QU'ILS MANGENT DE LA BRIOCHE

Three-Job Bob Says Let Them Eat Cake (Only if the County Doesn’t Have to Pay for It).

By Politicus Ebonus Abyssus

With a nearly 26% budget increase proposed for the Rensselaer County budget, three-job Bob has suggested that all county services be eliminated other than the county jail. Forget for a minute that many of services are mandated by the State, Mirch is suggesting that we cut needed services to the most vulnerable of the County’s population.

While Mirch and his wife make well over $150,000 combined and have their health insurance paid for by our tax dollars, he has no problem eliminating the Health Department who provides flu shots to senior citizens and lead screening to our children. While Mirch and his wife own a vacation hide-a-way in Lake George, he has no problem cutting programs that support senior centers, eliminating the only socialization and recreation time that many of our senior citizens have. As long as Mirch continues to live off our tax dollars until retirement, he can act like Marie Antoinette and tell the peasants to eat cake. Just remember Bob, the peasants eventually revolted and helped Marie take a little off the top.

Eliminating such services as sheriff’s patrols and maintaining county roads, as Mirch suggests, only shifts the responsibility for those services and the tax burden to the towns. Robbing Peter to pay Paul may absolve Mirch in his mind of the mess he helped create, but it does not help the overburdened taxpayer.

Mirch has taken no responsibility for this problem. Mirch and the Republican controlled County Legislature approved the use of over $29 million fund balance dollars during the last five years to support the general budget. Rather than ensuring that expenditures did not exceed annual revenues, the Legislature used the fund balance to support rampant increases in expenditures. Any true emergency now could only be addressed through another tax hike or borrowing. Mirch and company are not the only villains here, however. Jimino did nothing to curtail expenses and proposed using the fund balance to balance the budget, just not to the level that the county legislature approved.

Both Jimino and the legislature played fast and loose with our tax dollars. Now we have to pay the piper, to the tune of 25.9%.

And folks, don't forget our own Martin Reid. He now wants to bring his pay raise, tax hike experience to the State Assembly. There's no better way to climb the political ladder than through incompetence and failure. Go Marty!

Also, a brief note. There's a very interesting item on the agenda for the November 2 Troy City Council meeting. It raises a number of questions and we'll be talking about it later this week or early next week.

Good luck out there and hold on to your wallets, it's budget time.