WPCNR MR. & MRS. & MS. WHITE PLAINS VOICE. August 15, 2006: A long observer of the White Plains government writes:
Stop lying and conning the taxpayers in White Plains with your free lunch.
I thought with $3 billion in new construction in WP we were going to raise the revenue side of our budget so that we would hardly see any property tax increases. Isn't that what the Ernst & Young report commissioned and doctored by the city said? There was going to be $35 million in profits resulting from the "renaissance" construction and a "halo effect" that would bring untold millions more. Instead we got excuses and creative bookkeeping with the sale of city property and the confiscation of over $8 million in parking authority funds to keep our tax increases from going to double digits! To add insult to injury we now have a "hole in the budget" akin to the black hole in space.
As for using the Urban Renewal Agency as an IDA vehicle to float bonds with "no risk to the taxpayer", that's a lie. The Urban Renewal Agency has no assets and no revenue source; therefore, it has no collateral to guarantee the debt service on the bonds. The common council will have to dedicate the faith and credit of the White Plains taxpayer to guarantee the bonds. The tax savings to the developer and the $969,000 "Ginsburg fees" will all eventually have to be paid by the White Plains taxpayers. There is no free lunch for the taxpayer, only for the developers and the Administration and their lackeys. I dare the Administration to appoint a fact finding committee to get at the truth.
A WP Friend
