Officials Admit $330,000 Deficit

We have been reporting for some time that the town budget purporting to have no tax increase was a sham from inception designed to conceal the mess created by an inept supervisor desperate to get re-elected and a town clerk helping him cover up the facts. That fact was exposed at the Budget Workshop Meeting of October 25th when both the Town Clerk and Supervisor admitted the budget line for the Unexpended Balance was not Zero, but rather a minus $330,000. (There is a Public Hearing on Budget Tonight, Monday October 29th at 6:30 which is not listed on the Town Web Site townofng.com)

We reminded the public that the 2007 budget released by Evers in fall 2006 claimed a 3% tax hike when released. However when one did the math, the number was $34%. That's was the amount of new dollars to be raised by the property tax levy verses the prior years number. It was a simple subtraction and division and how Evers could claim black is white still remains incomprehensible.

The actual, not fictional proposed tax hike was lowered by identifying "new" anticipated revenue. $235,000 in GEIS fees was identified by the town engineer, Mr. Murley, and turned over to the Supervisor and Board as a source of revenue the town was owed by developers and collectable by the Supervisor. Trouble is Evers did nothing to collect it. He continued to make illegal hires and spend money he did not have. Coupled with a deficit from 2006 created in part by the prior administration's failure to pay and properly account for an owed payment to the State Retirement System, the result is that North Greenbush has a $330,000 deficit standing behind a no tax increase budget.This equates to a tax hike of 33% (1% for every $10,000 in revenue.)

The consequences to the town are clear. Evers is simply trying to hide the deficit and "carry it on the books" to get re-elected. Trouble is that State Law requires a balanced budget so the Town Board will likely have to take steps to bring the books into balance. That usually means tough choices. Clearly Evers has no intention of trying to collect fees from his friends in the development community who owe the town reimbursable fees from their share of the GEIS study. So the Board must find a way to erase $330,000 from the spending codes that try to make everything look normal.

The options are cutting spending or raising taxes and identifying other sources of revenues to offset the deficit. You might remember that Rensselaer County played this game years back when they used anticipated revenue from the purported sale of the old nursing home to "balance" three county budgets. Trouble was they never had a buyer and the county had to make up the losses, mostly by eventually raises taxes and fees.

So what are the likely options in North Greenbush to make up for the hidden deficit?First a dose of honesty, Evers and Connolly have finally admitted the document they prepared is a sham, even though Evers continues to state publicly he has proposed a no tax increase budget. He fails to tell the public about his deficit. The fix is usually painful. Cuts in staff, cuts in spending and a potential tax increase are certainly a strong possibility.

What is certain is that Evers is the Great Misleader of Town Government. His handling of the budget is no different than the way he ran the town for the past two years, by deceiving people, violating laws, doing what ever he wanted to get his way.
No wonder four corrupt party bosses like him so much. He'll bankrupt the town, give all the money he can to his Conservative Chairman Water contractor and leave the average taxpayer holding the bag. Big trouble ahead for North Greenbush because all these folks do is demonize those they fear or who expose them.

McNulty Endorsement for Spain?

Well, we havn't seen that one or the one purportedly from Bill Dedrick. We know Jim Germano endorses him along with the Conservative Chairman of Casale Excavating, but McNulty and Dedrick? Read it for yourself on Al Spains entry to his Times Union Voter Guide. We'd love to see McNulty's letter of endorsement of a"Democrat" who gave $250.00 to the GOP mayor of Troy and nothing to the endorsed Democratic candidate Jim Conroy.

Condolences
Special condolences to Rensselaer County Democratic Chairman Tom Wade and his family on the passing of his mother last evening.

Late Financial Disclosure Reports

Kyran Devery
Today is Day 107 for the North Greenbush Democratic Committee violation of State Election Law requiring the on line filing of a Financial Disclosure Report due July 15, 2007. They are also 24 days late on a 32 Day Pre General filing due October 5th and 3 days late filing their October 26th 11 Day Pre General Report. The Board of Elections has sent them another letter attempting to get them to file as required by law. They have completely IGNORED those letters and apparently blame others for their actions. Laws apparently don’t apply to the “reformed” democrats under Jeff Spain and his Treasurer, Tax Collector Kyran Devery. If he does the town job the way he does his political job of party treasurer, time for a change!