|
|
 In the News This Week -- Jan. 5, 2007 |
 |
 |
|
  Facing 25% Tax Boost, County Board In A Fix Can Faulty Budget Be Rescinded? By JIM KEVLIN COOPERSTOWN Donald Lindberg, R-I-Worcester, was reelected chairman of the Otsego County Board of Representatives Wednesday, Jan. 3, and immediately vowed county taxpayers will pay no more, on average, than 2.4 percent in county taxes in 2007, not the average 25 percent that is in the offing. “We’re going to get it down to 2 and a half percent,” he told an SRO crowd in the legislative chambers at 197 Main St. “I want you to leave knowing that you are not going to pay 25 percent.” A few moments later he whispered to County Attorney Ronald L. Klafehn, who sits to his left, “Should we tell people not to pay taxes?” Klafehn shook his head almost imperceptibly, and it was left at that. Even as Lindberg made his declaration, it was unclear if the county board has the authority to reissue revised tax bills without special legislation and, if such legislation passes – state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, has expressed willingness to introduce it – what the logistical challenges facing the county might be. If 20,000 bills were sent again, how do you account for taxpayers who have already paid their bills? Or do you provide a rebate? Do you assess penalties if deadlines have passed? The first step, said Klafehn, is “assessing if there is legal authority” to “rescind” the budget resolution, and he was still awaiting word on that from the state Comptroller’s Office late Wednesday afternoon. “Assuming there is legal authority, then the representatives have to assess the best logistical way to make it happen.” The county attorney’s efforts to achieve clarity on Tuesday, Jan. 2, were hampered by the Spitzer Administration taking office. The next day, Spitzer delivered his State of the State speech, which further tied up high-ranking state officials. Klafehn pointed out that the state, for now, has no comptroller, since Democrat Alan Hevesi resigned under fire, and the deputies are doing double duty. When the county board adopted the $100 million 2007 budget in December, the representatives believed taxes would rise just 2.5 percent. As bills were going out at the end of the month, it was discovered that the average bill would be going up 25 percent. Tentatively, Lindberg said, it appears the miscalculation occurred with tax-exempt properties: The representatives believed total assessment had risen $600 million; once tax-exemptions were subtracted, that figure dropped to $90 million. Wednesday evening, county Rep. Nancy Iversen, D-Otsego, said the hope is to overturn the 2007 budget and continue to operate under the 2006 budget until a new proposal can be prepared, “if we can do that.” But consultant David Brenner of Oneonta, himself a former county chairman, said, “I think they’re going to have to ride it out.” When the Town of Oneonta overbilled taxpayers by an average 11 percent a few years ago, Brenner said, the town board found its best option was simply to apologize and try to give the money back in terms of savings the following year. The situation may be worse than the representatives now think, he continued: He’s heard of cases where people have seen their tax bills go up, not 25 percent but 36 percent and even 48 percent. One businessman, he said, saw a $6,000 increase. “You better get ready for all these kinds of calls,” Brenner said he told representatives who have asked him for advice in the past few days. Whatever the reason for the mistake, disgruntled taxpayers were out in force Wednesday, and Lindberg’s disclaimer at the outset – “We know we’ve made a mistake. We have plans to fix it” – did little to calm them down. “We were told, with all of this growth, it would help our taxes,” said Dianne Koffer, who is from Hartwick, where three hotels and Cooperstown Dream’s Park have risen in the past decade. “Obviously, nobody can absorb this kind of tax increase, nobody,” said Brenda Berstler, Cooperstown, who suggested the representatives declare it “a Mulligan” – a golf shot requiring a do-over. Pat McBrearty, Hartwick, suggested taxpayers “add 2.5 percent to last year’s tax bill and send you a check.” “This is crazy,” said Erica Idelson, Cooperstown. John Phillips, Oaksville, who led the recent citizens’ revolt against proposed zoning revisions in the Town of Otsego, suggested the representatives, in a show of “solidarity,” forgo their salaries and health benefits until the matter is straightened out. “Don’t get comfortable in those chairs,” declared Brian Neilsen, Cooperstown. While the criticisms flowed, County Treasurer Myra Thayne – two legislators called for her resignation earlier in the week – stood stone-faced in the back. “I can’t accept any responsibility...,” she declared after the meeting. “And I’m not resigning. There are no grounds. I did nothing wrong.” Thayne said her only responsibility in budget preparation is computing