Sunday, January 25, 2009

Vote "Yes" . . . or Take a Hike?

This was a stunning headline: New Hartford residents' choice: Vote 'yes' or face tax hike.
A special election set for Tuesday, Feb. 10, will give town residents their first chance to vote on funding for roadway improvements at and around the New Hartford Business Park. . . .
Last April, the Town Board committed Town residents to fund road improvements for a private developer at the NHBP, using short-term borrowing to get around the requirement of putting the matter up for a vote before making the commitment. But that will result in a steep tax hike in 5 years if the voters do not approve long term financing before then. The public, apparently, will be repeatedly subjected to vote on this matter until it either approves the funding, or the tax hike goes into effect.
Certified public accountant Frank Basile, whose firm FJ Basile, CPAs, PC, acts as a financial consultant for the town, said a bond anticipation note was used because it provides greater flexibility during the planning and construction phase of a new development. . .

As far as deciding whether money is spent, voters choose a town supervisor and board members to make decisions on their behalf, Basile said. Without the PILOT agreement, The Hartford would have moved elsewhere, he said.

“That is why it is so important for the taxpayers to fully understand the concept of the PILOT agreement and that the bond debt service will not be a burden or a cost to the town taxpayers,” Basile said. “If the taxpayers vote in favor of the 15-year serial bond, the payment of the related debt service will cost the taxpayers nothing as originally designed.”
We, the taxpayers, fully understand what is going on, Mr. Basile, and don't need you, our overpaid consultant who is part of the problem, to lecture us on what we should approve or not approve.

Private interests, including accountants and realtors and developers and their EDGE enablers, have hijacked local government to suck money from the taxpayers' pockets and put it into their own. It is irrelevant that there may be no net cost to taxpayers if they go along with the scheme (and everything works out as planned) -- although there will be increased costs related to the "sprawl" that is being created.

The real issue, the one that will be voted upon (although the proposition will be couched in terms of "funding") is whether
Government should be used to further private interests.

The fact that voters will be going to the polls with a financial gun to their heads means that, quite simply, New Hartford Town government has become corrupt.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I regards to all your recent posts of all levels of local government, it is clear that its time for a non violent revolution in our area by local taxpayers. We need someone to step forward to unite us.
New Hartford's gun to our head, roads to private businesses, consolidation talk from the 60's That is why we all will eventually move

Anonymous said...

The New Hartford Business Park will not yield any tax revenue to the Town of New Harford, the New Hartford School District nor Oneida County because these taxing authorities gave it away when they told Lawrence Adler, the private developer that he does not have to pay. Why? Because for the next 15 years the above authorities signed a Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) which specifically, allows Mr. Lawrence Adler the opportunity NOT TO PAY ANY KIND OF REAL PROPERTY, SALES AND MORTGAGE TAXES on this development.

Also, the town, in the event of default of Mr. Adler has pledged the full faith and credit of the town's resources to MAKE GOOD any DEFAULT by Lawrence Adler.

What this effectively translates into, is the fact that town, county and school treasuries will be VOID of any tax revenue stream. So it will be the town resident (taxpayers) who will be paying even more than they would have but for the NEW HARTFORD BUSINESS PARK.

BOTTOM LINE: Earle Reed and Frank Basile are a disgrace to the town and to their professions. Money must certainly make Mr. Basile talk a very strange language. I hope his conscience keeps him up at night in his beautiful home that is being paid for with town resident tax dollars.

Anonymous said...

And all the politicians scratch their heads and wring their hands on why people are leaving the area and then why the attitude of those that are left are so negative.

I'm sick of it and can't wait for the next election to vote against these corrupt people and their hangers-on - right now it's about the only thing I can do until I can join many of my friends and move away as well.

RoAnn, Joe G and all the locals what a waste you are - how do you sleep at night when you see what you've done to this area.

Anonymous said...

Mr Basile stated that the Hartford would move. Could Mr Basile please show me where that is documented. And what right does he have making those statements when the Hartford said different. Who approved a business park to begin with. NO MORE PILOTS.

Anonymous said...

And all this on top of wanting to spend 1.7 million dollar on a building for a court house. My oh my!!

Anonymous said...

keep up the good work Strikeslip!
I've been in business in the Town for over 20 years and thought I had seen everything after Kazanjian got chased outta town. Anyway, this deal stinks and they should focus on keeping and growing more small businesses in NH, and not giving it all away to the big companies and the rich.
VOTE NO! SEND THEM A MESSAGE AND THEN VOTE ANYONE WHO SIGNED OFF ON THIS OUT OF OFFICE.

Greens and Beans said...

Small Biz Guy has a good point when he said “. . . vote anyone who signed off on this out of office.” Now if only we could discover a way to vote the Mohawk Valley EDGE out of office before they squander away whatever economic resources we may have left.

clipper said...

One might think that NH would have learned from the experiences of the city of Utica and the Hotel Utica debacle. But then again, the favors and money that I would suspect to be at the root of such an irresponsible move, will already be in their pockets when they are gone from office and the whole scenario blows up in the faces of NH taxpayers.

Anonymous said...

The sad feature is that the issue was preset to force a yes vote via a Hobson's Choice. The people are getting what they deserve for electing Earl Reed and others.