March 18, 2012
To the Editor:
Sometimes there are simply no good choices. The village government made what it thought at the time was a shrewd bet on the Shore Rd. DPW facility. Unfortunately, in the ad hoc, patchwork approach to execute the project, they stacked the odds against any fiscally sound outcome, leaving taxpayers instead with a needy liability. The memory of the voices of village residents who spoke out against this unorthodox public works venture are particularly haunting now. Today, we face a redux of those objections, yet the majority decision of our current village board has been to double-down, rather than to even consider ways to walk away from the table. What seems to be missing, and what is causing such dismay among many residents, is any acknowledgement from the board majority that those are our chips on the table - not just theirs.
A recent front page article in the New York Times entitled, “Deficits Push N.Y. Cities and Counties to Desperation” lays out in stark detail the negative outlook that ratings agencies such as Moody’s have for NY municipalities and counties. Pension costs, coupled with the 2008 stock market collapse, are cited as major contributors to this problem. The end result, of course, will be the disadvantage municipalities will face in negotiating interest rates for borrowing, if they can get financing at all. The $400K number which is being blithely thrown around as a figure we should accept as the cost of rehabilitating this building most likely does not take into account these current economic realities. When do we turn off the spigot, and begin focussing on our mutual challenges with clear and sober eyes?
Rick Gioia
Cornwall-on-Hudson
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