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Rensselaer County Taxpayers Association

May 1997                                                                                                                                                     Volume 2, Number 3

To interested readers, we sincerely hope that you enjoy this current edition of the SRCTA Taxpayers Newsletter. Our mission, as an association, simply stated, is to congratulate those on the public payroll when deserved or to criticize favoritism, inefficiency, and the wasteful use of valuable resources when warranted. The bottom line is to make public servants accountable.

Readers are encouraged to alert the SRCT Association when they are aware of ongoing problems. An excellent example is the open letter written by Mark S. Simmons to the residents of the town of East Greenbush (The Advertiser, Vol. XXXIX, No. 37, April 14-19, 1997). He names officials, cites problems, and tells how a "spin" was used to manage the news, etc. Making elected officials accountable for their actions or inaction will serve to bring about change. Remediation of the problem will result; if not, other more qualified, trustworthy persons will be chosen to perform in November.

Numbers count! A cordial invitation is extended to you to become a member of this dynamic group. It is an independent organization which welcomes all persons. Dues are a modest $10 per year, payable in January. Those who chose to join in mid-year will be given credit for the remainder as the dues payment will be credited to next year. Monthly meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month at the East Greenbush Town Hall unless otherwise indicated.

For those who choose to support the SRCT Association, but cannot join, you may send a gift of $5 or more to: PO Box 145, East Greenbush, NY 12061. This will place your name on our mailing list to receive future issues of the Taxpayers News. Please use the coupon on page 4.

SRCTA is not like many other groups such as ACE (Does anyone remember it?) which served the interests of employees of the East Greenbush Central School System, only to be "here today and gone tomorrow." The SRCTA is a dedicated group of your "neighbors" who strive to provide you with meaningful information. This Association is here to stay!

Governor Patacki has proposed a plan that would help lower your school taxes. The Southern Rensselaer County Taxpayer’s Association (SRCTA) supports this plan and encourages you to voice your support to your senator and assemblyman.

In summary, the School Tax Relief (Star) proposal would give some homeowners a 27% local school tax reduction and cap future school tax increases to the lesser of 4% or the rate of inflation in exchange for increased state aid to the school district and mandate relief to the district.

The SRCTA supports this proposal while realizing that it does not go far enough in relieving mandates, specifically those pertaining to teacher tenure, excessive certification requirements and contract negotiations.

The SRCTA believes that local government is most responsive to taxpayers needs and is reluctant to support transferring power to higher government and realizes that what big government gives, they can also take away.

We also realize that local school boards are overwhelmed by state mandates, excessive numbers of professional administrators and teacher unions’ need to increase their fiefdoms while purporting to do what is best for school children. These forces put a constant pressure on spending, thus resulting in higher taxes with very little to offset this problem. Increasingly, we see educrats take an adversarial position against the best interests of the taxpayers, using political influence and divisive methods in order to get voter approval on the largest revenue increase possible, rather than making a legitimate effort to keep costs and taxes at reasonable levels.

Therefore, the SRCTA supports Governor Patacki’s School Tax Relief proposal to help stop this constant pressure for increased spending and taxes and support good, conscientious board members who truly want the best for students. They will be taxpayers themselves, soon enough.

For more information on this proposal, contact your senator or assemblyman:

Honorable Joseph Bruno
New York State Senate
Albany, NY 12247
(518) 455-3191

Honorable Ron Canestrari or Honorable Pat Casale
New York State Assembly
Albany, NY 12248
(518) 455-4474

Hypocrisy Again Distinguishes New York State United Teachers Union

NYSUT recently joined other leaders in labor and religion for a three-day "hunger fast", to protest proposed state budget cuts in areas like education. According to the Times Union (3/19/97), Thomas Hobart, president of NYSUT, urged the fasters to demand that cuts in education be restored. He reportedly called on the fasters who have "stomachs somewhat empty of solid food" to "hunger for a fair budget."

This charade is insulting to the taxpayers of New York, including individuals affected by any proposed cuts. NYSUT is by far the primary roadblock to fair educational budgets in this state. Through local bargaining units effectively under its yoke, NYSUT controls negotiations which devastate the budgets of local school districts, thereby damaging the educational prospects of public school children.

If Mr. Hobart’s organization wished to be involved in a fast, it does not appear to have been a biblically-inspired desire, as the article suggests. Instead, NYSUT may simply have contemplated a respite from the avaricious bingeing involved in forcing school districts into contracts with excessive salary and benefit packages - contracts which punish the children supposedly being helped by school budgets.

If NYSUT wants to engage in a fast, that's fine, but it should begin by abstaining from the greed and selfishness that characterizes much of its own activities.

Tiger Woods, a young, black man has just won the Master’s Golf Tournament. How could this be? He’s a member of a minority and everyone knows that minorities in this racist society cannot achieve. They cannot live the so-called, American dream. The power structure will just not permit it. The justice system sends all young black men to jail, and all of that garbage.

