At issue was taxpayer support for a new senior center. Irondequoit officials promised that state and federal dollars would cover most of the costs. The Town’s elected officials lined up in support and campaigned for approval.
The People voted no.
The People want government to do more with less. The vote in Irondequoit shows that the American spirit of “We the People” is alive and well.
It also shows that working together we can accomplish the government reform necessary to renew New York.
We are in the process of turning this website into a tool that you can use to work for reform in your own community.
Please take a few minutes to give us your thoughts, not just on the taxpayer’s victory in Irondequoit but on your ideas for reform. Tell us your story and invite anyone you know to join our conversation. Thanks.
14 Responses for "People Power"
This almost did not happen. A petition had to be passed around in order to force Irondequoit officials to hold the vote.
They continue to spend money like it is water. They wanted to give the developers of the Medley Center free taxes and settled on “tax payments”.
They are also spending money on the Sea Breeze Expressway Extension. They are turn a four lane highway into single lane road in each direction with round a bouts with lots of decorations in the center of the round a bouts. This is to create town atmosphere.
So they give away tax money to developers, spend money on atmosphere and they claim they need to raise taxes to cover their costs.
Politicians need to go back to the basics, provide interstate commerce, protection, and education (they do not need to spend lots of money of the physical plants) and get out of the people’s lives.
Just my two cents
One more thing. The problems we have now are not completely the politicians. The American public is also to blame. I have heard much too often “what can I do, nothing” People need to make a stick about what they believe.
The ONLY answer NYS ever has when there is a budget shortage is RAISE TAXES! The government got us into this mess & it is their responsibility to get us out - their inability to do their jobs has nothing to do with the “few” people brave enough to still live here.
Residence leave this state on a daily basis - what DON’T these guys get ??? The People of this State NEED to stand-up for themselves and NOT take this treatment anymore! In order to live here, I work to pay my bills, nothing more, I can no longer afford it! WELFARE REFORM & development of my area, Niagara Falls - tourists bring money, look over the bridge to Canada for an example!
The problem in NY is that Federal and State unfunded mandates releave the polititions free to make decisions about spending with no need to generate the revenue to pay for it. The burden of taxation falls to the county level, and therefore property taxes and sales taxes. This is defacto taxation without representation. County executives and legistlators must raise taxes but can only control the descretionary portion of their budgets. The descretionary part of the Erie county budget includes libraries, sheriffs, parks, roads and DMV. These are the reasons to have county government but are now the smallest portion of the budget.
If state polititions had to raise state income taxes by 50% to pay for the outragous programs we offer they might think twice about giving out so much. They know that if they did so that their term in office would be their last.
In small towns across NY change can be made with dedicated effort as it only takes a relatively small swing in votes to change an election on a Town/Village/ even City scale - need to vote in new people and new people who work for parties behind the scene - because they wield the power. Unfortunately the political parties hold the power so it is necessary to change the structure within the political party to really elicit change - only accomplished by organizing, voting and maintaining watchdogs.
We need to work for smaller government across the board and because politicians appear to get corrupted by power or enter politics for power - unfortunately - need to fight for term limits to control this power or make it less likely for power hungry people to want to “serve” or to control from behind the scenes.
Did you ever wonder why public servants seem to have so much money in relation to the normal voters? How do they accumulate wealth as a public servant?
People do not know their rights, nor do they know their constitution, Federal or State. By knowing you rights you will soon realize that others also have rights and they get violated every day in Washington and Albany.
“It is sad to see that so many have lost their way and cannot see, the freedoms and liberties they refuse to protect today may be theirs tomorrow”.
Government must be reduced and held accountable for every dime. All people especially the ones on public assistance of any kind must also be held accountable and responsible for their personal actions and welfare. When these huge tasks are finally achieved or put into place we can then start to see some growth and benefit from living in New York.
