The public hearing on the budget yesterday had a rather unusual beginning. Before any members of the public had a chance to speak, Councilmember Vicky Daskaloudi (Fifth Ward) announced that she wanted to respond to the data that Bob Rasner had send to the Common Council in advance of the meeting. (The data was published on Gossips the day before the hearing.) She told Rasner that the budget was the result of "numerous amounts of meetings" by the BEA (Board of Estimate and Apportionment), which she said were open to the public, and suggested that Rasner should have attended those meetings if he was concerned about the budget.
She went on to suggest that it was unfair to compare Hudson to other cities in New York State because "none of these cities were the number one choice of New Yorkers to move up here during COVID." She asserted that Hudson was a developing city. "It's not developed yet, because it has been neglected for years," Daskaoudi explained. "If you want to have a return on investment," Daskaloudi told Rasner, "you have to make an investment [in infrastructure and parks], so that the city looks nice, and it attracts people." She continued her lecture, telling Rasner, "Every time you the people want something, it costs money." She went on to mention the $50,000 increase in the City's contribution to the Hudson Area Library, which was approved by referendum and had to be accommodated in the city budget.
When Rasner had the opportunity to speak, he explained why he had done the comparison. He spoke about "benchmarking," comparing the operating performance metrics of similarly situated cities to see how much they are spending on various services and identify where Hudson is spending more and understand why. Rasner explained that his research—comparing the budgets and populations of all sixty-three cities in New York—was just a starting point. The department heads should be looking at the budgets for the other cities to help establish goals. When they find examples of cities doing things more economically, they should investigate how that was achieved. Rasner posed the question: "Why are other cities able to succeed with a much lower burden on the taxpayers?"
Rasner pointed out that since 2020 the city budget has increased by close to a million dollars a year—from $14,910,741 to $19,771,551. He concluded by saying, "We should ask ourselves: Where did that money go? Are our lives better for it? . . . Do you feel better now than you did five years ago?"
Councilmember Gary Purnhagen (First Ward) suggested that the last question—"Do you feel better now than you did five years ago?"—be asked of the audience at the hearing. When it was, one voice was heard saying No.
Kristal Heinz commented, "It's the perception that Hudson is an expensive city to live in, and part of that is the taxes are expensive." She went on to say that it feels like most of the burden falls on the middle class, and warned, "If you want this to be a healthy, thriving community, you need to make sure that the middle class can actually afford to live here."
The theme was taken up by Nicole Vidor, who identified herself as a real estate broker. She asserted, "It's getting to the point where if you are a middle-class person, you cannot afford to live here, because the taxes keep going up, all the services keep going up, and we are the ones who are carrying the brunt of the burden." Vidor continued, "The people less fortunate are being taken care of, the very wealthy can absolutely take care of themselves, but the people here who are just normal working people . . . it's getting to the point that we are going to end up with a city that is very rich or very poor."
Vidor cited the example of neighbors of hers who are selling the house that has been their home for sixty years because they can no longer afford the taxes. Vidor maintained that the assessments were "askew," and there was no way her neighbors would be able to sell their house for the amount of its current assessment. She claimed, "I could show you a building that's assessed at $90,000 that's worth $2 million, and I could show you a building that's assessed at $750,000 that's not worth more than $500,000."
Councilmember Margaret Morris (First Ward) told Vidor that many of the points she made resonated with her. "Increasingly, we are becoming a city of the very wealthy and the very poor, and that is not a sustainable community. . . . I have only lived here for fifteen years, but I see the same pattern, and it is very alarming."
The entire hearing can be viewed here. COPYRIGHT 2024 CAROLE OSTERINK