Ask Mr. Woods what affirmative action program enabled him to win. Ask Bill Cosby what quota system made him a recognized educator and the top comedian? Ask Oprah Winfrey what government program made her the highest paid entertainer in the world. Ask thousands of football, baseball and basketball players and prize fighters who made them wealthy and great.

The answer will be simple and straight forward. They made themselves great. It took hard work and lots of it, and they had to beat the competition. Nothing else did the job.

The recent two percent decrease in the Rensselaer County property taxes was implemented by the Republican members of the Legislature to the dismay of several local politicians. East Greenbush’s own legislator Ginny O’Brien, actually opposed and took steps to erase the property tax decrease and attacked other key elements of the spending plan. Those moves were unsuccessful.

Martin Reid, Republican Legislator from Sand Lake, says that he is willing to work with all sides and you would think that most public officials would be happy to support any budget that decreases property taxes, this accomplished without layoffs or cuts in services.

Despite attacks by Democrats like Ms. O’Brien, a budget that brings welcome news for taxpayers was adopted.

Mr. Reid continues, "How can you accomplish these projects while cutting taxes? The answer seems lost on the likes of Ginny O’Brien. What you do is, you roll up your sleeves and trim costs wherever possible. Start programs that reduce work forces through attrition and aggressively bid projects and purchases. Prepare budgets with taxpayers in mind, not with the needs of bureaucrats and special interests."

Mr. Reid concludes, "I am part of a Republican majority in the County Legislature that is willing to work with all sides, Democrats and Republicans alike, in the interest of lower taxes and better services. The question is whether everyone in the Legislature is ready for such a taxpayer-friendly approach?"

Lake Travis, a school district near Austin, TX has given approval to the "Parents as Partners Scholarship Program," which "would give parents who want to send their children to private school about $3000 annually for tuition," according to Education Week.

The proposal comes on the heels of the voter’s ambivalence toward approving a $44 million bond issue to build new schools. School board officials believe that the new choice program would help to ease overcrowding while realizing a sizable savings to taxpayers.

Is everyone making a note on this?

The present "Dunn Memorial Bridge" was started in the 1960’s, semi-finished in 1970-71 and is still in a semi-finished condition. We who live on the east bank of the Hudson River have only two approach lanes to the bridge. If these two narrow lanes are blocked for any reason, we are denied crossing the river, except via the Patroon Island bridge.

Think about how you would feel if you or a family member were in an ambulance going to one of Albany’s hospitals, part way up the ramp, a truck does one of the now common flips. Now you are "stuck" in the full meaning of the word.

There are those who swear by President Clinton - why! - this fellow says, "some have stood right next to Clinton and came out with expletives you wouldn’t hear in a bar room. Ain’t that right Hillary?"

Who ever told Barry Manilow that he could sing? The same guy that told Jerry Lewis that he was funny.
Rensselaer Resident

The state tax amnesty program appeals to the larceny in some people. Most people who pay what is owed on time are not happy with amnesty. It penalizes honest people and points out the inefficiency and incompetence of those in government who are not doing their job.
East Greenbush Resident

To those who espouse the liberal cause, we don’t question your patriotism. We sympathize with your inability to understand what it is.
Nassau Resident

A Chinese businessman was charged double at one of Clinton’s coffee klatches because he preferred tea. If anyone wants hot chocolate, bankers only are invited.
East Greenbush Resident

When one of our learned academics is confronted by a solid statement of facts, the respondents’ rapier-like repartee` elicits an, "Oh yeah" or a Clintonesque doublespeak.
Clinton Heights Resident

Barney Frank finally got jealous of Clinton’s coffee klatches and is offering an "afternoon tea" for selected celebrates. Flounce on in, with checkbook in hand, of course.
East Nassau Resident

At $55,865, the teachers of the Wynantskill Union Free School District have the highest salaries in the Capital District according to the Statistical Profiles of Public School Districts, Feb 1997, State Education Department.
North Greenbush Resident

Mid March, Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) said that he has ordered House Judiciary Committee staff members to review the mechanics of impeaching the president in case a "smoking gun" emerges in the Clinton Fund raising scandals. He emphasized that no impeachment hearings are imminent, but the mere mention of the "I" word by such a prominent member of Congress, who is not only widely respected on both sides of the aisle but clearly in a position to do something about impeachment, has Washington full of speculation.

This announcement certainly sent shock waves through the White House. Does a "smoking gun" already exist?

Has the FBI’s intelligence intercepts of communications to and from the Chinese embassy uncovered some transaction of which Hyde and others have been made aware? You can rest assured that we have seen just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the "cash for access" plot regarding Chinese involvement in Bill Clinton’s White House.

How far to the left can you go without meeting yourself coming back?

Don’t forget folks, get on the bandwagon, join us.

• School board elections are coming up.
• A report on recent raises in East Greenbush township.
• An analysis of the NYS School Report Cards for the East Greenbush School District.
• Next meeting, Tuesday, May 13, Evergreen Country Club, Schodack, 7 PM.