Tuesday, July 21, 2009

DiNAPOLI DROPS ANOTHER DARK REPORT

Another threatening report from our NYState Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. He states that revenues for the April - June quarter fell about $4 billion, or 25 percent, compared with the same period last year. That's even less revenue than the officials had expected.

Now that the Legislature gets to see the big picture, perhaps the Senate will stop playing games and get back to work. There's cuts to be made!
Keep in mind, everything that happens in Albany has an affect on our local budgets. So you can expect another announcement in the near future about the dire circumstances facing Ulster County and the City of Kingston.

DiNapoli said in one AP story: “Obviously, the state needs to watch spending closely because the state’s economic picture remains uncertain,”
Why would that even need to be said at this point?

He did go on to say: The Paterson administration spent $1.2 billion less over the first three months of the fiscal year than it originally projected, but much of that money will probably have to be spent over the rest of the year, as pending claims from local governments and other entities are paid off.

Readers; Don't get me wrong, I skim the web for this info to give everyone a better understanding of what's ahead for 2010. Not just to give everyone heart failure. Just don't expect the slight uptick on Wall Street to help us this winter. Not gonna happen.

Every Town Board, Council and County Legislature is going to have to deal with a serious void in funding this year and the taxpayers aren't going to like anything that comes out of any governing body. Buckle up.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tax pot.

Anonymous said...

yes, let's legalize marijuana and prostitution and tax it

Anonymous said...

ive been saying just that,watch out for 2010 budjet.there probibily will be local civil uprising

Anonymous said...

Shocking. you mean you arent going to put your head in the sand? Tough times are still ahead and you're willing to say it publicly? How refreshing. Some of your colleagues aren't being this forthcoming.
People are going to lose jobs, programs & services will be cut and taxes will go up. That's the story this fall.It's the same story in every town across the state. I cant escape because I cant sell my home and move.
Something's got to give.

Anonymous said...

Mike,

Thank you for being a realist. It is important that we know what we might be in for - so that we can figure out how best (each and every one of us) to "get through the storm."

Hopefully another hike in school and property taxes will not be necessary; because I, like you, don't think that is going to go over very well...

Analyze, visualize, get creative, figure out where expenses can be cut via the consolidation of services, etc...

Because it is as important that the people (Include them! Don't exclude them!) stay as level headed and feel as safe [Remember Ivan Maslov's (I hope I have the name right) "Hierarchy of Needs?" (I'll try to find time to look this up, but if I remember correctly, safety and security are biggies if you want anything else good to grow...)] as possible.

[I think holding regular community info meetings - in casual settings that are free and accessible to the majority) is a good idea!]

NS

Anonymous said...

Mike-I have never been a gloom and doomer- yet the state, county and country is in deep mud. Having said that- I strongly believe that the worst is behind us. But it is time for all elected officials to take their heads out of the proverbial mud and look around. Time to move foward. Lots of belt tightening and out of the box thinking. Locally - Deitz - hey make up some dollar + amount or so decals- that are usually sold via bumper stickers etc for the campaigns ahead, and use them for entrance to the stadium. Give the public some notice- no we don't need security to allow us into the stadium, but the decals if sold for $5-10 for the year would raise a significant amount of revenue. Parking for HS games etc- Those who use the stadium without cars would be exempt, but when you realize that thousands from outside the city do use the stadium- then .........oh well just thinking of addtional methods that would raise funds without hurting anyone.
Banks appear to give away Tshirts to their employees- but the truth is they pay for them above the first. So why not city workers who wear Tshirts for the city ...... again - maybe this is already a factor but who knows?
as to Public Access- looks like it is a longer absence than initially believed.

sz

Anonymous said...

Mike help us out. What is response time and how is it calculated. Fire dept.

Anonymous said...

Take from the firemen, they have been gouging us for years. Town of Ulster has a 1.7 million dollar budget for the firemen and the City of Kingston is 7.1 million. Town of Ulster has far more area to cover and nobody is complaining about the jor the volunteers do. Many of thes volunteers live in Kingston and would volunteer in Kingston if the paid firemen weren't so arrogant. CLOSE A FIREHOUSE THIS YEAR. AND SAVE THE TAXPAYERS SOME REAL MONEY.

Anonymous said...

Respons time is the time it takes a firemen to wake up and get to the fire truck. 3 minutes? They should be made to sleep in there turn out gear in the truck. RESPONSE TIME ZERO. With the money we pay them they should be happy to do that.

Anonymous said...

Frank Dart was on WGHQ this morning doing a con job on the people. As usual he's telling fibs about the need for three fire houses to be in play in the City of Kingsotn. Wake up Frank we're not buying it. Times are hard right now, however we just cannot afford to keep 3 fire houses open any longer. Los Angeles just closed 28 fire house this past week. Because they too are hurting. Did they want to do that? I'm sure they didn't. Tough times call for tough messures. Frank we have to begin to bring back some volunteer firemen to help out along side paid firemen. Keep in mind volunteer firemen have to go through the same training as paid firefighters lets benfit from that as a community. FRANK STOP TELLING FIBS REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED TO PINOCHIO

Anonymous said...

Yeah yeah right right more EXCUSES a la the bad economy made me be worse than Beelzebub to those who don't deserve it and take Gorsline golfing in Florida by this Mayor. Cut us all some kind of break with this mantra.

There is no LEADERSHIP here. PERIOD.

Anonymous said...

tHERE'S A GREAT IDEA ABOUT KEEPING ALL THE FIRE HOUSES OPEN DURING PEAK HOURS ON UC MOJO. CLOSING TWO AT NIGHT WHEN CALLS ARE THE FEWEST AND KEEPING ALL HOUSES FULLY STAFFED DURING PEAK HOURS.

Anonymous said...

Mike Hein is on the radio asking UC residents to volunteer for emergency responders, firemen, EMS, EMT's. The City should do the same thing. The county has a web site and phone no. for those who want to help. Sottile/Noble need to wake up and stop pandering to the firemen.