Tag: property taxes

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Readers play the blame game with higher taxes and less services

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Readers play the blame game with higher taxes and less services 

I’m not sure how linking a property tax increase to snow removal is a good idea ? Will that tax increase be rescinded if we have a mild winter next year ? Permanently raising the property tax base should be for long term cost increases, not to pay for snow removal in one of the snowiest winters in recent memory.

For those who’ve read their Village Budget Newsletters over the past five years, they will have noticed that all of the growth in our taxes has gone to pay for higher wages, pensions & healthcare. That’s despite a 10% cut in the Village workforce by our previous Village Manager, agreed to by the the previous Council. That has gutted our ability to respond to an Arctic vortex. Maybe if the previous Council hadn’t agreed to a retroactive 12% wage increase in 2011 for the previous Manager, or maybe if we hadn’t handed out 4% annual wage increases from 2010-2014 to some of our highest paid municipal employees – again, agreed to by the previous Council – then we wouldn’t be in this mess ?

Agreed though that we need better leadership – what about shared snow removal services ? If Glenrock, Waldwick, Midland Paqrk and Ho-Ho Kus can do a better job of snow removal, pay them a fee to help us as part of a shared service. That’s where the current Village leadership has let us down. But the wheels of budget cuts for snow removal were put in place in 2010 and 2011.

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Reader says There is a limit to what property owners will pay, and we are there now.

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Reader says There is a limit to what property owners will pay, and we are there now.

I have run many businesses in my long career with tens of thousands of employees. Thanks for the compliment, but the Village manager job’s compensation wouldn’t cover my expense account for a month.

Having said that, when a business (or municipality in this case) is overburdened by generous compensations (=pay for you pinheads) and generous benefits (health insurance and retirement), the ONLY way to be able to continue paying these employees their increases is to ‘raise prices’ and ‘raise profit margins’.

In ‘simple speak’ so y’all can comprehend (=understand), that means raising property taxes. The residents are not about to stand for a property tax increase that can be avoided by outsourcing the services that can be accomplished by anyone with a pulse.
I saw in the paper that the Village advertised a position for an equipment operator that was grossly above what a private sector employee would command (what they would GET for pay)

So maybe you simpletons can understand. EVERYONE is replaceable. Your union contract can easily be converted to toilet paper. Do yourself a favor, if you expect job security, make some recommendations for increased productivity (=work harder and do more). Whining and complaining will make your jobs disappear.
In the real world, when wages become uncompetitive, we move manufacturing to states without unions, such as South Carolina and Alabama. The unions lose members, and the lackey politicians in the Northeast lose a taxpayer, which just shifts the burden (=amount of taxes) to other who are unfortunate enough to still live here.

There is a limit to what property owners will pay, and we are there now.

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