The columnist Reynolds.
Of particular interest in Ulster is the biannual extension of the county’s 1 percent sales-tax surcharge. Worth about $25 million, the extension was held up last year by Cahill’s insistence that town and city Safety Net and election costs be absorbed by the county. That done, with barely a ripple in the county budget, Cahill says he has no further demands.
“It has passed Ways & Means,” he reported. “All sales-tax bills are on hold pending substantial agreement on other financial issues.”
Up the PLA
To the surprise of almost no one, local unions have denigrated the findings of a Kingston schools consultant who concluded that the implementation of a project labor agreement (PLA) could add between $4.7 million and $11.2 million to the $137-million high school renovation project.
A PLA is a commitment by a municipality or school district to use union labor for capital construction projects. The county jail was built with a PLA, as was the renovation of Kingston City Hall (1998-2000). Both projects suffered massive overruns and long delays which union leaders blamed on bad management and lax legislative oversight.
Unions typically contend that PLAs put local craftspersons to work — though any company that employs union workers can bid on a job — and that their experience will produce quality work on budget and on time. As noted, that doesn’t always happen. Of course, it must be admitted that the hardhats don’t control everything in a project.
The school board has been ambivalent about a PLA. It was at first opposed, but after some outcry, trustees then hired a consultant to do a cost analysis. Following the consultant’s advice (which some saw as preordained), trustees voted 6-3 against.
Even Cahill, a PLA man to his bones, seemed resigned to the outcome after battling hard in fact to support the PLA. “There’s always [school board] elections,” he said, meaning that maybe a slice of a very big pie is better than nothing at all.
Meanwhile, the district wants to get going on a project that will probably stretch out at least five years, rendering unlikely the solicitation of a second opinion, multi-million-dollar stakes notwithstanding.
Work on the first phase of the project is expected to begin early next month.
