The county executive, he the very vocal promoter of “the healthiest county in the state” (currently still mired somewhere in the middle of the pack), has not been heard from directly, but no doubt his numbers-crunchers are working at it.
Sixteen million dollars represents about two-thirds of the reduction in county spending Hein achieved this year. Though it’s hardly chump change, how does one put a value on lives saved? Ford Motor Company, to its eternal condemnation, tried that back in the 1970s with its ill-conceived Pinto compact.
But $16 million in terms of cash flow is in a $327 million county budget not an insuperable amount. Consulting the web and a few bondspeople, I came up with an annual payout of about $1 million a year over 20 years, give or take ticks in the interest rate.
There is also the choice of leasing equipment that goes obsolete every 15 years or so, which might produce a slightly higher yearly payout but would protect the county from refinancing the bond some time in the not-too-distant future.
With a concerted effort from the grassroots, look for the executive to belatedly jump on this bandwagon well before the next county firefighters’ convention in July. In the meantime, lives and property could be in danger.
Ante up
Who says constant pressure on the powerful doesn’t work? Representatives from the proposed Park Point student housing project in New Paltz and local officials met last week, amidst the usual rancor, with developers offering to pay three times the taxes they had originally proposed. These things of course are relevant. Critics contend the $50 million project should be paying its full share, about $1 million a year in town, school and county taxes. Park Point has raised its offer to $300,000. Will it be enough? Probably not for critics, but at some point somebody has to pull the trigger.
FERC us?
One of the ironies of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission much reviled proposal to move Ulster into a downstate rating district — thus raising rates for electricity alone (not counting transmission) by at least 5 percent — is that the county has been trying to get a similar deal from the feds for hospitals for years, to no avail. The county legislature, at the urging of legislators Manna Jo Greene of Rosendale and Tracey Bartels of Gardiner, has asked federal regulators to hold off the change of district in order to study other options. The state Public Service Commission has taken a similar stance, as has Congressman Chris Gibson and Assemblyman Kevin Cahill. Joining the groundswell are the towns of Woodstock, New Paltz, Plattekill and Denning. Marbletown and Rochester have it on their agendas.
An inflation-busting increase in utility bills, following this winter’s sticker shock, would have a stifling effect on an already stagnant economy.