The private sector knows competition and streamlines it’s self to be competitive. Government does not have this basic ability just by nature. Government must get out of the business of doing things that the private sector can do more efficiently. This could include road maintenance, electric power, social service programs, health care, pension plans and so much more. Government simply stops private business growth.
Why does NY government offer free or reduced cancer screening to people that cannot afford it or if they have high co-pays and then add a $20.00 Home Depot gift card to the mix? This sounds pretty rotten to me. Why does the government give out grants (tax payer money) to town parks, bike paths, and beautification projects of all sorts? Because it gets them re-elected. Remember, these projects I speak of just add additional maintenance costs including more government labor to maintain them. If communities want these things a referendum vote and pay for it them selves with a savings plan of some sort. This is one way to make it not be a pet project for re- election.
The age of Obama - the era of cleaver phraseology - it fools some of the people and makes certain people drool and it tics the rest of us off. The intellectuals did not like George Bush speech - I hope they are happy now. This stuff is already starting to make me sick - this effects local, state and federal issues- can someone point me in the direction of Rip Van Winkel’s tree
This is good news, Webster, NY proposed a new senior center, town hall project last year and town’s elected officials lined up in support and campaigned for approval.
But you know that it will be introduced again as something a little different. We must keep watch and let our elected know it is OUR MONEY THEY ARE SPENDING.
YEAH Irondequoit voters!
Roads, security, fire and schools - that is all we need from government! Government doesn’t get it! Heck - why do we need churches or families - let the government do it for us - right? WRONG!!!!
Remember one thing Irondequoit - remember the politicians who wanted to spend YOUR money on this and vote them OUT in November. Note when they held this vote – they think it’s a long time til the next election and they think you are stupid and they are smarter than you – they really do.
Prove them wrong!
I live in Irondequoit and voted no. Our taxes here are already high enough. If they have Federal and State money to spend, how about repaving Ridge Road or lowing taxes - something that everyone at all income levels benefit from.
The kicker of this project was the fact that the Town was willing to spend big-bucks renovating this larger, old building and they weren’t even going to buy it! They were going to fix it up and then rent it. No citizen would do this or think that it’s a smart move - so why government?
As for Medley Centre, I was not opposed to some tax incentive for that project. Lots of communities all over the country do that to help fuel growth; and Lord knows with the high taxes here business need incentives to bother with Irondequoit.
All of this is sad, because without all of this government crap going on, Irondequoit and NY are nice places to live.
I live in Irondequiot and I always wondered why in a town of about 70,000 people we have to have and support two school districts. Why can’t they be combined to reduce overall costs, having two administrations has to cost more money, the city of Rochester is much bigger and only has one district,
What a waste of taxpayer money this is.
I have lived here for 9 years and my combined taxes have increased from 2900 to almost 4700, it is getting so I will be forced to move to another county if not another state, I am fed up, something has to be done.
I see our lovely govenour and represetatives have decided to pass another budget on the backs of the taxpayers with more irresponsible pork barrel spending
and more for special interests. We need to get some people in office that will reform this state to make it more attractive to live and do business here before we are all forced to move out of it.
When it come to taxpayer dollars (or exemptions), We must insist on results tied to any tax insentives. It has become routine for developers to get paid with tax dollars (through tax exemptions), (tax dollar kickbacks get recieved by elected officials in the form of campain monies) then the project fails. No IDA’s or QEZE’s without obtaining benefits first. Ignore the threats that investment will go elswhere. They must invest where the population is. They must invest where the talent is. If they are capitalists, they must invest first. Once they show resluts a return on investment can come in the form of shared tax revenue.
Paul Bucci,
You’re right, Paul, we do need to verify results that are tied to incentives.
I also offer that we need to take another look at all the possible incentives that exist, and ask ourselves, seriously, why do we have them, and if they’re needed at all.
Take the Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreements that many large corporations hire our politicians and their high powered lawyers to obtain. Many of these PILOT agreements tremendously reduce the tax liability, pushing greater burden onto you and I.
