Friday, October 01, 2010

Hein Budget Wizardry Leaves GOP Speechless


Mike Hein released his second county budget that will NOT raise taxes, which by any account is impressive in this economy.


Republicans that have been attacking Hein for anything and everything, where simply stunned by the Hein budget.


Some reactions:


It’s shocking to me that, in these economic times, there’s no tax increase,” said Majority Leader Paul Hansut, R-Lloyd. “I’m a little taken aback.”




“I think it demonstrates the charter form of government is a success,” said Minority Leader Jeanette Provenzano, D-Kingston.


Legislature Chairman Frederick Wadnola, D-Ulster, said legislators will begin reviewing the executive spending plan “immediately.”


Wadnola's comments are unfortunate but typical. The Republican Chair is pretty much saying, I'm going to search this budget and look for any way to make the county exec look bad. Can Wadnola not give credit where credit is due?


Congratulations to Mike Hein and his office for presenting a fiscally responsible budget that puts taxpayers first.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Read the small print.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations to Mike Hein for an excellent budget proposal in very difficult times. Jeanette got it right. The charter form of government created the position of County Executive who has to answer to ALL the voters of the county. Part time legislators, with different communities, are often parochial in their decision making and may not see the big picture. I doubt that 33 legislators, however competent they might be, could have created this budget. Hey MoJO Joe, see how you spin this one!

Anonymous said...

The Republicans worst nightmare.Mike will run over them next year

Anonymous said...

Carl Chipman of Rochester is gonna be our next county Executive. Get used to it!

Jeremy Blaber said...

Never in a million years will Chipman be County Exec.

Anonymous said...

Jeremy, the only one able to beat Carl is Terry Bernardo, but she is not interested.

Anonymous said...

12:09......maybe if you stay on 209 that would be true. Otherwise there are probably 20-30 people who could beat Chipman. Oh, and TerLeny Bernardo is not one of them.

Anonymous said...

Hein will never make it out of the Democratic primary. He has no party affiliation, changed from Republican to Democrat to get a job, as he is essentially a jewelry salesman, and has no roots in the Democratic party. With a 10,000 vote majority, any Dem can win the Executives seat. Mike needs us more than we need him. His jobs go to his campaign contributors, not long time, hard working party members. Time to straithen out this mess. Go Kevin!!

Anonymous said...

As usual, people are going to buy into this crap. There are things hidden in that budget that only the ones who know how to actually read a budget can find. Do not believe this is the final "no increase in taxes" anytime soon. It's witchcraft and blow smoke up the butt at its finest.

Anonymous said...

Bernardo? the republicans hate them both. Chipman is a joke. give us a real candidate

Anonymous said...

You shouldn't copy and paste quotes from the Daily Freeman into your blog without at least saying they came from the Freeman.

That's called plagiarism.

Anonymous said...

How do you eliminate jobs that were vacant?

Anonymous said...

7:14- I don't know much about budgets, but my guess would be that if you don't eliminate those jobs, you still have to put them in the budget, making the taxpayers pay for unfilled positions. So, if you had a position that was $50K in salary and benefits, the taxpayers would be paying for it and it would just go into the reserve fund (?). Also, if the position exists on paper, it could also be that if someone who's qualified applies for it (civil service or whatever) it would have to be filled. Finally, should Mike Hein not continue to be County Executive, the next County Executive may not be as fiscally prudent as his/her predecessor, and fill the positions under the friends and family plan.

Anonymous said...

Is Paul Hansut still popping nicotine lozeneges and smoking a pack a day. If so, I respect his position.

Anonymous said...

4:27 has got it. That is why they call it smoke and mirrors. That is what Hein did. First he cut spending by eliminating positions that the taxpayers were paying for but not getting services from. Then he used money from the reserve partially funded by these non-existent positions to balance off the budget. Finally, he added some prayer. Because since he is using these tactics this year that leaves him less options next year to fool the taxpayers with a good election year budget. Looks like Hein might have prematurely shot his load. A common problem with men his age, especially politicians.

Anonymous said...

Why would you say Speechless? Come on now Hien and Company are doing their job producing the "Tentative" budget. The Legislature had no part in producing it, as per the Charter, and now it's out. Why not be a little more professional and wait until the GOP and the Donkeys have a look at it. (They were just as surprised) By the way, the Democrats were just as surprised to see an over estimate again in Sales tax revenues and way over, dreaming jail boarding revenues. Paper pushing is one thing, doing what needs to be done is another