Hit Escape and Re-Boot

I realize it has been months since my last post. Sometimes one needs to step away for a while in order to reflect and recharge the mind & spirit. Last year was filled with many peaks and valleys; the loss of our sweet Sherlock, saying goodbye to the Common Council and of course we all know about the Primary Election results. With that said, it was a great year. We have a wonderful new puppy named Kirby, I met many amazing people during the campaign, and feel that for such a short time on the Council I made a difference and now have a connection with my neighbors that will continue on in private life. Things happen for a reason, and I feel a shift in the tide here in Kingston and it seems we are gaining momentum and enthusiasm. That’s what we all hope for, and good things will spring from it.

The time away has also been wonderful in helping me understand how I can still be of service to the community and help Kingston be a great, thriving City. I was recently asked to serve as a Director on the Kingston Land Trust and will also be taking an active role with the Rail Trail Committee which I believe is going to be a vital asset for our City in the future. The folks who contribute their time for these projects are some of the most talented and creative professionals I’ve met. Kingston can benefit in a big way from their vision. Their efforts also tie in to the need for a public/private partnership in order to protect, maintain, and improve our City Parks and open space. In addition to the KLT, I’m working on the “Kingston Parks Movies Under The Stars” Project in order to purchase an inflatable movie screen & projector to play movies in various Kingston City Parks each week this summer. The response to this project has been great and the support from local businesses and residents alike is encouraging. There are several fundraisers underway including a concert at the Old Dutch Church on March 24th with some of Kingston’s finest musicians donating their talents (my husband Tony being one of them).

As you can see, I will continue to stay involved so we can make our City great. I will also continue to use this blog to encourage ideas, dialog, and shine a light on City government when necessary. With the recent headlines of more inappropriate behavior from the past administration there will be lots to write about. It’s good to be back.

2012 Budget Recommendations

I presented this to Council President Jim Noble & Finance Committee Chairman Charlie Landi:

November 1, 2011
RE: Mayor’s Proposed 2012 Budget

Dear President Noble & Chairman Landi,
As you know, the City of Kingston’s finances are in a fragile state. The uncertainty of the economy, the increases in costs which are out of our control, and of course the 2% tax cap puts a strain on how our City operates. Our taxpayers can no longer sustain the costs that have been passed along to them any longer and it is beginning to show by the erosion in our property values and business opportunities. The Mayor is proposing to take over $1.2 million from our City’s Fund Balance (nearly half) which is a risky move, especially when you consider the unpaid items that we still have to deal with before the end of 2011 (Kings Inn Lawsuits, Pike Plan cost overruns, Tax assessment settlement refunds of over $250,000 for Stony Run & Holiday Inn, and others). Raiding our fund balance will put us at risk to operate below the recommended 5% of New York’s guidelines. This will surely affect our bond rating which is not a good idea. This year we have had to bond for repairs to Washington Avenue, we’ve bonded $100,000 for Tax Certiorari Claims (and now our Assessor is asking for another $175,000), we bond for Police Cars and DPW equipment that may not last as long as the payments. A lower Bond Rating will increase the costs just to borrow for the things we should not be borrowing for in the first place, let alone the major infrastructure improvements which are necessary and long overdue. Our role as the Common Council is protect the people we represent, and allowing this to happen is not in their best interest. We must look at the long term effect on what this budget will do to the City of Kingston’s finances. I am making the following recommendations to the 2012 Budget in order to save wherever we can. Thank you.
Respectfully Submitted,

Andi Turco-Levin
City of Kingston Common Council Minority Leader
1st Ward Alderman


2012 City of Kingston Budget Amendments
Submitted by Common Council Minority Leader – Andi Turco-Levin
November 1, 2011

1. Combine the Economic Development and Community Development Offices. We can save by eliminating the Director’s position and combining the efforts of this office with Community Development. Recent accomplishments of this office have been more focused on grant writing as opposed to business opportunities. It is time to re-focus and streamline. Savings could be as much as $150,000.

2. It is time to look at the cost of the City’s Annual Audit budget line. It is also prudent for the Common Council to request that this go out for bid to encourage other accounting firms to offer proposals for our business. Besides, a fresh set of eyes can find many things when going through the finances. There could also be savings or us with competitive bids, perhaps by $10,000.

3. Eliminate the position of the Urban Cultural Parks Coordinator. This office has produced very little for the cost to the taxpayer. The revenues generated from the gift shop are projected as a dismal $100. The Visitor’s Center can be staffed by volunteers on the weekends or we can close it, or we could make arrangements with either a local business group or Artist Associations to work together. The press releases can be generated through the City Clerk’s office. With the move towards social media and electronic notices it will help fill the gap. Savings will be $70,000.

