county budget update-- candlelight vigil, mtg. tomorrow!...

Hi all...


If you can, please join us tomorrow (Monday Dec. 7th) at 5 pm for our 14th Annual Holiday Interfaith Candlelight Vigil for Economic Justice and a Just County Budget-- in front of our County Office Building at 22 Market Street in Poughkeepsie-- with Grace Smith House Ex. Dir. Judy Lombardi, Rev. Gail Burger of the Dutchess Interfaith Council, Rabbi Paul Golomb of Vassar Temple, Mar Peter-Raoul (Cofounder of Marist Praxis Project for Public Citizenship), Ann Perry of Holy Light Pentecostal Church, long-time community activist Mae Parker-Harris, yours truly!...


And-- don't forget to also speak up Monday 7 pm (perhaps last chance re: 2010 county budget!)...against County Exec's proposed counterproductive budget cuts-- during public comment period at beginning of our County Legislature's full board mtg. on 6th floor of 22 Market St. in Pok...


Also-- crucial-- if you haven't yet-- send a letter to all of us-- at countylegislators@co.dutchess.ny.us...


...And join 85 other Dutchess residents for budget sanity at http://www.PetitionOnline.com/SaveDuCo !...


Did you see yesterday's Poughkeepsie Journal?...(if you're not outraged you're not paying attention folks)...


The County Executive actually had the nerve in his press release Friday (reported yesterday) to refer to those involved with sheriff patrols, long-term care for seniors, pro-active and preventive services (such as youth activities, gang prevention, child abuse prevention, domestic violence legal services, domestic abuse response, early intervention, literacy, day care, foster care child advocacy, environmental education, 4-H, the arts, libraries, and animal protection)-- as "special interests"(!)...link to article here--
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20091205/NEWS01/912050320 ...


[note-- fact is that if cut, all those services would end up costing taxpayers far more down the road, folks]


From yesterday's paper...


"[County Legislature Chair Roger] Higgins said legislators are still trying to make a deal. "Our position is that we are looking to work with the Republicans to forge a compromise," he said. While sharing the Republicans' concern for road patrol funding, Higgins said Democrats also are concerned with the proposed 25 layoffs, $2 million cut to contract agencies and $500,000 cut to Dutchess Community College. If the Republicans come together with amendments, significant programs could be restored, Higgins said."
[ http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2009/December09/05/DC_budget_Steinhaus-05Dec09.html ]


Recall-- incredibly, the County Executive has proposed for next year alone $3.6 million in massive, cruel, and unnecessary cuts in the 2010 Dutchess County Budget for Grace Smith House, Family Services, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Literacy Connections, Astor Home for Children, Dutchess County Community Action Agency, Child Development Council, Child Abuse Prevention, DART, Mid-Hudson Library Systems, Mental Health America of Du. Co., Youth Bureau, Hudson River Housing, Mediation Center, Lexington Center, Daytop, MARC, Narc Addiction Control Services. etc. (meaning over 40 layoffs-- and millions of dollars lost in volunteer time and state-reimbursed dollars(!)...

And-- let's not forget-- the County Executive has also proposed to completely eliminate county funding for sheriff road patrols (forcing towns to hike local taxes $5.3 million), our county's senior home care program ($289,000), and the Human Rights Commission ($200,000); funding restored to keep five-day weeks at our county Office for the Aging Senior Friendship Centers ($153,000), and full funding for Dutchess Community College restored-- not cut by $500,000, as proposed by the County Executive-- avoiding another 25 layoffs within county government (these proposed layoffs would leave our county workforce with literally 53 less staff than in 1987, according to the County Executive's own Nov. 1st budget message)........[while at same time County Exec wants a new $400,000 security force(!)...]...
[see http://www.co.dutchess.ny.us/CountyGov/Departments/CountyExecutive/17362.htm ]


Fact: The vast majority of economists agree (despite Paterson's proposed cuts) that the worst thing to do in the middle of a recession is for government to hurt the local economy further with layoffs; people without jobs can't pay taxes and will cost county taxpayers money when they need services-- Dutchess County simply can't afford this type of a Grover Norquist sensibility ("I simply want to reduce government to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub"-- Norquist).

Fact: There are revenue alternatives to the ten million dollars' worth of budget cuts proposed above:

Restore sales tax on clothing/shoes under $110....................................$5.4 million in new revenue

Continue mortgage tax.................................................................................$1.6 million in new revenue

New Board of Elections efficiencies..........................................................$1 million in new revenue

Municipal Electricity/Gas Alliance membership (as in 23 co.'s)...........$300,000 in new revenue

Canadian Rx option for county employees/retirees (as in 5 co.'s)......$1 million in new revenue

Bail loan fund for some accused of nonviolent misdemeanors...........$1 million in new revenue

[ http://www.MEGAEnergy.org http://www.PetitionOnline.com/SaveOnRx http://wwwOARTompkins.com ]


[...note-- part of this petition calls for a fundamentally different way to fund county services; see below...even if it's just 10% or 20% of county budget that comes from income tax, would work wonders!]


Finally-- again-- do you agree with the County Executive in his press release Friday (reported yesterday) that the following folks are "special interests?...(as he himself put it)...referring to those imbued with the responsibility of sheriff patrols, long-term care for seniors, pro-active and preventive services (such as youth activities, gang prevention, child abuse prevention, domestic violence legal services, domestic abuse response, early intervention, literacy, day care, foster care child advocacy, environmental education, 4-H, the arts, libraries, and animal protection)...
[see for yourself: http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20091205/NEWS01/912050320 ]


Wake up, folks-- wake up!...


