Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Mark Down 2 More Candidates Who Do NOT Pledge Zero Tax Increases

Two more candidates for the Kingston Common Council have said they CANNOT pledge at this time to
"not vote for any budget or bill that increases taxes for the next 2 years".

Those 2 candidates are:

Jon Hoyt for 2nd Ward alderman in the City of Kingston,

and

Brian Cahill for District 5 (Town of Ulster) Ulster County Legislature. 
 
To be fair both of the above 2 candidates are actively looking at cutting the local tax levy.  Jon Hoyt is leading the charge for aggressively enforcing a more reasonable equalization rate for the City of Kingston and Brian Cahill is looking to cut Mike Hein's proposed budget.

Monday, October 26, 2009

October 26, 2009 Summary of Candidates Who Pledge No Tax Increases

Below is a summary of local candidates who Pledge NO TAX INCREASES for the next 2 years. To local
taxpayers, let's try to talk to and convince more of our local candidates to make this pledge so the City of Kingston and Ulster County will come out of this financial mess in better shape.

Richard Cahill, Sr. for 5th Ward alderman in the City of Kingston,

Mike Gill for 7th Ward alderman in the City of Kingston,

Todd Langon for 8th Ward alderman in the City of Kingston, and

Jeannie Edwards for 4th Ward alderman in the City of Kingston,

and

Jim Maloney for District 5 (Town of Ulster) Ulster County Legislature,

Michael Sweeney for District 4 (Saugerties) Ulster County Legislature,

Fred Wadnola for District 5 (Town of Ulster) Ulster County Legislature,

Marvin Schildhorn for District 6 (City of Kingston) Ulster County Legislature,

Ellen DiFalco for District 6 (City of Kingston) Ulster County Legislature, and

Mark Ingoglio for District 12 (City of Kingston) Ulster County Legislature.

Mark Down 3 More Candidates Who Do NOT Pledge Zero Tax Increases

Three more candidates for the Kingston Common Council have said they CANNOT pledge at this time to
"not vote for any budget or bill that increases taxes for the next 2 years".
Those 3 candidates are:

Katie Scott Childress for 1st Ward alderman in the City of Kingston,

Debbie Brown for 9th Ward alderman in the City of Kingston, and

Hayes Clement for 9th Ward alderman in the City of Kingston.

Maybe we can convince them to change their minds? 

Debbie Brown asked that I post the following explanation.......................In this day and age it would be premature to say I would not vote against a tax increase. Two years is a longtime to stay locked in a pledge when our economy is constantly changing. One just has to look at union contracts, of which we were locked into, to see how much our economy flunctuated when they were originally negotiated 4 years ago when economic times were better. That being said, I will try my best to keep taxes from rising. I am against raising taxes but to make a pledge is not feasible for me at the present time. How about asking the candidates to make a committment to keeping taxes from rising.? I live in the city and as a homeowner it would be to my best interest to keep taxes from rising.


One has to remember George Bush's (the elder Bush) campaign slogan," Read my lips

. No new taxes" Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Also, a lot of the taxes are tied to State Mandates at the current time of which we sometimes have no control. And the pension plan is part of it. This more than anything increased our deficit. Energy costs are also rising again. Insurance premiums take a chunk. The best way to prevent a raise in taxes is to spend wisely and do away with unnecessary spending. Tighten the belts.Streamline city hall.

We need to go after the State Legislature for any type of tax reform. This will give the relief to the county and local municipalities.

I don't know if you will post this along with the decision to not take the pledge but in all fairness you should. This way the voters can see their candidate's view of the tax situation.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

3rd Ward Alderman Charles Landi Proposes Closing 1 Paid Fire Station

Current 3rd Ward Alderman, Charlie Landi, who is unopposed for re-election, proposes closing one paid fire station.  Charlie will not pledge to not vote for  budgets which increase taxes for the next 2 years, but he will begin the serious debate in the Kingston Common Council about closing one paid fire station.  If one paid fire station is closed and the manpower is reduced proportionately through early retirement attrition, approximately one-third of the $7 Million fire budget can be saved.  This $2.3 Million savings can reduce about $2,300,000 divided by $150,000 (per tax increase percentage) equals about 15 percent.  Therefore,the Kingston City tax rate could be reduced by 5 percent.  So instead of the proposed 10 percent tax increase, we could have a 5 percent tax decrease.

