Property or Sales Tax Increase
County Just Keeps Borrowing
Sounds like the County just keeps increasing the amount they borrow. Legislators have to come up with a plan to stop this downward spiral. It will either be an increase in property taxes or increase sales tax rate. Most are looking for a sales tax increase which would distribute the cost of government to everyone. NYS is one of the highest taxed states in the country. Something has to give and until then those that have will end up paying.
The legislature is looking to pass a bill that would allow Counties to increase the sales tax on their own. This will allow the Counties some leverage in balancing budgets.
Journal County
15 comments:
The county must continue to pare its employment levels to match its revenue levels . the mandate relief legislation that is oft talked about is WHAT should be pursued NOT additional taxation . Cutting staff although unpopular gets at the single largest component of the budget and therefore has to be addressed
Heres a logical cut... Cut all non=mandated positions.. Make a budget accordingly.. (no exceptions).. Then reinstate accordingly to what the people want for services...
A good for instance is do you want good safe roads maintained to drive on or do you want the Sheriff to patrol them.... Pretty simple.. If theres no roads theres no need for road patrol is there.. Planner.. Do we really need the position...
Raising the property taxes only affects a few people in this county.. those that oppose the sales tax hike forget to tell you that property owners will also raise rent on the less prosperous people which will raise everything else.. Why not share the burden with out of county shoppers canadians etc helping us pay.
Our only problem is we have a Senator that wants to play politics now that she elected. She has forgotten her home county completely..
I have been watching this for a while, and believe the county has cut expenses to the point where services for the most needy are now going to be cut.
Are we so hard hearted that we are going to cut the visiting nurse program or meals on wheels? Come on!
I bet some of these other bloggers like to see themselves as Christians on Sunday, but have no problem ignoring the suffering of their fellow man the rest of the week.
As for Patty Ritchey, she could have easily solved this fiscal problem last year by honoring the request of the entire county legislature for permission to raise the sales tax to the same level as all of the other counties in the state.
But, Patty didn't fumble the ball, she REFUSED to take the ball because she signed Grover Norquist's no new tax pledge. She is supposed to represent us, but she has put herself in a position where she represents the Tea Party in Washington, D.C. instead. It's time to get someone who represents us!
Ritchie is the biggest farce thats ever walked in SLC..
NO matter what the GOP bigwigs want she supports.
No new taxes a pledge she claims shes proud of meaning she supports the tea party and Grover Norquist a billionaire in Washington DC who owns the tea party and its movements. Grover didnt want any new taxes on his corporate friends so any new GOP canidate better sign the pledge or not get any party support especially form the Tea Party.
The answer the the previous blogger is YES.. Cut all non=manded jobs and programs.. Make your budget then re-instate the programs and the jobs involved in running those programs the people want the most..
The GOP canidates for NYS Senate and US Congress only want what is good for the wealthy with little or no consideration to the poorer class of people in this county so our legislators need to keep plugging on their own..
We all know Rlitchie will win in NOvember but I think we would all be smart and send a message to her about her support of us by voting for her opponent Tressider.. Rithcie getting less than 75 percent of the vote would apeak volumes..
Ive tried to encourage my legislator to bring the sales tax issue to a public hearing and vote by the people of the County.. IF the majority of voters want the sales tax and oppose the property tax then Ritchies position would become obvious if she dosnt help this board get it.. Of course if the majority want the property tax then we all will live with the consequences..
A previous blogger has suggested eliminating non mandated jobs.. Good idea as long as all these jobs are done away with.. Letting the people decide would be complicated however as each legislator would campaign for his favorites, with no way of knowing the peoples choice..
I suggest doing away with the Sheriffs road patrol and only keeping a few deputies available to transport to court.. I would also suggest to any supporters of the Sheriffs dept that the township that you live in should pay some extra taxes and hire some law=enforcement of your own as Norwood has.. Massena, Ogdensburg, Gouverneur, Canton Potsdam have their own forces and the taxpayers in these towns pay taxes to have the Border Patrol, Homeland Security, State Police, Sheriffs, and their own law enforcement officals which dosnt seem balanced to me..
Instead of doing this the law enfocement and judical system try every so often to sell you on another court system in the county to replace our present justice system..District courts are sold to as being cheaper but it reality they cost considerably more to operate.. Figure two judges on full time and one partime at almost two hundred thousand Court attendants at probably sixty to seventy thousand, court steno at a bout sixty thousand and court security at a wopping two hundred and fifty to three hundred thousand.. Put that ll together and the bottom line in district courts cost much more.. They are however much more convenient for law enforcemnt, the DA office Judges and lawyers who benefit from them.. We dont need this at all
Patty used to work in county government as our County Clerk. Now it seems she is turning her back on them. Does she have some ax to grind or what? You would expect a state senator to be above stuff like that.
