I ignored Political Ivy onceand almost ignored him a second time, but thought better of it. So, if Political Ivy wants to talk budget, I'll talk budget. The NYS Legislature has passed a tough budget during a financial crisis. During times like this you don't cut or tax your way out. The Legislature tried to minimize both.
Now let's talk about the Jefferson County budget. It turns out that Political Ivy is also the Chair of the Finance & Rules Committee for the Jefferson County Legislature. Very impressive! As Chair of the Finance Committee, Political Ivy apparently just realized that County Sales Tax collections are down.
As Gray puts it: "The solutions - recognize the fact that we will use significant fund balance this year for operations, which is not the ideal use of fund balance, or make cuts."
Nice job tracking the issue Chairman. You didn't see this coming? I wonder, did you wait for the NYS Tax Department to tell you Sales Tax are down? You didn't think all the layoffs or people generally spending less money would effect sales tax revenue? I have to believe flower salesare down, so you should have see this first hand.
So Mr. Chairman, I answered you. Now I would like you to answer my questions. As Chairman of the Finance & Rules Committee:
1. What are your plans to make up the Sales Tax short fall?
2. What cuts are you going to recommend?
3. What are you six month and one year projections for Sales Tax, Occupancy Tax and all other county revenue? (Please, tell me you have actually been looking at this stuff)
Stop trying to flex your virtual muscle (the little you actually have) and get to work coming up with a plan to address Jefferson County's budget issues. Be a leader man!
