Summerfest Family Picnic

June 29, 2010

July 16, 2010
5:00 pm	to	8:00 pm

Summerfest Family Picnic
Midway Fire Department

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CONCERNED COLONIE RESIDENT FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST TOWN OF COLONIE TO STOP ILLEGAL TRANSFER OF TOWN LANDS

June 28, 2010

CONCERNED COLONIE RESIDENT FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST TOWN OF COLONIE TO STOP ILLEGAL TRANSFER OF TOWN LANDS

Town of Colonie resident, Thomas Jasiewicz, filed a petition with the New York State Supreme Court on Friday, requesting that the transfer of lands between the Town of Colonie and Guptill Holding Corporation be annulled. Jasiewicz is a local business man and he decided to file suit after learning about the proposed swap of 9.5 acres of valuable Town lands along the Mohawk River corridor in exchange for 9.2 acres of undevelopable wetlands and bog lands owned by Guptill Holding Corporation.

“As a businessman and Town resident this strikes me as a bad deal for Town residents. If the Town lands along the Mohawk were truly surplus, the Town should have sold the property through a competitive bid process, not given it away in exchange for wetlands and bogs that the Town cannot use. With a deficit of over $16 million, you would think that Supervisor Mahan would be interested in getting top dollar for this prime Town-owned property,” Jasiewicz said. “I also find it particularly mystifying that the appraisals on these parcels somehow were determined to be equal in value at $330,000 each. It just doesn’t pass the straight face test that both parcels were valued exactly the same and a close inspection of the appraisals shows they were not done properly. The result is clearly an illegal gift of a Town asset to a private company.”

Jasiewicz also alleges in the lawsuit that the Town failed to follow the law to declare the lands surplus and failed on a number of occasions to provide proper and timely public notice of the land swap to Town residents.

“We haven’t gotten a straight story from the Supervisor on this land swap from the beginning. First, she told us it was necessary for the new water line, which has proven to be patently false. Next, she told us it was necessary to protect the kettle bog, which is already protected from development under federal and state environmental laws. The bottom line is that this land swap was completely unnecessary and is ultimately a raw deal for residents,” Jasiewicz said.

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Editor’s Note: Tom Jasiewicz is being represented by Thomas Marcelle, Esq. The Colonie Republican Committee also supports this petition. A copy of the petition and supporting documents can be viewed by clicking here.

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Times Union: Colonie Deficit Trouble Grows

June 16, 2010

Colonie deficit trouble grows

Revenue sources fall short, leading to $16M gap, supervisor says

By TIM O’BRIEN, Staff writer
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First published: Wednesday, June 16, 2010

COLONIE — A year ago, Republican supervisor candidate Michael Hoblock accused incumbent town leader Paula Mahan of inflating revenue in her 2010 budget.”The mortgage tax is severely overestimated by half a million,” he said last August. “Sales tax revenue will probably be $2 million short.”This month, Moody’s Investors Service lowered the town’s bond rating, while removing a “negative outlook” attached to it, and confirmed Hoblock’s estimates.”The town’s sales tax (aggressively budgeted to increase 8.6 percent) and mortgage tax revenue sources demonstrated unfavorable variances of $2.1 million and $537,000 respectively,” the report said.

Mahan bragged last year, too, that she had trimmed the town’s deficit by 45 percent, from $19.7 million to $10.8 million. Now the supervisor says the troubled economy means the deficit is significantly higher than projected.

“With everything that’s occurred since that time, it’s closer to $16 million,” she said.

Mahan, who took office in 2006, said the deficit she inherited was closer to $21 million than the $19 million estimate.

The shortfalls in sales tax, mortgage tax and landfill revenues led to the deficit being larger than she had projected, Mahan said.

Daniel Dustin, the sole Republican on the Town Board, said the town needs to be more honest about its finances. The town’s release announcing the deficit was cut 45 percent remains posted on its website, he noted.

“They certainly know now it’s not a 45 percent reduction,” he said. “It’s almost break even. They should acknowledge it. Now that the numbers are in, it’s plain to see they ran a significant deficit in 2009.”

Mahan replied the Republicans long denied there was any deficit under the GOP.

In its report, Moody’s says the financial problems stem from operating deficits from 2002 to 2007 “caused by inaccurate budgeting of employee benefits, budgeting of land sale proceeds that did not materialize, and annual appropriation of fund balance without replenishment.”

It credits Mahan’s administration with cutting expenses by $1.6 million and selling property for $2.7 million in 2008, resulting in a surplus of $2.6 million.

Unaudited results for 2009 show a surplus of $614,000, driven by a one-time $5.2 million tax levy and an annual increase of 2.9 percent in property taxes. Moody’s said the town’s 2010 budget was down $5.7 million.

In March, Moody’s recalibrated all its government bond ratings, with most ratings shifting up three notches. Colonie’s rating was raised from Baa1 to A1. This month, Moody’s dropped the rating back to Baa1. Lower ratings usually mean higher interest charges, but Mahan said the removal of the negative outlook should result in lessened costs the next time the town borrows.

“These are extremely difficult times,” she said. “We are working day in and day out to keep moving forward. There is still a lot of work to do.”

Staff writer Tim O’Brien can be reached at 454-5092 or by e-mail at tobrien@timesunion.com.

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