Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Questions arise about new club in New Hartford

Saw this article in today's OD about a new club being approved by the NH school board which had no student interest so far.

Questions arise about new club in New Hartford

Who came up with the idea of such a club if there is no student interest?

Most districts pay a stipend to teachers who are club advisors. How much is NH paying these advisors to a club in which there is no interest?

Could this just be a back door way to give some favored individuals more money at taxpayer expense?

[For FOLLOWUP COMMENTS see Utica Area Discussions]

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Sunday, November 14, 2004

Sales Tax Collection -- Sales Tax Rate

Have the County leaders bothered to calculate the sales tax collections LOST because the State refuses to enforce the law regarding sales in the Oneida Nation?

If the county was able to collect its normal share of sales tax, would it be able to avoid the so-called medicaid sales tax increase?

It seems that our county leadership, by enacting a sales tax increase, is making it easy for our State leaders to avoid their responsibilities.

Maybe what the county should do is to budget based on sales tax estimates which include indian sales, then bill the state for what was not collected.

The casino and state failures place Oneida County in a unique position in the state where the county would be justified in demanding money from Albany.

Why isn't anyone doing this?

County Govt. is making it easy on our State level leaders by making it hard on taxpayers

[For FOLLOWUP COMMENTS see Utica Area Discussions]

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Thursday, March 04, 2004

Who is the Wagering Board Protecting?

Did anyone catch the series of three editorials in the rome paper about placing the blame for Vernon's track denial on management?

While there are problems with management, you have to question just whom the Board is protecting. The Sentinal (3/1) says "The Racing and Wagering Board would do a disservice to employees, vendors who provide products and services to the track, and more than 500 investors of Mid-State Raceway if the state board did not protect their interests."

Funny, I don't hear the employers or venders complaining, and I've only heard of one shoreholder complaining

Like any corporation, there are laws to protect shareholders. This corporation is no different than any other in that respect. If the corporation is being abused, the recourse is under the corporation law - any "protection" afforded by the Wagering Board is duplicative.

Venders know they are taking risks dealing with a track that may be insolvent. They can protect themselves by not delivering goods without first getting payment. And if the track is insolvent, isn't that a matter between the corporation and its bankers to resolve? Why does the Board need to get involved?

There have been no complaints about employees not being paid.

So just WHO IS THE WAGERING BOARD PROTECTING by denying the track a license? One can think of competitors locally and in the Albany area who would immediately benefit. (Have you heard all the local commercials for Saratoga Racino?) Anyone else? Who is the Board kidding? And who are our "powerful" local reps kidding?

If I had horses I'd parade them down to the state office building in protest over this travesty.

[For CONTEXT and FOLLOWUP COMMENTS see Utica Area Discussions]

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Friday, February 13, 2004

Expansion in Unemployment Benefits

Article in Newsday today that

"In a reversal, the Pataki administration has agreed to grant unemployment benefits to gays and unmarried heterosexuals who quit their jobs when they relocate with partners who are hired to work in another state"

Here we go again. Businesses already pay enough for Unenp insurance in NYS -- driving many of them out of business or out of state. Now the gov insists on expanding benefits (to buy political support from certain pressure groups) when the state is in a hole.

But what really gets me is that I never realized that this benefit was given to spouses who voluntarily quit their jobs to follow their wifes/husbands move to a new job. Why are we doing this? Why should employers be required to provide a "safety net" for changes due the purely personal decisions of their employees? The employer pays twice: (1) in increasing premium costs for UI and (2) having to retrain a new person to replace the employee who leaves.

This is nonsense and this is why NYS is uncompetitive.

[For FOLLOWUP COMMENTS see The Pulse.]

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Friday, January 09, 2004

Chip Fab

I know i've harped on this subject before -- but it's time to do it again.
An article appeared today in the Capital District Business Review titled
" Rally held to oppose Luther Forest tech campus" -- in a nutshell, there is local opposition out Saratoga way to their tech park which appears to be beating us to landing a chip fab even though we got started much much earlier and supposedly had a "shovel ready" site in Marcy.
Read the article at:
Our EDGE people seem to be asleep and they need to wake up .. and be more AGGRESSIVE....
While it might seem unseemly to point out another area's shortcomings, our EDGE officials should at least be there making a pitch to the chip manufacturers who have already toured and tentatively selected Luther Forest -- no community oppostion here ...
...Or is this too much to expect?
See prior posting at

[For FOLLOWUP COMMENTS see Utica Area Discussions]

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