Readers of the North County News today are likely to be confused by an article discussing Peekskill’s third zero percent tax increase in row. Mayor-elect Mary Foster is quoted as saying she wanted a “4.5 percent tax increase” instead of no tax increase.
This is puzzling for many reasons. First, before the election, Foster said she was against a 5% tax increase because we have such a large fund balance. She promised to advocate drawing down the reserves, just as she had recommended last year. And had the budget vote been taken before the election, Foster would have pointed out, quite rightly, that the 2006 budgeted operating revenue was a little more than $29 million. The $6 million reserve we are now sitting on is more than 20% of that operating revenue. And when you consider that the New York Courts knocked down that revenue even further in their latest tax certiorari, the City is well within the parameters of its fund balance policy.
Second, Foster said during her Channel 12 debate with Bill Schmidt that we tend to get “sandbagged” by tax increases, only to find that operating profits deliver a surplus in the following year. She went on to predict operating profits for the City in 2007 and 2008. So why is Foster trying, in her own words, to sandbag us now?
Also puzzling: what does the Mayor-elect mean by “keep the two cops”? Logically, if two positions haven’t been filled in over two years, then you aren’t getting rid of anyone. Practically, all bureaucrats know that if you don’t spend what you have been budgeted, you are in danger of losing that money the next go round. And everyone who has ever been on a budget committee knows, it’s a virtual certainty that you don’t get more than one bite at the apple of unspent money. Spend it or lose it, as they say.
Ironically, the zero percent budget was achieved by enacting spending cuts that Democrats had proposed in the past. Council members Don Bennett and Drew Claxton opposed the creation of the Department of Public Information when it was first proposed. This past campaign, Democrats were calling for the elimination of the public information officer’s position. One would think they would applaud these cuts now.
We detect a tone of bitterness in Foster’s allegation that the zero percent tax increase this year will "force" her to raise taxes next year. This doesn’t make sense. First of all, the issue isn’t about her; it's about taxpayers. We recently paid $3.69 a gallon for heating oil. Our taxes are going up everywhere else. It’s nice to know that someone in government is looking out for us.
But a tax increase next year is not inevitable if Foster makes good on her promises regarding development. If she gets Target and Lowe's to locate on Lower South Street, which she can do in the next few months, they’ll be up and running before the Fall, adding a good chunk of revenue. As she said during the campaign, commercial development is best because it doesn’t consume as much in City services as residents do. The Gateway Project is also ready to begin, so she'll have new revenue from that.
We hope that Mayor-elect Foster drops the complaining attitude, and simply rolls up her sleeves and gets the job done that she promised. If she is as successful as her predecessor, next year at this time, she'll be announcing the fourth zero percent tax increase in a row to great applause.
No comments:
Post a Comment