Happy Thanksgiving

I'll be back after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend with my analysis of the election.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family

Bernardo and Quigley, they'll be "A Good Thing" for Ulster

My picks for Executive and Comptroller are Bernardo and Quigley.

We need change in Ulster County. Neither of these men has been an elected or appointed official in our County Government before. Like Martha Stewart says, "That's A Good Thing".

The dysfunction in Ulster County government and political cronyism (partiality to long-standing friends, especially by appointing them to positions of authority, regardless of their qualifications) has got to stop.

I believe that it will stop by electing Mr. Bernardo and Mr. Quigley.

I am not happy with how our County Government is currently being run. Electing Mr. Hein will be more of the same. While Mr. Auerbach seems like a nice guy, Mr. Quigley's credentials are what I think Ulster County needs: a professional and certified Auditor.

When we voted for the Charter, we voted for change. We now need to back it up with the real candidates of change: Bernardo and Quigley.

20 million? Grow a pair and cut something

Twenty million dollars. That's a lot of money. Divided among all of the taxpayers in Ulster County, it turns about to be about a 3% increase to our taxes.

Now our politicians would have us believe that 3% is a reasonable, modest increase. Now you can do the math, if a $20 million increase gives us a 3% increase, IMAGE how much spending money was added to our budget when our taxes went up by 39%, then by 8% then by 7% - and now by 3%.

I am sick and tired of excuses from our elected officials as to why they can't stop spending money. I control my expenses in my household. When the price of gas and home heating oil goes up, I have to reduce another expense somewhere else in my household because I -- unlike the politicans spending OUR money -- I am on a fixed income.

We keep hearing.... but the jail..... the jail.... the jail... the jail.....
I thought the 39% PERMANENT tax increase kept in place once levied on us was supposed to take care of that.... now we keep having to go back to it?

OK, the jail has to be to Ulster County elected official what gasoline for our cars and home heating oil is to every day people. If it is such a burden - cut SOMETHING else.

Grow a pair and cut something. I don't have any other choice but to cut something else because my income is fixed.

Where's the beef..... I mean 2008 Budget?

It is now October 9. On October 1..... over a week ago..... I posted that Orange County's budget was already in the hands of the Orange County Legislators. When are the Ulster County Legislators going to get our budget?

Is this a delay tactic because it is an election year? Maybe I'm misinformed, maybe Ulster County is on some sort of different fiscal calendar than the counties that surround us.

I have heard that the Supervisor in the Town of Ulster has presented his budget and I think the Mayor of Kingston has as well. Where is Administrator Hein's budget? We have known since last year when the budget should be done. Proper planning would have ensured that the budget was completed in a timely manner and that no extensions be necessary.

It is time to present the Ulster County taxpayers their budget.

And, we do not want a tax increase, and we do not want our general savings fund robbed either.

Sorry, but Common Sense got me hooked on this topic, and I can't get off it.

Mike Hein, LATE AGIN, CAN'T GET THE JOB DONE

When I started this blog and started watching County Politics, I didn't have a "favorite team", but I'm quickly becoming un- impressed by candidate Mike Hein.

Just 3 days again, I called for Mike Hein to stop spending so much time campaigning and trying to smear his opponent and demanded that he get this years budget into the hands of our Ulster County Legislators. This is important taxpayer business that needs to be attended to and will affect everyone who lives in Ulster County.

Apparently, in addition to not being able to do the people's work for which he is paid to do by the taxpayers of Ulster County, he is also not able to do his own campaign work that is required by the NYS Board of Elections.

Yesterday, Friday, October 3, campaign financial disclosures were required to be filed by candidates. Mike Hein's are still not posted as of today. Need proof? I saved you the time of going to the Board of Elections website and took a screen shot for you, next to my calendar page.

If Mr. Hein had filed, you would see the 32 day pre general election report. It's not there.

Mike Hein has already requested the Legislators to let him be late with our County Budget. He is paid...... every week by the way...... with our taxpayer dollars in his appointed position as County Administrator to do this.

Imagine if you had a job where you were paid to get something done (like a budget), and you spent all your time running a political campaign and couldn't finish your work at your regular job. Your boss would fire you.

Mr. Hein needs to stop the campaigning (like just last night) and the smearing his opponent until he gets his work done, that he is paid to do by the Ulster County Taxpayers.

We need to see our Ulster County Budget AND his financial disclosures.

A friend of mine told me that last night, instead of staying at home and working on both of these, that Mike Hein was out schmoozing with his Kingston good-ole-boy friends at the Ulster County Community College Gala at the Hillside. Does this guy want to work and serve the taxpayers of Ulster County, or does he want to party with the good-old-boys?

Ulster Common Sense Has it Right!

UlsterCommonSense.blogspot.com could not have said it better when he warned the politicians that we are watching how much they increase our taxes this year. Simply put, he said that if taxes increase more than his pay increases at work, he is not voting for anyone that had anything to do with it. That includes, legislators, supervisors, town council people, etc.

I could not agree more. We also need to let our politicans know that we can not be fooled by them stealing our Town, Village or County's savings to make it appear that they are not "increasing taxes". Those savings are there for a reason, and it's not to pay for the day to day operations of government.

We can not afford to increase taxes at a percentage rate higher than our pay increases any longer.

Thanks Ulster Common Sense for bringing some Common Sense to the blog-o-sphere!

Orange County versus Ulster County

Ed Diana, Orange County Executive

Orange County's budget is more than twice as much as Ulster County's.

The Orange County budget is already in the hands of their Legislators.

Why don't Ulster County's Legislators have their budget in hand yet? In my opinion it's because our Administrator, Mike Hein, is too busy worrying about campaigning and trying to smear his opponent. We should be trying to help our local small businesses during these tough economic times, not accusing them of lying because they are not meeting "job creation" goals. This is not the time to be pushing more employees on struggling employers. It's time to bring other businesses to our County so that our residents can get good jobs to have a little spending money.

Can we get our finances in order, and get our budget done on time.... please?

And, we would like no property tax hike too.

Orange executive proposes 2009 budget with no property tax hike

Mid-Hudson News Network

GOSHEN - Orange County Executive Edward Diana has proposed a 2009 county budget that would not raise county property taxes.

The $674.5 million plan would authorize spending 3.76 percent more than the 2008 budget of $650 million.

Diana said, "We understand that the people of our county, state and nation are in the throes of serious economic uncertainty and every dollar is precious. We have seen our friends, neighbors and even members of our families struggling in this crisis. This government is committed to doing all in our power to lessen the burdens on our residents by controlling taxes and reducing spending."

To help offset the added expenses of the budget, Diana will seek to advance a county hotel/motel room tax, which he said would pull in an additional $2 million per year and not impact local residents.

The spending plan would also see 67 vacant positions eliminated.

"Thankfully, in past budgets we made preparations for these difficult times by maintaining reserve contingencies while adopting conservative budget practices," Diana said in his budget message. "Orange County will utilize a portion of our reserves to help balance this budget without burdening our taxpayers."

Early legislative reaction to the budget was favorable. Lawmakers will spend the next four weeks looking at the budget looking for ways to save money or shift it to be sure services are preserved.