the tax levy – the amount raised by local taxes after revenues are subtracted from expenses. The actual assessment, she said, was developed by the clerk of the board and that’s where the error was. (Brenner said the clerk is “probably the last person to receive blame for this.”) Thus, Thayne argued, the 2.5 percent increase in the tax levy – that’s also the increase in the average tax bill – was correct. However, she said that – like everyone else – she was unaware of the error until the bills went out. County Rep. Ronald Feldstein, D-Otego, chairman of the Administration Committee, which prepares the budget, said measures would be taken to bolster the county’s budget-making abilities outside the treasurer’s office. For her part, Iversen said, there should be “no finger-pointing until the problem is solved.” Brenner, who, under contract with the board, studied whether a county-manager form should be pursued, said the treasurer’s duties are “custodial or ministerial.” Thayne’s duties should be to ensure bills are paid and sent out properly: “Money in; money out.” What Otsego County needs, at least, is a budget officer, he said, to prepare and “ride herd on the budget.” For now, “I have a suspicion they’re all groping,” he said  Cooperstown’s 200th Begins Jan. 22 Champagne Reception Kicks Off Official Events COOPERSTOWN From a champagne reception in January, to the unveiling of a rediscovered Cooperstown March in April, to a local-history lecture series, one a month, to a week of revelry in September kicked off with a parade, the Village of Cooperstown is ready to celebrate its 200th birthday. “Quality.” That is the word Village Trustee Grace Kull, who chairs the Cooperstown Bicentennial Committee, agreed will characterize the year-long celebration. The bicentennial committee has invited any and all entities in the village to organize their own activities, but the first committee-run one will be a public reception at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 22, in the ballroom on the second floor of the Village Library. Mayor Carol B. Waller will read the bicentennial proclamation, and state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, will keynote. Champagne and hors d’oeuvres will be served, and dancing will be encouraged to the music of the aptly named Native Sons Jazz Trio. On April 3, the day Cooperstown was incorporated in 1807, the committee will issue First Day Covers – perhaps a limited number; that’s still to be determined – and the U.S. Post Office will use a commemorative cancellation mark that day. From 5 to 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 21, students from the Cooperstown Graduate Program on Museum Studies will unveil a five-panel exhibit reviewing village history. Village Historian Hugh MacDougall, founder and secretary of the James Fenimore Cooper Society, will keynote. The Cooperstown Community Band will perform a concert featuring “Cooperstown March & Two Step,” an 1907 centennial gift from the Pease Piano Co. in New York City. Following the exhibition at the Village Hall, the movable panels will be available to other establishments throughout the year. When the summer crowds thin out, an official week of celebration is being planned from Sept. 8-16, kicked off on Saturday the 8th with a parade. Individuals and organizations interested in participating in that parade are urged to contact members of the sub-committee – Amanda Pinney at 547-7200 or Paul Bedworth at 547-5218. Prizes will be offered. Parade morning, the Masons are planning a breakfast in the temple at Main and Pioneer, above Ellsworth & Sill, and will have facilities there open to the public throughout the day. On Sunday the 9th, the Rev. Sundar Samuel, pastor of the United Methodist Church, is organizing tours of local churches that morning, culminating with a concert by Redeeming Love, a vocal group from Oneonta, at the final stop. A variety of activities throughout the week are still being firmed up, Grace Kull said. For instance, at the centennial celebration 100 years ago, free movies were screened against the Doubleday Parking Lot side of Smalley’s Cinema. Kate Seeley, a film history professor at Georgia State University, has researched what movies were shown and, with the help of a couple of her graduate students, plans to rescreen them – although, Grace said, the screening may not be outside. The week will culminate with a bicentennial cake competition at The Farmers’ Museum Harvest Festival on the 16th. There will be prizes, and the entries will be cut up and served to the public. At the committee’s invitation, other organizations are planning events throughout the yeaer. The Friends of the Village Library and The Freeman’s Journal are co-sponsored by Cooperstown Bicentennial Lecture Series. MacDougall, the village historian, launches the cycle with a 90-minute slide presentation, “From William Cooper’s Town to Baseball’s Town,” at 7 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 