While adopting the budget Tuesday night at the City Council meeting, Finance Commissioner Ken Ivins Jr. laughed that it was the first time in a "long, long time," that he was going to see his property taxes actually go down.

But it seems, in actuality, they won't.

Not because of the city, as is traditionally the case, but rather because of a tax increase at the county that is likely to happen - the first county tax increase in eight years.

Read Michael Cignoli's preview about the public hearing, which he said he hears will be lively, in The Saratogian tomorrow (Dec. 1) or go see for yourself at the public hearing at 5:30 p.m. at the county offices.

It's a little funny, actually. The comprehensive budget originally proposed at the city had a .54 percent increase - which would mean an $8 increase in taxes on a $200,000 house. Now city residents are looking at a $8 decrease in their city taxes.

But-- and here is the (sort of) funny part -- the first year in recent memory that taxes are going down in the city, the county manages to erase that and residents still end up with an $8 increase on a $200,000 home.

Saratogians just can't win.

The City Council decided not to vote on a measure to add the Woodlawn Avenue Parking Deck to the 2011 Capital Improvement budget Tuesday night citing a lack of time to review the proposal.
Mayor Scott Johnson withdrew the discussion and vote from his agenda. “I want to give people more time to absorb it and vote Dec. 6,” he said.
Johnson said adding it to the 2011 Capital Budget is necessary because "the process is unfolding and the bids are coming in. The goal here is to not interfere with a tight timeline.”
A public hearing was held on the parking deck, which will be located on the city-owned Woodlawn Avenue parking lot. It will start as a single additional floor of parking above the ground floor but will be designed to accommodate a third level.
Requests for bids for the design/build project were put out Nov. 16 and are due to be opened Monday. The projected timeline has the parking deck being open before racing season.
The decision to put off the vote to Tuesday came a week after a meeting of potential bidders on the project complained about too little time to work on the project and only moments before a series of people speaking at the public hearing on the topic said the overall timeline is too rushed.
“The rush this is being put under has a lot of implications,” said Pat Kane, who said it could be inadequately planned out. He said it is a “winner of an idea,” but that it was on too accelerated a timeline. “August will be August with or without this parking deck.”
Public Safety Commissioner-Elect Christian Mathiesen echoed Kane’s concerns. He said it would not be his first priority and would like to see a more mixed-use proposal, though he admitted parking is an issue that needs to be addressed.
Both men said construction should be delayed until September. “I think it will have less of an impact on our tourist season,” he said. Mathiesen said he is concerned about the potential for the project to be delayed into racing season. “Take time for the design process,” he said.
Others in the audience at the public hearing had an alternative opinion.
“If you look back in the Chambers’ file on parking decks, this has been talked about for 30 years,” said President of the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce Todd Shimkus. “I think it has been delayed enough.”
He said getting the lot complete to be used during racing season “makes the most sense.”
Bids will be opened in the City Council Chambers Monday, Dec. 5, a deadline that was extended to allow designers an additional weekend to work on the project.

County GOP Committee Chairman Jasper Nolan thinks the city election went south for Republicans because their constituents just didn't show up.

He said early reports he has seen indicate 1,000 fewer Republicans made the trip to the polls than in 2009.

"It was a tough year in some respects," he said.

He said some of the problem might have been an "overconfidence" in the Republican's seats in office.

But he suspects one of the biggest things that cost the city Republicans their elections was a feeling of "anyone but incumbents," in voters. "People wanted a change."

Next week after the final numbers are released on campaign expenses I'll be putting together a story about how much each candidate spent.

At this point it looks like it was an election on the cheap. In 2009 Mayor Scott Johnson spent about $50,000 for his seat at the city council table. This year, the figure is less than half of that.

No TV and no radio ads.

Paraphrasing what he said just before the election, Johnson said if he thought the election were going to be close he would have sprung for the TV and radio but he didn't want to spend money "unnecessarily."

The night of the election, too, Johnson was confident.

I don't think he or many others -- at least in the Republican camp -- thought it was going to be as close as it was.