These PILOT agreements may be a good “lure”, but in reality, as they start to approach their expiration, they become a tool to hold the municipality hostage, to keep the good deal going. Look at the Miller Brewing Company’s history in Fulton, or New Process Gear in East Syracuse, or many others. Look at Bob Congel’s gargantuan mall scheme in Syracuse – all holding their communities responsible for their tax burden, and then fishing for even sweeter deals.
You and I pay taxes, we spread our wealth around in the community, but we have not earned the respect of OUR lawmakers to grant us any PILOT agreements.
So, is there equal protection of the laws being applied to ALL the citizens of New York State, or do only the rich and powerful get the right to burden us with their tax bills; is it LIBERTY and JUSTICE for ALL, or only those employing the right number of people?
A further step back will show that total elimination of villages and towns, with all local government services to be provided by your county would yield the necessary tax savings to justify businesses wanting to be located here. We have 10,500 local taxing governments in New York State!
The property tax could then be abolished, and our homes could just be our homes, not a tax liability!
The only true solution to the rising problems in NYS is to perform an amputation. Amputate all of the existing politicians from the government in a clean sweep and replace them with real citizens. Upstate NY is the forgotten land except when it comes to taxes. We are so overburdened with taxes that personal needs and wants are quite often overlooked. A total revamp of the medicaid system is now a must and not just an election year promise. Political candidates have to stop looking at medicaid recipients’ and union members’ votes as a shoe-in to their next term in office.
Political lobbyists should be restricted from providing an abundance of cash outlays to candidates, which only serves to ally those candidates towards those lobbyists interests.
Each year budget votes are put in place for our outlying schools and it is hard to believe that each year they pass. This can only mean that the taxpayers, too, are fond of giving away their hard earned money to losing causes. And if they do fail, there is a revote until it passes but a yes vote is NEVER revoted. The school system isn’t held accountable for the failure of children to learn. It’s all put on the backs of the parents; parents who are both working full-time in an effort to afford a meager life in NYS. If we are going to reform taxes, then school taxes are a HUGE issue. I would love my pay to go up each year to keep in step with those increases.
Additionally, local governments laud their efforts at keeping taxes at bay. They do not! Local taxes increase each year and the increases are hidden within the tax bill as fees and surcharges.
So, the answer has to be a thorough house cleaning of all current politicians and 2-year term limits to newly elected people. This would have to apply to all elected officials from town governments on up to the White House.
Give the voice back to the people!
The only true solution to the rising problems in NYS is to perform an amputation. Amputate all of the existing politicians from the government in a clean sweep and replace them with real citizens. Upstate NY is the forgotten land except when it comes to taxes. We are so overburdened with taxes that personal needs and wants are quite often overlooked. A total revamp of the medicaid system is now a must and not just an election year promise. Political candidates have to stop looking at medicaid recipients’ and union members’ votes as a shoe-in to their next term in office.
Political lobbyists should be restricted from providing an abundance of cash outlays to candidates, which only serves to ally those candidates towards those lobbyists’ interests.
Each year budget votes are put in place for our outlying schools and it is hard to believe that each year they pass. This can only mean that the taxpayers, too, are fond of giving away their hard earned money to losing causes. And if they do fail, there is a revote until it passes but a yes vote is NEVER revoted. The school system isn’t held accountable for the failure of children to learn. It’s all put on the backs of the parents; parents who are both working full-time in an effort to afford a meager life in NYS. If we are going to reform taxes, then school taxes are a HUGE issue. I would love my pay to go up each year to keep in step with those increases.
Additionally, local governments laud their efforts at keeping taxes at bay. They do not! Local taxes increase each year and the increases are hidden within the tax bill as fees and surcharges.
So, the answer has to be a thorough house cleaning of all current politicians and 2-year term limits to newly elected people. This would have to apply to all elected officials from town governments on up to the White House.
Give the voice back to the people!
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