::::::::
Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef released his proposed county budget for next year and it calls for raising property taxes significantly, while still reducing county services.
Vanderhoef's budget shows County government spending $711.5 million in 2011, up from $708 million last year. This will raise the average property-tax bill another $24 on average, according to Vanderhoef.
Clarkstown Town Clerk David Carlucci, Vanderhoef's opponent in the upcoming State Senate race in the 38th District, had harsh words for Vanderhoef's tax increase and says the effective property tax rate is actually 13 percent.
"Yesterday Rockland County Executive Scott Vanderhoef released the new Rockland County Executive Budget and he's raising property taxes by 13%, bringing his four-year property tax increase to 47%. Vanderhoef has given hard-pressed homeowners yet another tax increase. Is he aiming to move us up from our current position as the number five most-taxed county up to four, three, two or one?," said Carlucci.
Even more outrageous is Vanderhoef's attempts to hide the rate increase that property owners will actually pay.
Vanderhoef's website claims that the proposed budget includes a 3.9% tax rate increase for property owners, while just below, a graph indicates the real increase will be a whopping 13.2%. The tax levy, which is 3.9%, describes the total increase in revenue from property taxes in the entire county budget.
And Carlucci is going after Vanderhoef for creating yet another "authority," an autonomous, quasi-governmental institution to administer health care in Rockland County. And I won't even bother paraphrasing Carlucci's campaign at this point, because the stuff below is that riveting:
...Vanderhoef also proudly touted $17.8 million in savings by a proposal to create a new public authority, similar to the MTA, in order to administer the County nursing facility. This unrealistic scheme will require complicated financing, approval from the state legislature and possibly the federal government, and it may even put vulnerable seniors and New Yorkers living with disabilities at serious risk of harm.
"If you like the MTA, you'll love this scheme. Converting the county's nursing care facility into a public benefit corporation is a dangerous one-time budget trick to get a provider off of the county's books," said Carlucci.
Earlier this year, Vanderhoef's own finance staff predicted that property taxes would increase between 60 to 85 percent in order to plug up the estimated $50 million dollar shortfall. As he has done in the past, Vanderhoef is again overestimating revenues and ignoring budget shortfalls, in order to avoid criticism a week before Election Day.
In previous years, this fiscal mismanagement has resulted in budget deficits, more and more borrowing and more and more debt.
It has also left him scrambling for revenue, proposing outrageous "Vanderhoef taxes" like a tax on cell phone use, more taxes on hotel rooms, and even a tax on lifesaving equipment that our volunteer firefighters rely on.
As a result of Vanderhoef's fiscal irresponsibility, Moody's, the independent credit rating system which analyzes government entities, has downgraded our bond rating--actually increasing interest rates and further putting us into a hole.
According to a 2008 report Moody's described our county finances as "structurally imbalanced".
And now it appears that Vanderhoef is again playing fast and loose with the numbers, lying to property owners about how much their taxes will increase as well as proposing savings from the creation of a government bureaucracy, with no guarantee that it will actually be implemented. To say that the county will see immediate savings of $17.8 million is irresponsible at best, fictitious at worst.
When these savings don't materialize, Rockland residents, who have already seen their property rates increase by 30% over the last three years, could be facing additional taxes and fees.
"Throughout Vanderhoef's 17-year incumbency, he has been much more preoccupied with personal gain rather than constructing a responsible budget--even lobbying for and receiving a $17,000 pay raise last year, after the budget had been submitted, while asking property owners to pay more," said Carlucci.
"Vanderhoef is obviously hoping to be out of town when the reality of the budget mess that he's created comes to light. This is simply an "election year' budget, filled with "fuzzy math' and misleading statements. This is not someone who we can trust with our money, not here, certainly not in Albany," Carlucci added.
