About press coverage of Gerry Benjamin's Statements of Feb 21

Regarding Jeremiah Horrigan's article about the Joint Town/Village meeting on February 21.
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130222/NEWS/302220359

Jeremiah's article misses the technical aspects of both Peter Fairweather's and Gerry Benjamin's statements. Watch the meeting video (including the Q&A following both their presentations) and read carefully through the Fairweather Report in terms of his Scenarios 1 and 2. See below for links.

Take for example, this sentence in the article: "Benjamin repeatedly explained that a second point of contention, a $1 million state grant, has been appropriated and would be available to help with the transition to a single government."

This is accurate in terms of what Dr. Benjamin said. But there is a technical aspect here -- one has to know that appropriations expire at the end of every fiscal year budget regardless of how much was spent (NY Finance Law Sec 40.3). If the next year's budget does not renew the appropriation, the funding is gone.

I hope Kitty Brown (who asked the question) and others understand this, and don't now think that appropriated funds are permanently encumbered funds. Incidentally, the next state fiscal year starts April 1st and the Governor's proposed budget is still being debated in the legislature. But even if the Citizen's Empowerment Tax Credits are approved this coming year, this is no guarantee for subsequent years.

The article's next sentence: "In acknowledging that state funding can be a risky proposition, he [Benjamin] also said, 'You can't say 'the state lies,' and therefore, we can't proceed.'” This too is accurate with regard to the words Dr. Benjamin used but again there is a technicality.

Dr. Benjamin's actual words were: "The criticism on relying on state funds is the point that KT Tobin raised earlier, that the state has been unreliable about persisting in the amount of money it gives to local governments over time. But you have to act on the law as you understand it and as you expect it to unfold -- you can't say that the state lies and therefore we can't proceed, or has lied in the past and we can't proceed -- or at least I think we can't say that."

But here's the technicality: State Finance Law Sec. 54p does not make a representation that the Citizen's Empowerment Tax Credits will continue year after year. This is because the law includes the phrase "within the annual amounts appropriated there-for,” which means "only if in the current budget." So the State would only be lying if it didn't provide the funds in a given year when the appropriation was already made. This is no guarantee in the State Law that these funds will be appropriated in future years.

So if we proceed as Dr. Benjamin suggests, i.e. "to act on the law as you understand it and as you expect it to unfold", then aside from this fiscal year and maybe this coming year (if the legislature approves the Governor's budget), it is anyone's guess as to how it will unfold.

New Paltz Town Board 2-21-13
Joint Village/town meeting followed by Town Meeting. Presentation on consolidation given near the beginning.
http://youtu.be/huZa2eMECww?t=1h18m

http://www.fairweatherconsulting.com/2013/01/24/download-the-new-paltz-government-efficiency-report-here/