Still no official announcement from John Arpei about running for Accounts Commissioner, but the Republican Committee keeps making that point.

They are also still looking for a Finance Candidate to run against Michele Madigan, a prospect that seems to be getting dimmer with every announcement.

SARATOGA SPRINGS REPUBLICAN COMMITTEE

P.O. Box 3105

Saratoga Springs NY 12866

Phone: (518) 587-6670 and Fax: 587-6672

www.ssgop.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
City Committee Endorses John P. Arpei for Commissioner of Accounts for 2013 City Election

Saratoga Springs, NY – June 12, 2013 – The Saratoga Springs Republican Committee met for its monthly meeting at the ITAM in Saratoga Springs, where it made another endorsement for the 2013 election cycle.

The Committee previously made endorsements for Mayor, the Commissioners of Public Safety, Public Works and for County Supervisors.

John P. Arpei, a retired auditor who worked for the State of New York, Office of the State Comptroller, received the unanimous support of the Committee. “We were most fortunate to have John step forward to join our slate of strong candidates and we look forward to helping them win in November. We encourage anyone interested in running for our one open seat to contact us” said David Harper, Chairman of the city GOP Committee.

The committee is still looking for interested candidates for the Commissioner of Finance. Interested parties should contact David Harper - Chairman

Contact:  David Harper – Chairman, dharper@davidharperlaw.com 518.587.6670

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Finance Commissioner Kenneth Ivins will debut the city’s 2012 comprehensive budget at the City Council meeting tonight. Ahead of that, Ivins released some of the preliminary details of the budget—including the proposed tax increase of .54 percent at a kind of Preview Presser (You read that term here first folks).
“It’s essentially one-half of 1 percent property tax increase and my goal is by the end of November we can get the number even lower,” Ivins said, explaining as the year comes to a close, more solid numbers for revenues in the city will come in. “The further you get into the year the better numbers you get for preparing a budget.”
He also distributed a sheet showing the dollar-amount tax increase for homes valued at $200,000, 300,000 and $400,000 (see below, and please excuse the foolish dashes, Blogger isn't cooperating with me).

Home Value===== 2011=====2011==== Increase
$200,000--------$1,212.80----$1,221.41----$8.61
$300,000--------$1,819.20----$1,832.12----$12.92
$400,000--------$2,425.60----$2,442.82----$17.22


Last year’s budget passed with a 4.45 percent tax increase, more than eight times the 20112 proposal.
Ivins attributed the change to better-than-expected sales tax revenues, Video Lottery Terminal funds coming into the city which had been absent for years and health insurance costs which increased, but not by as much as previous years.
One thing that is not driving up the cost was Ivins’ decision not to include the position of reservation coordinator in the budget—a position requested by Public Works Commissioner Anthony “Skip” Scirocco that created debate and a split vote at the Sept. 20 city council meeting. (the comments in the story are not so split)
"I voted for creating the position," Ivins said. "I've voted to create a number of positions over the years I don't necessarily fund. I felt this was not the right time to fund that position," though he did not rule it out in the future.
Michele Madigan was also on-hand for Ivins' brief press conference. She asked him about the sale of the Lillians' lot on Broadway to contractor Sonny Bonacio and whether the money would be in the budget again. (It was in both 2010 and 2011, though not used).
Ivins said it would be as part of the Woodlawn Avenue parking garage-- since the revenue from the sale is being used for that project.
Madigan, too, said she was pleased to see the "pretty low rate. But I think we could do 0 percent, but I wouldn't want to see that at the cost of any layoffs."
Check in on The Saratogian for full coverage of tonight's presentation on the budget and further in-depth coverage in the days to come (We can't do it all tonight -- damn deadlines).

I think Michele Madigan got the message that I will post most everything I receive from candidates on this blog, because I have been inundated with regular faxes with the letterhead: "Michele Madigan for Finance; The Clear Choice."
Her latest was a response to Ken Ivins' response to one of her first.
“Just because I voted to create the positions does not mean I voted to fund the positions,” Ivins said Thursday in response to criticism from Madigan.
Ivins recently voted to create a position of "Reservation coordinator" to handle reservations for city owned property. The position pays $20.39 an hour plus benefits. (Also check out Managing Editor Barbara Lombardo's editorial on the position)
“Mr. Scirocco made a good argument for creating the position,” he said. adding that he has been meeting with the commissioners this week, going over requests for each department and “crunching the numbers.”
Ivins said that was on the table as a potential cut.
Madigan's latest letter, dated Oct. 3, includes Ivins' first statement above. She said she wants to be finance commissioner "because the incumbent cannot seem to communicate clearly with his fellow citizens and, frankly, does not seem to understand our city's finances. His response to me is a prime example. He votes for staffing changes, but then says he didn't vote to pay for them."
Ivins explained to me that he created the position but didn't know if it was in the 2012 budget yet. "I'm in negotiations with Mr. Scirocco," he said, something he does before every comprehensive budget comes out.
He gets a "Wish List" (Accounts Commissioner John Franck's words) from every commissioner, meets with each department head and then decides which ones the city can afford to pay for.
The comprehensive budget is due out at the Oct. 4 City Council meeting.
"I expect Ivins to propose a small property tax increase and will be looking very closely at his revenue and expense projections for the coming year. Hopefully they will bear some resemblance to reality but based on his past performance I'm not holding my breath," Madigan said and called for a debate.
We'll see how her predictions pan out at tomorrow's meeting.