Yep-- letters sent to all 25 county legislators at countylegislators@co.dutchess.ny.us really do matter...


And-- one last time-- join 85 signed on to http://www.PetitionOnline.com/SaveDuCo -- pass it on!...


[hope to see y'all at Monday 5 pm vigil-- and at 7 pm public comment period same night a bit later]

Joel
242-3571/876-2488
joeltyner@earthlink.net

p.s. It's also been proven repeatedly that a robust system of community-based senior home care saves tons of money for families-- and tons of tax dollars compared to nursing home placements for those same seniors. As Robert Gumson, Unit Manager for VESID Independent Living Services, told all of us assembled at the Taconic Resources for Independence's 19th Annual Celebration of the Americans with Disabilities Act (at Wallace Center in Hyde Park this July), literally sixty to seventy percent of all senior citizens in nursing homes here in New York State don't need to be there-- and many tax dollars could be saved locally if Dutchess County followed the good examples of Warren and Washington counties and fully took advantage of a Pataki-era Medicaid waiver program to expand a true system of home care for seniors...
[see: http://www.ADAPT.org ; http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/07/19/finally_long_term_home_health_care/ ; http://homecaremag.com/news/aarp-endorses-empowered-home-act-20090608/ ]


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Again-- someone needs to recognize the 800-pound gorilla in room (tax truth); it might as well be me...


[...sign on to http://www.PetitionOnline.com/Fairness to join over 100 Dutchess folks signed on for this!...
Yonkers and NYS long ago recognized wisdom of local income tax to stop local property tax hikes...]


The fact is (as Cahill and Schumer have pointed out) that we in the middle class still pay about 12% of our income in state and local taxes-- while millionaires pay only pay about 9% of there income in state and local taxes(!)....(report just came out last month from Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy)...
[see: http://www.itepnet.org/wp2009/ny_whopays_factsheet.pdf -- why was this censored from papers?]


This is because property and sales taxes have skyrocketed over last 40 years to make up for huge tax cuts for rich in Albany and D.C.; see http://www.abetterchoiceforny.org/topten_mil.html -- Michael Moore's "Capitalism: Love Story" refers to tax rates under Ike: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/ILikeIke ...


[what's definition of insanity?...doing the same thing over and over again and looking for different result; fact is that sooner or later our leaders in county government are going to have to face the music and pay the piper, to truly look at some alternative revenue sources (that don't involve property tax hikes, sales tax hikes, or massive budget cuts-- recall-- budget analysts hired by Co. Leg. have found gaping budget hole, folks-- http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20091205/NEWS01/912050320 ]


For this reason Dem Assemblyman Kevin Cahill and GOP Assemblymen Marc Molinaro and Joel Miller agree on the issue of properly funding our schools and school property taxes-- though they disagree on the details, they all agree that there's only so much you can cut, cut, cut from school budgets without cutting into the meat, heart, soul, blood, and guts of school funding on a local level without those cuts doing real damage-- and there's only so much you can cut in state funding to schools without seeing school property taxes skyrocket further on a local level...


[Cahill, Molinaro, Miller have all decided school funding is fundamental and needs to be funded fairly; how long is it going to take before our county's leaders decide the same thing for local county services?]


So-- despite their differences, Cahill, Molinaro, and Miller have all proposed different plans to cut or eliminate school property taxes completely-- to fund schools instead much more fairly, with taxes much more based on our ability to pay them: income taxes...(many of u have asked me to go into this again)...
[see for yourself: http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=103&sh=story&story=25529 ;
http://assembly.state.ny.us/member_files/102/20060628/ ;
http://propertytaxideas.nysenate.gov/akira/pmd/2174-3904 ]


[note-- re: Cahill proposal-- join 70+ signed on to my http://www.PetitionOnline.com/FairTax petition!]


My point is this...


It might not be a bad idea to at least allow county residents the opportunity to vote on a referendum for a local income tax to slash county property taxes to help local homeowners and small businesses-- given the current $40+ million county budget gap looming for 2010 (that will almost certainly mean massive budget cuts to crucial county services and/or layoffs and/or property tax hikes unless there's no further delay implementing the many cost-saving ideas I've researched and long proposed above)...
[recall-- http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20091010/NEWS01/910100329 ]

Click on these three links (and then "view current signatures") for names and comments from 100's across Dutchess for referendum on county-level income tax here-- to slash property taxes(!):
[see: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/Fairness , http://www.petitiononline.com/fairtax
http://www.petitiononline.com/stopcuts ]


[again-- sign http://www.PetitionOnline.com/Fairness to join over 100 Dutchess folks signed on for this!]


[recall local income tax part of http://www.petitiononline.com/stopcuts last year-- over 40 on board]


[Fiscal Policy Institute Ex. Dir. Frank Mauro has crunched the numbers on some local possibilities:
http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/dutchessRPTlevies.htm ; http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/dutchess1999and2000.htm ;
http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/dutchess2001.htm ; http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/ImpactatDifferentIncomeLevels.htm .]

[also-- see http://www.FiscalPolicy.org -- layoffs in midst of recession is NOT recipe for recovery, folks!]

Almost 90% of all new jobs are from small business; property taxes, not income taxes, are killing them.
[see: http://www.sba.gov/advo/stats/sbfaq.pdf ]

Obama was right last Oct. 15th-- 98 percent of small business owners make less than $250,000 a year.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2008/oct/16/barack-obama/most-small-businesses-wont-be-subject-to-obamas-ta/