Got my Patty Ritchie ad today in the mail.. Now I understand why the State looks better now.. Patty has single handed lowered the taxes, Eliminated state tax on clothes,Property tax cap of two percent and more jobs..
I drove downtown a little later and think I seen her getting out of the phone booth after she changed into her superwoman clothes and then I went home and thought aobut what I just read..
Less Spending... Where??? Prisons havnt had any cuts yet still two presidents in the local colleges
Lower taxes.. Who.. Not me Im still paying what I did last year I dont know about you..
More jobs Where>> unemployement is up in the County since she was eleceted.. I got that straight from the Matt Doheny campaign..
Wheres my star rebate she promised?? She passed a budget without forfilling her promise..
She wont help her home county stabilize their budget..
she is fighting the minimum wage increase for the poorer third of the workforce....
The two percent tax ceiling on property taxes was only a front for her to blame the local people when they have to raise the property taxes as high as twenty five percent...She passed a law with no possible enforcment except her lip service..
She promised to help get rid of these expensive authorities and commissions and instaed she has supported keeping them intact..
She brags about a budget on time but I think she bowed to the governor as it was given to her as take it or leave it...
She has taken heavy election contributions from Mr Doheny and other rich Republicans for her support. Her supporting people of this character is disgusting to say the least..
She voted against the tax on millionaires.. As she dosnt want them burdened with the extra taxes she feels we should pay while the rich play and support her with huge financial gifts...
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Right on target 9 :34
The only thing that mailer did was spend more of our $$$ to spread MANURE
Geez guys! I wanted to rant an rail about the mailer, and you guys took all of the good stuff.
However...Don't you love how she said she lowered taxes for us po' folk in SLC?? Must be she is taking no credit for tanking the county's bond rating through her inaction on the sales tax increase.
St. Lawrence County, and particularly Ogdensburg, did very well when Aubertine was our Senator. But then we elected "One of our own" , and dumped Aubertine.
Maybe we are getting what we deserve for being ungrateful or maybe we promoted Patty to her level of incompetence.
Maybe the reason why she needs the second largest staff in the Senate, and "locked in" with Grover Norquist, is she is incapable of thinking for herself
Cuomo signed a bill yesterday allowing the Paower authority to sell Massena and area cheaper power which may help Alco stay afloat and possibly help attract some new business to the area.. My point is that Ritchie has already jumped on the bandwagon trying to make people feel she had something to do with this deal.. Nothing could be further from the truth.. It was Chuck Shumur and Gillebrand that convinced the Governor to act using Addie Russell as their agent to the governor..Ritchie and some other Senate GOP stalled this deal as long as they could trying to keep the power in Western NY Niagra area....
Hey everybody, let's show these politicians who's in charge and vote them OUT of office the next time we get the chance. Ritchie's got to Go!, Nelson's got to Go! Tell the co. legislators and Ritchie to vote for the 8% sale tax and then everybody gets to share in the budget for the county instaed of the few property tax payer we have, why should the few foot the bill. Saint Lawrence county would be in pretty good shape if we ALL paid the 1% more.
9:48 THANK YOU. FINALLY SOMEONE WITH SONE COMMON SENSE!!! :)
Agree with everything 9:48 says EXCEPT lets tell the county legislators to CUT the county payroll to match the revenue stream and NO NEW TAXES . St Lawrence county needs to continually trim the fat from the budget , eliminate duplicative services that are provided by other orgs in the public sector and operate like a business
8:11 I am all for finding efficiencies, but we need to raise taxes to pay down debt. When a family is in debt, they find another job and cut down on the beer, steak and soda until that debt is paid. Government should play by the same rules.
On a side note, the private sector has added a record number of jobs over the past 3 years - maybe not in Ogdensburg, but around the country, business is doing well. Unemployment has risen or stayed the same, however, because of budget cuts on the city, county, state and federal level - government is as small as it has been since before WWII. We can't afford to lay off any more public employees, it is killing our economy. That is why people in the Burg constantly fight against prison closures that needed to happen six years ago.
Wonderful parade in Massena yesterday.. Got to talk to a few pols who experessed their points of veiw on some things such as the minimum wage.. I feel Russell and Tressdier support working people and will support the minimum wage hike while Massenas represenative is against it.. At least he proclaimed his veiw and took a stand in front of union people... Went to talk to Senator Ritchie and she refused comment and in fact left immediatley after the parade and hid as usuall.. Patty is looking out for us all right.. The signs in front lawns tell who????
I went looking for Matt Doheny to get a comment but later found out he was told to stay away,, PLEASE... Thats understandable...
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