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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?