhere we could get a worse theater director. Knowing how things go around here, that would probably be the case. Would having a worse director hurt revenue to Proctors? I can't begrudge a guy's salary if he in fact earns it. Though perhaps you have some other knowledge as I am new to this message board.

Quoted from Jaystreet

As I mentioned in another post, I enjoy the arts. Proctors does put on a good show so the question would be if Morris's salary was on par with theater directors with similar off Broadway fare. He earns about $200000 correct? If he were to be hired elsewhere we could get a worse theater director. Knowing how things go around here, that would probably be the case. Would having a worse director hurt revenue to Proctors? I can't begrudge a guy's salary if he in fact earns it. Though perhaps you have some other knowledge as I am new to this message board.

Possibly the initial taxpayer dollars that went to restore Proctors were not well thought out, but
today, that money is gone and Proctors is an attraction that most area towns would be glad
to have.
Proctors is a draw to the city and a major attraction in the area.  There are some on the
board who would rather drag downtown back to the 70's when downtown was a disaster.

Quoted from Box A Rox

Possibly the initial taxpayer dollars that went to restore Proctors were not well thought out, but
today, that money is gone and Proctors is an attraction that most area towns would be glad
to have.
Proctors is a draw to the city and a major attraction in the area.  There are some on the
board who would rather drag downtown back to the 70's when downtown was a disaster.

It's a draw to Proctors...not to the city..As soon as the event at Proctors is over, the attendees flee the city like the rats on the Titanic.
At the same time, Proctors continues to get tax breaks...even on their non-arts business ventures like selling heat and trash pickup to other State St businesses.....the Proctors corridor may no longer be a disaster, but the disaster, like a cancer has just metastasized to the rest of the city...neighborhoods falling apart, pools that can't open, bridges that won't be repaired...and taxes for the RESIDENTS (which fatboy Morris isn't) just continue to skyrocket...

Quoted from Jaystreet

As I mentioned in another post, I enjoy the arts. Proctors does put on a good show so the question would be if Morris's salary was on par with theater directors with similar off Broadway fare. He earns about $200000 correct? If he were to be hired elsewhere we could get a worse theater director. Knowing how things go around here, that would probably be the case. Would having a worse director hurt revenue to Proctors? I can't begrudge a guy's salary if he in fact earns it. Though perhaps you have some other knowledge as I am new to this message board.

Proctors is nice, but Morris' salary IS being paid by the taxpayers.  Yeah, his salary is somewhere between $200,00 and $250,000.  There are two line items in the county budget that is money going to Proctors.  One is for $200,000 and the other I think is about $32,000.  True, they are not specifically designated for his salary but common sense prevails.

Proctors has gotten tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer money AND Morris makes the volunteers pay to be a volunteer.  Make sure you read that correctly,  Volunteers of course don't get paid.  Volunteer is something one does, giving one's time.  There are hundreds, perhaps a couple thousand, that volunteer at the Concern for the Hungry thing for Thanksgiving food baskets, for example, and using this because it's fresh in our minds as it was only a week ago.  Those people who go and volunteer might also give a monetary donation to the charity but they are not MANDATED to do so, nor mandated to pay cash in order to volunteer.  People who VOLUNTEER at Habitat for Humanity might give cash donation but they are not MANDATED to pay cash as a condition of volunteering.  People who VITA volunteers are not mandated to pay money in order to be volunteers.  Go to ANY hospital or nursing home, they have gift shops mostly run by volunteers, the volunteers are NEVER MANDATED to pay money as a condition to be a volunteers.  But at Proctors, Morris is so full of greed that he MANDATES that volunteers pay money in order to volunteers, and most volunteers are retired people ON A FIXED INCOME and these volunteers are people who are paying the property and school taxes of Proctors as well!

Yes, again Proctors is nice, but tell me, in return for the millions we paid in our tax dollars, in return for our paying their county taxes, and in return for the Schenectady city people paying the city and school taxes for Proctors, what are the people of the city getting in return?   In return, the people are getting a falling city tax base, falling property values, falling home sales and home sale prices, increase I the number of people putting their houses up for sake in order to get out of the city, big increases in vacant residential units/apartments/houses, increases in abandoned houses, increase in blight---both from abandoned houses and blight from owner occupied houses where the owners cannot afford to fix up their homes because they are paying Proctors' taxes.  And after all that, the taxes continue to increase.  

Proctors has done NOTHING to attract people to buy a house and live IN the city (or county) for that matter.  SOME people will go to dinner downtown when attending a show but the few cents in tax doesn't go anywhere near helping the city.  

