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STATEMENT BY February 18, 1999 The Warren County Budget Committee is asking citizen-taxpayers of the County to voice their opinions "on ways that the County can make more money." I hope that what the County is implying is that the County is finding it difficult to pay for the few legitimate functions of government such as road repair, police protection from truly dangerous people and relief for the truly needy. Ideas that are before the County Committee include a bed tax (otherwise known as an occupancy tax), an amusement tax, a mortgage tax, an increase in the local sales tax and legalized gambling. Four tax increases and an immoral adventure. Naturally, I have a different idea. To obtain all the money the County will need to provide the truly legitimate services of government, make draconian cuts to expenditures in at least three areas of current spending: Corporate Welfare, "Officialdom" and "adventures". With regard to Corporate Welfare my suggestion is: abide by the N.Y. Constitution’s prohibitions against the use of tax revenues in aid of private undertakings. Stop giving hundreds of thousands of tax dollars to the Economic Development Corporation on an annual basis. It’s not only unconstitutional to use public money for private purposes, the money is merely being used to pay the salaries, wages and benefits of your friends who work for the EDC. Where in this hocus-pocus are the net economic benefits to the ordinary, non-aligned citizen taxpayers? Stop spending millions of dollars on an annual basis to promote the tourism industry. Not only is it unconstitutional to use public resources for private purposes, the only net beneficiaries of each of those advertising dollars are the owners of the private business establishments. It is fiscally irresponsible to socialize the ordinary operating costs of businesses without socializing their profits. Stop giving 485-b tax exemptions to private businessmen. Stop interfering. Let the free market work. It has served us well in the past. Stop giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to all these private, not-for-profit corporations that provide you with votes and campaign contributions each year. It not only violates the will of all the people as expressed in the N.Y. Constitution, most of the money goes to pay the salaries, wages and benefits of the people who are employed by these private organizations. Little goes for "services". Stop giving millions of dollars to the County IDA every year. It’s not only unconstitutional, its fiscally irresponsible. With regard to the second area of general spending reductions -- "Officialdom" -- I suggest that our public servants become public servants again. Our system of governance was founded on the belief that public service and private misery are inseparably linked; that people should go into public service to make a contribution to our society, not for riches; that they would not have job security and high wages, salaries and benefits; that they would only have job security at livable wages; that our public servants would most certainly not become the class of privileged autocrats that they have become. With regard to the third and final area of suggested general spending reductions -- "adventures" -- I suggest that the County immediately extricate itself from what can only be called its fiscally irresponsible adventures. Get out of the railroad business. Sell it! Get out of the airport business. Sell it! Get out of your part of the ski slope business. Pressure the state to sell Gore Mountain. Get out of the entertainment business. Sell the Civic Center! Get out of the trash-to-power business. Stop the hemorrhaging. Stop using tax dollars to service the debt of the Hudson Falls trash plant. If you will not listen to the N.Y. Constitution, listen to your County taxpayers. Get out of the Fish Hatchery business. Let the state pay for the fish people from all over this state catch in our rivers and lakes. Stop spending money on the adventure known as the Warren County Sewer Project, a project to pour the waters of Lake George into the Hudson River so that a casino gambling industry can be located on the properties of your friends in the Village and Town of Lake George. Tell people that it is your policy that you welcome development in the County, but that development will have to take place on property that can support on-site wastewater disposal systems. It’s called individualism and self-reliance rather than governmental dependency. It’s also called good environmental management. Do it! I realize that in order for an individual supervisor to adopt these suggestions he will have to abandon his loyalties to self and to party, in favor of the public good and the rule of law. Frankly, I don’t see you doing this. That’s not why you came to the party. It’s not your game. I feel you will have to be put under extreme pressure. The nature and direction of that pressure is yet to be defined. It could be anything from intensified taxpayer reluctance and continued confrontation to an outright "sit in" type of rebellion. What I think will happen in this County is that a Constitution Party will be formed. It will spring into action before the November election, vote in a slate of people committed to good government, the Constitution and its basic republican principles (small "r" -- not the party but the philosophy). The $64,000 question will be this: "Are there more people demanding that you stop taking than there are that have their hand out?" The answer will be instructive. |