11, in the village trustees’ chambers at 22 Main St. The following month, Otsego Town Historian Tom Heitz will lecture on the topic, “The Strong-Minded Women Are Coming,” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 8, in the same location. He will be recounting Susan B. Anthony’s visit to Cooperstown 152 years ago as of Feb. 9. Further lectures will be planned on the second Thursday of each month throughout the year. Grace Kull said the Glimmerglass Opera and Clark Sports Center are among the other entities that may plan related events. And Cooperstown Central School fourth-graders plan to collect oral histories from longtime residents. Debate Launches ‘Big Year’ for Hall of Fame By BREN MIOSEK COOPERSTOWN The focus is the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum in Cooperstown. The venue will be www.baseballhalloffame.org at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 9, when Jack O’Connell, Baseball Writers Association treasurer, Ernest & Young partner Michael Di Lecce, and Hall of Fame Chairman Jane Forbes Clark will announce the results of this year’s balloting on who will enter the Hall on Induction Weekend in July. Then the debate – about whether Mark McGwire, four-time homerun leader tainted by the steroid scandal – will go nationwide. In fact, it’s already started. “Personally, I wouldn’t vote for Big Mac,” sportswriter Roy Duckler opined in the Concord (N.H.) Monitor on Tuesday, Jan. 3. “He was one dimensional, he once batted .201 for a full season and, most importantly, his refusal to look back during a Congressional hearing nearly two years ago told me that McGwire broke the law and gained an unfair advantage en route to many of his 583 home runs.” “My head says: Vote for McGwire and let the chips fall,” sportwriter Joe Posnanski wrote in the Kansas City (Mo.) Star. “But (you knew this was coming) I’m sitting here looking at McGwire’s name on the ballot ... and I simply cannot put an X next to his name. Maybe next year. Maybe in 10 years. Maybe new information will clear up everything. I’m open to anything.” But Bob Smizik wrote in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Why should McGwire be penalized because he happened to appear before a Congressional committee, when others, who did not have such a spotlight on their behavior, might be just as guilty.” Hall of Fame President Dale Petroskey, in a pre-announcement interview Wednesday, Jan. 3, deferred to the writers. “Each one of them has had to look into their souls and ask, ‘Did Mark McGwire cheat, or didn’t he?’” Regardless of McGwire’s fate, “We’re expecting a big year,” Petroskey said. Two-time Most Valuable Player Cal Ripken Jr. and eight-time batting champion Tony Gwynn are among 17 first-year candidates on the 2007 Hall of Fame ballot that was mailed out in November to 575 voting members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Candidates must be named on 75 percent of ballots cast to gain entry. Jim Rice was listed on 64.8 percent and Goose Gossage on 64.6 percent of the record 520 ballots submitted last year. The only other players named on at least half the ballots were former National League MVP Andre Dawson and 287-game winner Bert Blyleven. “We’re fortunate to have to great players – Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn - on this year’s ballot,” said Petroskey “Both of them played for one team throughout their careers and fans love that type of loyalty. Both of them have big fan bases.” Ripken holds one of the most prestigious records, playing in 2,632 consecutive games, a streak that included a stretch of 8,243 straight innings from 1982 to 1987. He spent all 21 of his seasons in the majors with the Baltimore Orioles, mostly at shortstop and later at third base. Ripken was a 19-time All-Star, played in a record 16 consecutive All-Star Games, twice the game’s MVP and is the all-time All-Star vote leader with more than 36 million votes. He was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1982 and the MVP the following year when Baltimore won its last World Series. Ripken won a second MVP Award in 1991. In the end, Ripken capped a solid career with 3,184 hits, 603 doubles, 431 home runs, 1,695 RBI, 3,001 games, 11,551 at-bats and 127 sacrifice flies. He was a two-time Gold Glove winner, an eight-time Silver Slugger and batted .338 in 28 postseason games. Gwynn played his entire major-league career – a span of 20 consecutive seasons - with the San Diego Padres. The 15-time All-Star had a .338 career batting average, with 3,141 hits, of which 2,378 were singles. Gwynn hit over .300 every season except his rookie year of 1982 when he hit .289. His career-high .394 average in 1994 is the highest in the majors in the 65 years since Ted Williams averaged over .400. In addition to winning eight NL batting crowns, Gwynn had five 200-hit seasons, led the league in hits seven times, batted .371 in his two World Series and earned five Gold Gloves