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Council follow up
There were several important things that happened at City Council on Tuesday evening that I did not have a chance to put in that paper today or tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll get them in for Friday.
In the meantime, blog readers can get a sneak preview.
1) In a four-to-one vote, the city council adopted new water and sewer budgets, and include a 5-percent hike in water bills. Commissioner Ken Ivins was the sole dissenting votes, noting that he wanted to hold the line on taxes to the greatest extent possible, and urging his fellow commissioners to think about a 3-percent tax increase, but doing so would not have left the city with a balanced water budget.
Commissioner Scirocco noted that part of the problem with the water budget is that the past several years have been drier than usual. Obviously, this is out of the control of the city government.
2) In executive session, which came at the end of last night's meeting, the council voted to settle a case with Matthew Gamon, a former city firefighter who sued the city on the grounds of alleged discrimination because of color blindness and his inability to pass a test.
Mayor Scott Johnson said that the council, under advice from outside counsel, noted to settle the case outside of court for $28,000. Of the settlement, $21,000 will be paid by the city's insurer. The remaining $7,000 will be paid out of the city's reserve for settling such cases, managed under the Risk and Safety budget.
Stay tuned for more follow up.
In the meantime, blog readers can get a sneak preview.
1) In a four-to-one vote, the city council adopted new water and sewer budgets, and include a 5-percent hike in water bills. Commissioner Ken Ivins was the sole dissenting votes, noting that he wanted to hold the line on taxes to the greatest extent possible, and urging his fellow commissioners to think about a 3-percent tax increase, but doing so would not have left the city with a balanced water budget.
Commissioner Scirocco noted that part of the problem with the water budget is that the past several years have been drier than usual. Obviously, this is out of the control of the city government.
2) In executive session, which came at the end of last night's meeting, the council voted to settle a case with Matthew Gamon, a former city firefighter who sued the city on the grounds of alleged discrimination because of color blindness and his inability to pass a test.
Mayor Scott Johnson said that the council, under advice from outside counsel, noted to settle the case outside of court for $28,000. Of the settlement, $21,000 will be paid by the city's insurer. The remaining $7,000 will be paid out of the city's reserve for settling such cases, managed under the Risk and Safety budget.
Stay tuned for more follow up.
posted by The Saratogian City Desk at
7:48 PM
7 Comments:
Great. A "hidden tax." When will it stop? Until we start cutting positions taxes will continue to rise.
Well, I'm writing my comment here as an outlet to my frustration at unsucessfully trying to find how to submit a letter to the editor on the Saratogian website and because I refuse to call in to the Sound Off.
I was speaking to a friend of mine who had what seemed to be a great idea. Instead of spending millions of dollars to build a new rec facility against the will of the neighbors on current park open space, how about using the old Elsworth Ice Cream factory on Division Street. I highly doubt that another ice cream company will be moving in there.
Wouldn't it be great to rehabilitate that site into a recreation facility?
Casey --
Letters to the editor can be addressed via email to: letters@saratogian.com
or via snail mail to:
Editor
The Saratogian
20 Lake Avenue
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
Contact information for the paper is available online here:
http://www.saratogian.com/contact/
I hope this is helpful, and certainly, I'm interested to hear how your suggestion is received, it's certainly not one that I've heard before. The only problem that comes to mind is that the city wants to build on property they already own, rather than buying new property.
Michael Says...
It's government at its best when people get a water rate increase after they reduce consumption. Especially so after the DPW Commissioner has requested reduced usage, for several years, as documented on the water bills. Time has come for better cost management.
It won't take many rate increases in Saratoga Springs before the County Water System becomes price competitive.
Andrew
You probably have better resources than I do. I researched the average rainfall for Saratoga Springs since 1903 to 1995. Can't find totals from 1995 to 2008.
I have found that our average yearly rainfalls have been between 40.4" and 42" since 1903.
People are telling me that we have had MORE rain, not LESS in the past three years, which is contrary to what Comm. Scirrocco says.
Andrew and Casey,
The Recreation Center has been mentioned to be located at Ellsworth. A couple of problems one of which you mentioned is the city doesn't own it. The other is you are now trying to stick it in another neighborhood which will cause some of the same problems. Streets there are too small and the NIMBY's will come out in force. In the past the westside field just a half block from there was a possible location that another fight stopped the building. That was the west side neighborhood association that raised the roof on the project. As a former member of the Rec commission I have seen different locations come and go. The most recent I brought to the mayors attention was a better option than the weibel ave. site. Once I mentioned it Mayor Johnson took the idea and ran with it.
Mr. Hawthorne, a long-time supporter of the indoor rec center, admits that moving its location to the Ellsworth Ice Cream building will fire up the NIMBYS there as well. Turns out he lives in that part of town! The irony here is just so apparent....why would anyone want this center in their neighborhood back yard, BTW? And is that not a great argument for putting it at Weibel Ave, where no one lives next door? That, of course, assumes Saratogians still think we can afford it, with the DOW at 6,500 and no end in sight for rising unemployment, leading to less tax revenue for our city. Save the South Side Park and stop the financial waste!
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