There were more than a few wrinkled noses in Albany County last week when County Executive Michael Breslin dropped a 2012 budget plan that calls for a whopping 19.2 percent increase to the tax levy.
Not unlike the trillion-dollar bailouts in years past, that number is so large it’s almost difficult to grasp the significance of it. But it’s indicative of just how bad a situation Albany County government finds itself in.
The details of the plan are reported by Andrew Beam on page 28, but as Breslin tells it, it really comes down to this: The county’s out of money, the credit card’s maxed, the bills are due and the parents aren’t pleased.
We speak, of course, of state lawmakers and their new 2 percent property tax cap, the backdrop on which this drama will no doubt play out. Sixty percent of the 39-member County Legislature would have to pass this budget to override the cap.
But that’s almost a moot point when you’re talking about a 19 percent tax hike. Legislators are not exactly lining up to support this proposal, which would cost most homeowners hundreds more in county taxes next year.
And they really shouldn’t. The taxpayer should not be penalized for living in a county that has perpetually lived outside its means and outright refuses to assume the discomfort of fixing the situation.
Case in point: In 2011, Breslin’s budget proposed a whole array of cuts and moving forward with the selling of the county nursing home. Legislators lambasted the plan and in short order reinserted many of the cut programs.
Some lawmakers even took the opportunity to stand up in public and loudly call for a brand new nursing home, with no expense spared.
We expect those same legislators to pan Breslin’s 2012 plan in much the same manner, firing off rhetoric once used on behalf of county employees to stand up for the taxpayer.
It will no doubt be easy to assign blame to the outgoing executive, as well, but let’s keep in mind that this dilemma has roots in higher halls of power.
State lawmakers are pointing the finger at the property taxes imposed by local governments while making little meaningful effort to pare down their own expenses. They’ve passed a tax cap that invariably demonizes politicians who deign to circumvent it and taken only a token and laughable stab at reducing state mandates.
There is, at nearly every level of government, an unsustainable system at play, and it’s come to a head in Albany County.
It would be refreshing for lawmakers (and, for that matter, the public) to use the public comment period on the county budget to step off the soapbox and take a long look at the big picture, and not just their pet issues.
Perhaps we could seriously analyze exactly what the county does well and whether it should continue to do the things it fails at, and at what cost.
It sounds a lot like a conversation homeowners might be forced to have once the tax bills show up.