The problem also is that Proctors is defined as a "not for profit" but that is the furthest thing from reality.  Schenectady Civil Players IS a TRUE not for profit theater as an example.  It is all done by volunteers, shows are put on by volunteers.  Perhaps, and I'm not sure, they have a director that might get a small salary.  But that's it. While I like shows, I am not interested in being an actor in something, however IF I liked doing that and got involved in Civic Players, it would be ALL 100%, on MY OWN TIME, I would not be getting paid.  A true non-profit operates for the benefit of the community, presenting shows at modest (what, maybe $25 a person) cost for those who wish to attend.   Proctors does not come even remotely close to meeting the definition of a not for profit.  Most shows are cost prohibitive for the average family in the community.

And then Proctors property has other places within it that pay rent.  That music store is an example.  That place is a business, and rents space and Proctors does NOT have to pay taxes on that rent, THAT IS TOTALLY WRONG.  Proctors IS collecting rent the same away ANY property owner (commercial or residential) does.   Here is an example too.  Take these places for example.  Glen Sanders Mansion, Riverstone Manor, Stadium Golf Course, Dutch Apple Cruises, the Turf, Capt JP, Old Daley Inn, etc, these are ALL banquet facilities EXACTLY like Key Hall (of Proctors).  Key Hall is STRICTLY 1,000% a FOR PROFIT.  It is a lavish banquet facility with costs probably the same as or even far exceeding the Glen Sanders.  Wedding banquets ARE 1,000% a for profit affair.  So WHY do the homeowners in the city have to pay the taxes on that big money making business?????   When has Key Hall EVER put on a dinner for the homeless and poor in the city?  Morris won't even open Key Hall up as the place for to pick up Thanksgiving Baskets in that Concern for the Hungry group!

In exchange for the handouts to Proctors, the taxpayers are losing equity in their homes.  And notice that Morris has fled the city, he didn't even want to live in it anymore---and even his city house, no one will buy it for the amount he has mortgaged it for, so he's underwater on the mortgage.  Actually most newer homebuyers are underwater on their mortgages, meaning you buy a house for $100,000 (most of the city's home selling is 100% financed) and even with low interest rates, the payoff balance at any time is higher than what people could sell their house for.   The RAR for homes in the city, since the last reassessment a few years ago, is almost 118% (which means that the assessed value exceeds the market value by 18%), but in reality most homes are selling for much lower than that, and the city won't reassess.  Actually, if the city did reassess it would be quite embarrassing for the mayor; meaning if a person was paying $5,000 in taxes on a house assessed for $100,000, then chances are a reassessment down to perhaps $60,000 would still have the owners paying $5,000 on a house assessed for $60,000 which you look at other cities and you probably pay $6,000 on a house assessed for $200,000 (and the house is increasing in value on top of that).  The vast majority of people in the city are not grieving their assessments and if they do and they bring documentation of 100 comparable houses in their neighborhood selling for half of what they are assessed for, the board of assessment will STILL tell them "denied, insufficient evidence." and so their assessment stays, so it's not like taxpayers who don't grieve are subsidizing those who have chosen to grieve and won (at the next level of suing the city).

Proctor is a PRIVATE BUSINESS and needs to stand on it's own feet.  I have no problem if companies or individuals CHOOSE to donate to them, but MANDATED financial support via taxes is clearly not acceptable.

Proctor's was there, putting on shows, before anyone ever heard of Morris. Schenectady had more downtown in the 1970's than it does now. If Proctor's is so good for the city, why isn't the city good? I would like to see some real numbers, not some non-resident's opinion based on feelings rather than facts? Proctor's is a draw? So is DSS.
Would I rather see Proctor's boarded up again, the way it was for decades? Guess what? It was not. I am not against "the arts", far from it, but when it comes to the current Proctor's, we are being hoodwinked. Anybody wants to show me the numbers that prove me wrong, please do. Why was Jason Cuthbert escorted from his job by police? He said the city should be getting are bigger share of sales tax. Why aren't we getting a bigger share of tax, with all the money Proctor's is bringing in?

A not-for-profit can make a profit as long as it can account for how it uses its money. If the subsidy the city gives the theater is no longer needed, than that should be examined in a public forum. But if the theater would dry up if not for the subsidy, then it may be money well spent as downtown would really be a dump if not for that centerpiece.

Perhaps they pay Morris because that is a way for them to control him?