4. Review all leases the City of Kingston holds and begin to review new opportunities. This will include entering into agreements for local dining establishments who currently take up City sidewalks. Implementing a Sidewalk Dining Permit. Not only will it help create revenue, it may encourage new restaurants with new opportunities to succeed.

5. I realize how much the City benefits from the Federal and State dollars that come to us through our Citibus program. However, something must be done to increase ridership and also review the routes that are in place now. Every bit of feedback that I have received from riders has been that the routes and the schedules are not user-friendly. I still stand by the recommendation that we should strongly consider a merge with Ulster County Area Transport in order for our residents to benefit from this service. (not something for this year’s budget I suppose) However, the City could benefit from advertising sales. There are advertising agencies that can put together proposals to coordinate everything with the City sharing some of the revenue. Something is better than nothing.

6. Eliminate the Deputy Assessor OR eliminate the Consultant (GAR). The poor performance of this office has cost the City taxpayer a lot of money. With the hiring of an actual appraiser as the new City Assessor perhaps this office will finally get on track. If the Assessor is qualified there is no reason for us to have such a large department for a City this size. Ultimately it would be wise to consider shared services for this on either the County level or with the Town of Ulster.

7. The Sewer Rates, although a pay for service fee is scheduled to increase by nearly 15% (the 2011 increase was 6%) and the Common Council needs to be aware that these increases also add to the financial burden our property owners have to bear. The overtime line at the Waste Treatment Plant has been commented on year after year, yet I must ask the question. If it is scheduled OT, how is there a 3 hour callback mandate each time? I concur that CAMO plays a valuable role in the operations of our Treatment Plant and believe that they need to remain in place. We need only one Senior Operator at that Plant.

In Summary, we must do a better job at looking at how business is done. I have other items which I will be submitting to you in the upcoming weeks. I am looking forward to asking our Department representatives to come before the Finance Committee to shed light on how they can work with us to find new and creative ways to help us balance this budget. Coming up with new and creative ways to improve our revenue projections, finding solutions with public/private partnerships, and keeping an open mind to allow change is how we can accomplish this task. In the future we may have to re-visit how we collect our garbage to control our labor costs and tipping fees. As long as the Common Council communicates to the public their intentions and encourages the Public’s input we could actually find ourselves moving in a positive direction.

Budget Time in the City of Kingston

I wanted to be sure that everyone knew that the Mayor's Proposed 2012 Budget is available online (you can also go the the City Clerk's office and purchase one if you prefer to have a paper copy) You can also click on the link below where you can download the .pdf file.

The Public Hearing date has been set for Wednesday November 2nd beginning at 7pm in the Common Council Chambers at City Hall. I urge you to take a look at this budget and I welcome everyone to come to this hearing and speak up with your thoughts.

http://www.ci.kingston.ny.us/filestorage/76/78/1007/2012-proposed-budget.pdf

As you know, we are dealing with the 2% tax cap which made this budget a difficult one. With the mandated items such as health insurance costs, retirement and debt service the Mayor has decided to tap into the City's fund balance to the tune of $1.2 million leaving us with a very small nest egg for the future. This is very scary as we will have very little to fall back on.

Without getting too complicated, this budget will be raising our tax rate by .67% for homestead and .72% for non homestead properties when compared to the 2011 Budget. However when you take into consideration that our assessed values across the city dropped nearly 12% this past year the actual amount per thousand you will be paying increases by about 11.9%. (It's confusing) The rates per thousand are this: $7.09 for residences and $14.37 for commercial properties.

One other part of the 'smoke & mirrors' portion of this is the increase in both the sewer rates and the water rates. These fees sneak up on you and most definately increases the burden on our taxpayers.

I would also be remiss if I did not point out that the bill for our Safety Net is $1.4 million dollars for the upcoming year.

It is now up to the Council to go through the budget and make recommendations for adjustments. Raiding the fund balance is like playing Russian Roullette.

A Fond Farewell To A Friend

This week Tony and I lost one of our beloved Westies who you have seen photos of through the years on this blog. Sherlock had one of the sweetest souls I've ever known and he taught me many lessons. He loved his walks and had to stop and say hello to every person or child he would see along the way. Those walks introduced me to my neighbors over the years where conversations of community issues, rising taxes, and other things eventually led me to run for the Alderman's seat.
This autumn has been a roller coaster of emotions, especially after the Primary results, but we all look ahead and celebrate the good things in life we have as well as the joy and great memories we are left with. I owe a lot to Sherlock for keeping me grounded throughout all of it.

Walking through the neighborhood will never be the same.