DEM 10:18 "Everybody, join us at the bar for champagne!" announced Thilo Ullmann, city Democratic Party chair.

"Thank you all for the support you've given me over the past few months - it's been fantastic. Now the real hard work starts, we're going to do very good things for the city of Saratoga Springs," Madigan addresses the crowd.

DEM 10:09

Madigan wins by a landslide. "I worked really hard for this, I'm so excited and I plan to do great things for this city." Mathiesen an upset in a win for public safety.

DEM 9:56

"Mom YOU WON!!" called Michele Madigan's son (enter. Cheers erupting as Dems pull ahead across the board. "Oh my god, my heart is racing," said another woman. Candidates hugging - absentee ballots foreshadowing big things for the Saratoga Springs Dems. Could this be the night they take back the city?

GOP 9:52
"This is horrible," one woman said. One tied-in Republican floated rumors of skullduggery on the part of one candidate. A rumor I have heard elsewhere in the last few days. I'll report it if I can confirm it. More on that later. For now, it doesn't look good for the men-in-red. Mayor up, others down. Ivins significantly so. "It all depends on what happens in districts 20 and 17," one said, hoping for the best.

DEM 9:51

Spotted: Two Dem ladies sneaking back with frozen martinis after crossing the street for a visit to the Holiday Inn bar...

DEM 9:45

"This is so exciting!" Heard round the board from energetic Dems. Lots of celebrating, but tensions are still high. One woman is smiling and biting her nails at the same time. Michele Madigan's husband getting boisterous.

GOP 9:41
With every district they put up on the big board, more Republicans walk away dejected. "This isn't good," said one as the numbers for Wirth continued to slip and the numbers for Madigan pulled away from Ivins. Lots of worried faces.

DEM 9:37

Screaming ladies (and gents) celebrate as Wilkes looks pretty darn good in district 2...

DEM 9:33

Madigan is the lady of the hour over here - just barely below Ivins in district 25. The Wilkes-Johnson race is neck and neck. Hearing some boo's from the crowd... Wish I could see the projection screen from this corner of the room.

DEM 9:29

Cheers rising from the crowd over here by the projector. Looking good so far...

GOP 9:25
Well it's a mixed bag for the few districts reporting now. "This isn't good," said one woman in the GOP crowd. Early reports show Johnson ahead by about 44 votes. Wirth and Ivins, though, are not doing so great. Still, it's early.

GOP 9:23
Everyone is gathering at the projector. I'll update with unofficial numbers soon.

DEM 9:18 p.m.
"M-A-D-I-G-A-N, that spells Madigan, Madigan," a spontaneous song erupts in support of Michele Madigan, up for Commissioner of Finance.
The room is filling up quick. Wilkes, staying true to his open government policy, is mingling, answering questions and enjoying himself despite being "a little bit anxious."

GOP 9 p.m.
And pens down! Polls are closed.
Also, according to GOP chair Jasper Nolan, Skidmore, district 24, had 40 votes as of a few hours ago. "I talked to them around 3 and they had 9 votes cast. They only come out for the national elections."

GOP 8:53
The room is slowly filling with politicians and supporters alike. The bar is working with two tenders and dishing out drinks as fast as they can. Meanwhile tech-savvy GOP members are setting up for poll closing with a projector to post results.

8:53 p.m.
Wilkes enters the room to a round of applause. His drink of choice? Red wine.

8:52 p.m.
Lauren Carpenter reports the crowd of Republicans at the Vista restaurant in Clifton Park is growing as polls are about to close. GOP chairman Brian Telesh and incumbent Town Clerk Pat O'Donnell just arrived.

8:33 p.m.
Good evening fellow patriots. Happy election day from the Inn at Saratoga. People just starting to gather in the ballroom (after stopping at the bar, of course). Plenty of blue and yellow Wilkes signs decorating the walls.

8:25 p.m.
Jim Tedisco just entered the room carrying a Mayor Johnson sign on a six-foot pole. Things are getting rolling.

