Like many residents in the Town of Colonie, I read Supervisor Paula Mahan’s 2017 State of the Town address with great interest. While she painted a very optimistic picture of the town, the reality is much different.
For instance, Supervisor Mahan stated in her address, “When I assumed office in 2008, we inherited a budget of $91.8 million. Ten years later, Colonie’s 2017 budget is only $88.9 million. We’re spending less today than in 2008.” That statement is false. The Office of the New York State Comptroller tracks spending by each local government throughout the state. The data shows that in 2007, the Town of Colonie spent $99.3 million. In 2015, the town spent $108.2 million, an increase of almost 9 percent. The data for 2016 is not available yet.
If the town is truly spending less, why was property tax and assessment collection nearly $12 million higher in 2015 than in 2007? In addition, Paula Mahan sold off the landfill which served as a major source of revenue for the Town of Colonie. That move costs the town a large amount in additional revenue each year. Rather than choosing to promote solutions, the current administration is continuing the same practices that landed the town on the State Comptroller’s “Municipalities in Stress” list.
In another part of her speech, Paula Mahan painted a rosy picture of the expansion within the town while ignoring the many perils created by her efforts to fast-track permits for both large-scale commercial and residential development. Former single-family, residential neighborhoods are being transformed into areas that now border large-scale commercial and residential apartment projects, and overpopulation in our town is causing heavy traffic that makes it difficult to get from A-to-B. This surge in population growth, which was not properly planned for, is now forcing our school districts to consider expanding to compensate our overcrowded classrooms, which will raise school property taxes for residents.
In order to address any budgetary or overdevelopment concerns within the town, our officials and town residents must be able to have an honest conversation regarding the problems that exist and ways to address them. Unfortunately, Supervisor Mahan distorted her facts in her State of the Town address, which had the opposite effect, and now residents are even further away from real answers and solutions to the challenges that lay ahead.
George Scaringe
Chairman
Town of Colonie Republican Committee