for fielding his position in right field to go with his seven Silver Slugger Awards for offense. Petroskey went on to explain that in the event that Gwynn and Ripken are elected to the hall, baseball fans and Cooperstown can expect one of the more festive induction weekends in Hall of Fame history. Despite accusations of steroid use, McGwire led each league in home runs twice, and another year (1997) led the majors, dividing his time between Oakland (34 home runs) and St. Louis (24). The first baseman’s career-high 70 homers in 1998 broke Roger Maris’ 37-year-old record of 61 for a season but were eclipsed three years later by Barry Bonds’ 73. McGwire, who hit a first-year record of 49 home runs during his AL Rookie of the Year season in 1987, finished with 583, the seventh highest total in history. Other players featured on the 2007 ballot are Harold Baines, Albert Bell, Dante Bichette, Bobby Bonilla, Scott Brosius, Jay Buhner, Ken Caminiti, Jose Canseco, Dave Concepcion, Eric Davis, Andre Dawson, Tony Fernandez, Steve Garvey, Orel Hershiser, Tommy John, Wally Joyner, Don Mattingly, Jack Morris, Dale Murphy, Paul O’Neill, Dave Parker, Jim Rice, Bret Saberhagen and Lee Smith.  Gala Nets Record $120,000 Friends of Bassett Halfway To Cancer-Screening Coach COOPERSTOWN They sipped champagne. They danced to the 11-piece band, “New York Minute.” They welcomed 2007 watching fireworks from the veranda of the Otsega Resort Hotel. But after the 438 revelers went home in the wee hours of Monday, Jan. 1, organizers of the Friends of the Bassett’s 13th annual New Year’s Eve gala – on the theme, “El Morocco: Celebrate Life” – were delighted to discover a record $120,000 had been raised toward a $800,000 cancer-screening mobile coach. The 40-foot-long coach, which will export the ability to diagnose cancer around Otsego County, will include private exam space, and such services as digital mammography, bone densitometry, and the ability to test for prostate and cervical cancer. It is on order from MC West of Portland, Ore., an affiliate of Medical Coaches of Oneonta. Scott A. Barrett, Friends executive director, said the gala – the committee was co-chaired this year by Nancy Irvin and Nancy Tallman – took the fundraising effort to the halfway point. The “El Morocco” theme sought to echo the New York City nightclub scene of the ’30s and ’40s. The decor included velvet ropes in the entryway, silver-painted palms, and zebra-patterned fabric everywhere, Barrett said. The bulk of the money came from the $300-per-couple tickets, but Barrett said $44,500 came from the silent auction, another record. The Friends’ fundraiser began 13 years ago as a simple cocktail party in the new outpatient clinic at Bassett; then expanded into a dinner. Six or seven years ago, it grew to the point that a larger venue was required, so the event moved to the Otesaga. Since, it has become a local New Year’s Eve tradition. Invitations were mailed out in mid-October, Barrett said, and by Nov. 1 all the tickets were spoken for. Before long, the waiting list had reached 100. Each year, Barrett said, the Friends seek a different theme. Two years ago, it was “The Beat Goes On,” to benefit the cardiac center. | Jan. 04, 2008 | Local Honor Roll | Pages From The Paper | july 6th 2007 | Hall of Fame Friday | Hall of Fame Saturday | Hall of Fame Sunday | Hall of Fame Monday | July282006 Archive | Aug042006 Archive | Aug112006 Archive | Aug182006 Archive | Sept012006 Archive | Sept082006 Archive | Sept152006 Archive | Sept222006 Archive | Sept292006 Archive | Oct062006 Archive | Oct132006 Archive | Oct202006 Archive | Oct272006 Archive | Nov032006 Archive | Nov172006 Archive | Nov242006 Archive | Dec012006 Archive | Dec082006 Archive | Dec152006 Archive | Dec222006 Archive | Dec292006 Archive | Jan052007 Archive | Jan192007 Archive | Jan262007 Archive | February092007 Archive | February162007 Archive | February232007 Archive | March162007 Archive | March232007 Archive | March302007 Archive | March302007 Archive | April132007 News Archive | Chris Gentile | Obituary | April272007 Archive | May112007 Archive | May112007 Archive | May252007 Archive | June 22, 2007 | July 13 2007 | Sept05 2007 | Sept 7th 2007 | Aug 31st 2007 | Local Law Parking | October 26, 2007 | Nov. 2 2007 | Nov. 16, 2007 | Glimmerglass Oct 5,2007 | Nov 16., 2007 | November 30 2007 | Nov. 30, 2007 | Dec. 07, 2007 | Dec. 14, 2007 | Dec. 21, 2007 | Dec. 28, 2007 | Jan. 11, 2008 | Jan. 18, 2008 | Jan. 25, 2008 | Feb 1, 2008 | Feb. 8, 2008 | Feb. 22, 2008 | GlimmerGlass Feb. 15, 2008 | Sports Feb. 15, 2008 | Feb.28, 2008 | March 7, 2008 | March 14, 2008 | GlimmerGlass March 14, 2008 | March 21, 2008 | March 28, 2008 | April 4, 2008 | April 11, 2008 | April 18, 2008 | April 25, 2008 | May 9, 2008 | May 2, 2008 | May 23, 2008 | | Our Services | Contact Us | Great Links | Return Home | Classified Ads | News Archive | Cooperstown Homes | Calendar -Best Bets | Letters to the Editor | |
||
 |
 |