Mark Down 3 More Candidates Who Do Not Pledge Zero Tax Increases

Three more candidates for the Kingston Common Council have said they CANNOT pledge to

"not vote for any budget or bill that increases taxes for the next 2 years".

Those 3 candidates are:

Andi Turco-Levin for 1st Ward alderman in the City of Kingston,

Jennifer Fuentes for 5th Ward alderman in the City of Kingston,

Elisa Ball for 6th Ward alderman in the City of Kingston,

Maybe we can convince them to change their minds?

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Mark Down 2 More No Tax Increase Candidates

Two more candidates who have pledged to "not to vote for any tax increases over the next 2 years" are


Jeannie Edwards for 4th Ward alderman in the City of Kingston and

Jim Maloney for District 5 (Town of Ulster) Ulster County Legislature.

Monday, October 19, 2009

October 19, 2009 Summary of Candidates Who Pledge No Tax Increases

Below is a summary of local candidates who Pledge NO TAX INCREASES for the next 2 years.  To local
taxpayers, let's try to talk to and convince more of our local candidates to make this pledge so the City of Kingston and Ulster County will come out of this financial mess in better shape.

Richard Cahill, Sr. for 5th Ward alderman in the City of Kingston,

Mike Gill for 7th Ward alderman in the City of Kingston

Todd Langon for 8th Ward alderman in the City of Kingston,

and

Michael Sweeney for District 4 (Saugerties) Ulster County Legislature, and

Fred Wadnola for District 5 (Town of Ulster) Ulster County Legislature

Marvin Schildhorn for District 6 (City of Kingston) Ulster County Legislature.

Ellen DiFalco for District 6 (City of Kingston) Ulster County Legislature.

Mark Ingoglio for District 12 (City of Kingston) Ulster County Legislature.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Mark Down 1 More No Tax Increase Candidate

One more candidate who has pledged to "not to vote for any tax increases over the next 2 years" is



Mike Gill for 7th Ward alderman in the City of Kingston.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Pension fund contributions burden local governments (10-11-09 Freeman)

According to this article published in the Sunday Freeman, "City of Kingston officials say payments to the state pension system are expected to climb next year by $900,000 from the current $2.2 million."  All projections indicate that the City of Kingston budget, which is very bad this year, will be even worse next year.  If you think about it, asking city and county candidates to pledge "no increase in taxes" is a very MILD request compared to the LOOMING TSUNAMI of contractual raises, steeply rising pension obligations, drop in sales tax revenue, drop in tax collections, and drop in mortgage receipts.  Drastic budget cutting is called for, not an increase in "already too-high" taxes.  The Firefighters' union is proposing to forgo this year's raises and exercise stipends for a savings of $250K.  This is a start.  However,if the unions don't budge more, to the tune of $1Million for each union, inevitable MUNICIPAL BANKRUPTCY will be knocking at our door.

Mark Down 1 More No Tax Increase Candidate

One more candidate who has pledged to "not to vote for any tax increases over the next 2 years" is


Ellen DiFalco for District 6 (City of Kingston) Ulster County Legislature.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Ulster County taxes are too high, so Why is the Ulster County Executive proposing to RAISE taxes even further?

Dear Taxpayers,
I have a question for you to research. How much money represents 1 percent of tax increase? Therefore, how much money represents 3.5 percent of tax increase proposed by Executive Hein? Let's find that amount of money in the proposed budget in order to make the proposed tax increase equal ZERO. We all know our Ulster County taxes are too high, so Why is the Ulster County Executive proposing to RAISE taxes even further?