A Vibrant Uptown Business District

Over this last weekend the City of Kingston was the happening place to be. All weekend long the 2nd Annual O+ Festival (Oh-Positive in case you are not familiar) was the catalyst for all the activity. Organized by local artists, this event was covered by the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal shining a light on our wonderful City. Artists from around the world and bands from up and down the East Coast took part offering their talents in exchange for the opportunity to see a doctor or dentist or whatever they needed in terms of their health (many do not have health care).
Here are some photos of the celebration. There is still time to take a walk around to see the wheat paste up works that are on the sides of the buildings. Congrats to the everyone at O+, and thank you for all the hard work.

To BID or Not to BID

The Common Council recently passed a resolution allowing for the preparation of a BID (Business Improvement District). This project has evolved out of the Main Street Manager program that was implemented several years ago. Under the stewardship of the Business Alliance of Kingston there were focus groups, meetings, and presentations given to educate the public on the benefits of having a BID. I was present for several of these meetings including the presentations given at City Hall. From the beginning I’ve had reservations because of the current tax structure of the homestead/non-homestead rates putting a tremendous burden on our commercial property owners. However, I kept an open mind and agreed to support this measure as long as there was enough room to adjust or modify this plan. The devil is in the details, and I think some things need to be brought to the forefront here before we go any further. I will try to outline this as simply as I can although this is a very complex issue.

Before I get into details, if you are reading this and are a stakeholder, please make sure you educate yourself on this BID, you have only 30 days to file your comments along with your objection or approval.

Simply put, this BID is not acceptable the way it is. Where I can support the concept, this BID is far too large in scope and does not define the duties, staffing, and cost benefits to allow this plan to go further. I also find the nature in which this entire process has been done has not encouraged participation from the stakeholders who will be paying for this BID. The way it is written, once it has been enacted it will be very difficult to dissolve and there is far too much authority to spend taxpayer money without oversight and shareholder approvals.
If you would like to review the proposal you can download it here:

http://thestorefrontgallery.com/BID_DISTRICT%20PLAN-FINAL_091611-2.pdf

Here are the comments and issues that I have, many of them were echoed at last week’s Public Hearing.
This BID includes a major part of our commercial corridor including the entire Broadway Corridor which was originally proposed. The needs of the businesses in midtown are much different than those in the Rondout and there is little information on how these services will differ. The other issue is that the map that was passed by the Council was not what was presented to us. At the 11th hour additional areas were added in order to make up the funding needed so this BID now includes parts of Abeel Street, East Strand, Saint James Street, Pine Grove Ave, Summer Street, Oneil Street, Andrew Street, Cornell Street, Prince Street, Jansen Ave, Cedar Street and others. These property owners were not part of the original plan and many are hearing about it for the first time through articles in the newspapers. When I was actively campaigning as mayor and talking with business owners along the corridor I found very few of them were aware that this was going on even after nearly 2 years of ‘reaching out’ from a marketing company who was hired to do so. What concerned me even more was the method of notice for these stakeholders for this very important Public Hearing. A notice was sent to the property owner (often an office manager) which was a copy of the Resolution (very hard to understand unless you are familiar with local laws) and a letter on why a BID is a good thing. There was no clear explanation addressing the financial impact, specific details, or even a copy of the proposal included. If one wanted more information they needed to visit City Hall to review the document. Another misleading item was the fact it would cost about “$1 a day” on average. To clarify one detail, it is the median price, not the average which is actually about $1.60 per day as per their report that outlines properties that are in the BID area. Like all statistics, it depends on how you look at them. Let’s take a property that is assessed for $200,000 where the BID will cost the property owner approximately another $550 on their property tax bill. With our local assessments so out of whack I would be very concerned, especially if you keep in mind that property values continue to fall (especially commercial properties). How will that affect the bottom line for this BID in the future, will they have to raise the rate? How much more can our commercial property owners sustain when they already pay nearly double of what a homeowner pays? Adding the fact that tax-exempt properties do not have to contribute is another issue that will increase the burden.
Looking further into the details, about 80% of the money will be going for administration (2 full time jobs that pay $40k a year) This leaves very little for the actual improvements that need to be done, especially a BID that is this large in scope. As written, the organization that will implement the BID has the authority to take loans which brings up the issue of what could happen if the BID fails, who will be left with the debt? There is no mention of term limits for Board Members, and the administrator (BAK) has the authority to charge additional fees for expenditures without approval, and there is no mention of annual meetings for shareholders. It also seems to me that BAK’s performance will not be reviewed on a regular basis as the overseer of this BID. There are many other concerns that I have which I will outline in detail and submit to the Council President.

Primary Results and Press Statement

Elect Andi Turco-Levin for Mayor: Primary Results and Press Statement: FOR IMMEDIATE PUBLICATION: FROM THE ANDI TURCO-LEVIN FOR MAYOR OF KINGSTON CAMPAIGN HEADQUARTERS, September 22, 2011 Alderwoman Andi Turco...