8:20 p.m.
Well it's here again folks. Time to choose your elected officials. At this point most people should have voted and according to reports one Republican heard it will be a good year for voter turnout.
Finance Commissioner Kenneth Ivins Jr. said he heard it may be as high as 50 percent-- something he believes will help the Republicans.

Stay tuned for election coverage throughout the night. We have reporter Suzanna Lourie at the Democratic headquarters and Lucian McCarty at the Republicans'.

7:30 p.m.

Happy Election Night folks! Our election night pizza has arrived (thanks D'Andrea's) and we are ready to give you some live coverage.

We'll have reporters Lucian McCarty and Suzanna Lourie live-blogging the city's Democratic and Republican election night parties tonight and Michael Cignoli and I will be blogging from the office, updating results from across the county as they come in. Be sure to check back often.

It could be a big night for city politics -- any predictions for tonight's races?

Our southern Saratoga County team -- Community News reporter Glenn Griffith and photographer Lauren Carpenter -- are out covering races for town supervisor and town council in Clifton Park and Halfmoon.

Lauren reports from Clifton Park Town Hall:
A woman working the polls says there has been a steady stream of voters all day without a lull. Republicans are gathering at the Vista restaurant to await returns.

It's been a pretty uneventful day of voting in Saratoga County, not quite as exciting as some other local municipalities.

In Melrose, a town board candidate helped delivery a baby at a polling place after he cast his vote. (TU)

At Schenectady High School, the school day and voting were disrupted when a student reported that a classmate had two grenades (they turned out not be live) and a fire broke out in a bathroom.

Here in Saratoga we were with Mayor Scott Johnson and challenger Brent Wilkes when they cast their votes this morning.(Photos by Erica Miller)

Reporters are heading out in about a half hour, check back here for more updates or follow them on twitter @MCSaratogian @SuzannaKLourie @SaratogianCDesk and @TogianPhotog

— Emily Donohue

GOP 8:20 p.m.
Well it's here again folks. Time to choose your elected officials. At this point most people should have voted and according to reports one Republican heard it will be a good year for voter turnout.
Finance Commissioner Kenneth Ivins Jr. said he heard it may be as high as 50 percent-- something he believes will help the Republicans.

GOP 8:25 p.m.
Jim Tedisco just entered the room carrying a Mayor Johnson sign on a six-foot pole. Things are getting rolling.

GOP/DEM 8:33 p.m.
The stark contrast between the size of the ballroom in the Holiday Inn-- GOP headquarters-- and the size of the ballroom at the Inn at Saratoga-- Dem headquarters-- illustrates the hill the Democrats have to climb to win. Small "C" conservatives in the city outnumber liberals by a couple thousand registered voters. I heard Brent Wilkes on one of the news channels saying a good turnout would benefit him and the other Dems. We'll see.

DEM 8:45
It's Linda Wilkes in the bow-tie tonight. The candidate's wife was wearing gold bow tie at the Democratic headquarters.
If you have noticed Brent Wilkes sans the trademark bow tie lately its no mistake. Brent said a couple of weeks ago at a campaign speech that political research and polls show people have a generally negative first impression of anyone they see with a bow tie. "After the first impression it doesn't matter," he said. But that first impression is obviously an important one in politics. "After I'm elected I'll wear it again."

GOP 8:53
The room is slowly filling with politicians and supporters alike. The bar is working with two tenders and dishing out drinks as fast as they can. Meanwhile tech-savvy GOP members are setting up for poll closing with a projector to post results.

GOP 9 p.m.
And pens down! Polls are closed.
Also, according to GOP chair Jasper Nolan, Skidmore, district 24, had 40 votes as of a few hours ago. "I talked to them around 3 and they had 9 votes cast. They only come out for the national elections."

DEM 9 p.m.

Aaaaand the waiting begins!

DEM 9:18 p.m.

"M-A-D-I-G-A-N, that spells Madigan, Madigan," a spontaneous song erupts in support of Michele Madigan, up for Commissioner of Finance.

The room is filling up quick. Wilkes, staying true to his open government policy, is mingling, answering questions and enjoying himself despite being "a little bit anxious."