Heard it Here First


By DIA, Section News
Posted on Sat Jun 21, 2008 at 05:35:40 AM EST

So the Times Union is running a story that I ran three years ago. Mayor Jennings is telling you your city is in financial trouble. Big trouble.

Too bad the TU didn't run the story or the mayor didn't speak up 3 years ago when I reported this situation which has played out exactly as I said it would.
Mayor Jerry Jennings is pinning his hopes for budget relief on a bill state legislators in both houses say is unlikely to pass.

For two years, the mayor has been seeking payments in lieu of taxes from the state for the Harriman State Office Campus. This year, Jennings said, it is vital to close a looming budget gap without laying off employees.

The proposal calls for the city to receive $5.5 million this year and $11 million annually afterward, with the aid diminishing if private developers gain ownership and pay either taxes or a PILOT of their own.

"If we don't get that, we're facing a substantial challenge here to maintain the personnel we have," Jennings said. "We're looking at a gap of at least $6 to $7 million."
Nice work, Jerry.

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Heard it Here First | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
Congratulations, you're prescient (none / 0) (#1)
by AlfredMoisiu on Sat Jun 21, 2008 at 03:13:44 PM EST
When I started posting here awhile back, I'm pretty sure that I told you that the end result of all of this would be bankruptcy. Not sure if that was 3 years ago or not.

You've done a great job at looking at Albany's "money supply" issues with the dump, the budget shell game, etc.

But you've ignored the "demand" side of the equation for the most part. And the overwhelming monetary demand that the city has is public safety salaries and benefits (ie. cops and firemen). Funding for these departments, particularly the police, is squirreled away in all sorts of places, and probably equates to about 70% of the city's annual spend -- and dwarfs even monumental fuckups like the dump.

When it comes time to close firehouses and layoff cops, whomever is dealing with it is going to be in for a brutal time -- getting cops to work the overtime they are now to maintain coverage will get tough. Have fun with the arbitration for the next contract!

Bankruptcy will be the only viable option, as it's the only way to break the bargaining agreements and slash the Cadillac benefits that city workers receive (15% of the budget), stop raises, reduce other fringe benefits and get out of whatever other bad deals the city has entered.

demand (none / 0) (#2)
by DIA on Sun Jun 22, 2008 at 05:21:13 AM EST
If you may recall I advocated for a few years for the city to make the budget available to everyone so we could all look at where the money was going.   When they finally did, the budget was clear as mud and doesn't allow for us to make accurate judgements. You are correct that jerry does a good job of hiding the true expense of various things in the budget.  Reeks of honesty, eh?

If we had a clear budget, it would be much easier to make demand recommendations.

Another thing I've been saying for some time is that we would have to cut expenses, the unions would have to give up some things or they would just be giving up jobs and that across the board we need to look at cutting expenses.  I've made recomendations before.  Like selling the money losing golf course, eliminating the personal use of city vehicles for management, fixing the assessment disaster, etc.  

The main difference between you and I is that you have supported the mayor throughout this and I have said he needs to go because he refuses to address it.  I think you will agree he has been a complete failure when it comes to preparing the city for what we all knew was coming. I don't think he has the ability to fix this.

One final note.  he liked to brag about how he supported republicans like Pataki because he needed to do what was best for the city.  As we all know you can't have your cake and eat it, too.  Jerry took the easy road, sold out the democratic party that he is part of, and endorsed Pataki and supported Sweeney so that he could have it easy in the short term.  Now it is time to pay the price for that.  No Republicans can help him.  And the Democrats he abandoned don't seem inclined to help him either.

For many reasons, for the good of Albany, he has to go.

You are correct that cleaning up his mess will not be easy.  and the unions are going to fight like hell because Jennings never negotiated anything.   If this was all easy to do, Jennings wouldn't be in such trouble.  

Time for an adult to step in.

Heard it Here First | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
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