12/3/2009

County Budget…
As of press time, Ulster County legislators had still some time to negotiate a budget for the coming year that will either keep savings, and multiple cuts, suggested by first-year County Executive Mike Hein, or go its own way as the elected body shifts from Democratic to Republican hands on New Year’s Day.
On Monday night, it was decided that the body would not be cutting their salaries or increasing their contribution to health insurance in the upcoming year, and they wouldn’t be eliminating health insurance for the county’s assistant district attorneys and public defenders or ending a vacation/sick time buyout plan for management personnel.
They will, however, include funding in the 2010 budget for the county’s contract agencies, and first-time funding for the Ulster County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, as well as restoring two positions in the county Board of Elections cut by County Executive Michael Hein.
The Legislature’s Ways and Means Committee on Monday, Nov. 30 reviewed a number of proposed changes to Hein’s proposed $349.2 million budget.
A proposal to cut legislative salaries by 10 percent, or $1,000 a year, came from Democratic Legislator Frank Dart, who was defeated in primaries last summer. That resolution died for lack of a second, as did another proposal by Dart to eliminate health benefits for part-time assistant district attorneys and public defenders, and one by Democratic Legislator Hector Rodriguez to eliminate the practice of buying back unused vacation and sick time from management personnel.
A recommendation to increase legislators’ contributions to their health care met with some resistance, most notably from District Two Legislator Donald Gregarious, who said the proposal would impact only some legislators and would create inequities between lawmakers and management. That proposal was tabled because in April the county will review of all its employee compensation plans.
Committee members passed through a number of competing resolutions for a vote Tuesday, including separate measures to fund contract agencies at 100 percent, 90 percent, and 75 percent of their 2009 levels. Also, legislators will consider providing the SPCA, currently headed by District Two Legislator Brian Shapiro, with $40,000, $20,000, or $10,000. They will also consider reinstating all funding for the EVOLVE program, cut in the Hein plan, as well as reinstating the two positions eliminated at the Board of Elections.
It is the first time legislators are reviewing a budget not created by a member of their staff and much of the debate focused on the rationale used by Hein in creating the budget, especially his proposal to lay off 30 county employees.
Hein did not attend Monday’s budget review. However Art Smith, the county budget director, and Adele Reiter, Hein’s chief of staff, were at the meeting
Committee Chairman Legislator Alan Lomita said he would forward a list of questions to Hein, but warned legislators that the executive was under no obligation to respond.
“He doesn’t have to tell you anything,” said Lomita, D-Rosendale. “His job is to prepare a budget then it’s our job to make changes to it if we want, and adopt it.”
In the past, the budget was prepared by the county administrator who worked for the Legislature and prepared the spending plan under legislative direction. Hein was county administrator when the 2009 plan was developed.
Further Ways & Means Committee meetings were set for most of this week, with the final Legislature’s budget vote set for next Monday, December 7.

State Budget
Gov. Patersopn swung his own budget ax last Sunday, November 29, implementing $1.1 billion in cuts and savings as weekend talks with legislators dead-ended with no deficit fix in sight.
Paterson has warned that New York is going broke, struggling under a projected $3.2 billion deficit. The state has now resorted to “juggling” its bills, Paterson said, and is moving money around to cover costs in the absence of a deal with the Legislature.
“We are out of time,” Paterson said the weekend after Thanksgiving. “This is a fiscal emergency.”
He added that he’s begun enacting the parts of his $3.2 billion deficit reduction plan that don’t need legislative approval. These include $500 million in cuts to state agencies - 11% across the board - a more aggressive Medicaid fraud-recovery effort, debt management steps and $300 million in extra administrative savings.
Money borrowed for capital projects next week will also help free up cash in the short term, Paterson said.
In late November, Paterson said the Legislature should give him the power to make needed cuts on a one-time basis. Lawmakers quickly dismissed the suggestion.
But as he continues to negotiate, the governor may have lost leverage with lawmakers who had pressed him to make the administrative cuts as a way to buy time until January, when they hope revenues will rebound.
Paterson said Senate Democrats and Republicans have failed to offer viable solutions, yet they remain opposed to school aid cuts and back only tiny cuts to health care - the two biggest parts of the budget.

Shared Services?
A purchasing cooperative involving county and local governments in the Hudson Valley will save a projected $130,000 in 2009. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is currently touting the benefits of shared services and urged more participation in the region and around the state.
A new purchasing co-op in the Mid-Hudson Valley region includes the counties of Dutchess, Ulster and Rockland, the City of New Rochelle and the Town of Cortlandt.
A police study is underway also to consider the consolidation of the Village and Town of Chester departments. The cost savings is undetermined.
“Tax dollars are tight and families are struggling,” said DiNapoli. “Now more than ever we need to find ways to cut costs and lower property taxes.”
DiNapoli said with over 3,100 local governments, school districts and fire districts in the state, they should look to consolidate as a means of saving taxpayer dollars.

It’s a Go!
Route 28 will be repaved all the way to the Delaware County line. On Tuesday, Ulster County Executive Mike Hein announced that Governor Paterson had approved and certified the county Transportation Council’s request for an additional $8.26 million in federal stimulus funds, available for infrastructure improvements under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The funding will be used to resurface Route 28’s roadway and shoulders from Route 375 in West Hurley to Route 28A in Boiceville, and from Route 214 in Phoenicia to the county line in Highmount. Construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2010.

Thinking Floods
Members of the group Lower Esopus Watershed Partnership are working to have information about the Esopus Creek used in planning and land-use regulations, while the state is contemplating a fund for buyouts of perennially-flooded properties.
It’s time to begin think of high water, once again.
Video aerial photography has been completed for the whole stream from the Hudson River up to the Ashokan Reservoir and efforts are being made to determine the impact that releasing water from the Ashokan Reservoir into the Esopus Creek has on downstream properties.
Many creekside residents in the town of Ulster whose homes were flooded in April 2005 blamed the New York City Department of Environmental Protection because it released water from the Ashokan into the Esopus at a time when the creek already was swollen from heavy rains. But the LEWP and other entities have said flooding along the Esopus also is caused by terrain changes - from steep slopes near the reservoir to valley areas in the city of Kingston and town of Ulster to channels between hillsides in the village of Saugerties before the creek ends at the Hudson River. Man-made levies in some areas have also worsened the potential throughout the watershed area.
Meanwhile, State Senator John Bonacic has introduced legislation to authorize the use of funds from the Greater Catskills Flood Relief Program to buy out, on a voluntary basis, the homes of people in the town who live near New York City’s leaking aqueducts, with dozens of families having already qualified to be bought out under the $15 million program Bonacic initiated.
Area families and Bonacic believe the city’s leaking aqueducts are causing water to seep and flood into their basements. Studies have shown a correlation between water in people’s basements and water running through the aqueduct.
New York City officials maintain seepage and flooding in Wawarsing, and other areas, are caused by poor drainage or rainfall. The city has advised area residents to file claims against the city, which Bonacic said can be time-consuming and costly without any guarantees of success.

Olivebridge Fire
The American Red Cross of Ulster County has given emergency aid to three adult individuals after a fire damaged their home in Olivebridge last week. Disaster Action Team volunteers met with families at the scene of the fire. The Red Cross has provided temporary shelter and financial assistance for food, clothing and medical supplies.
In the coming days and weeks, Red Cross volunteers will continue to work with those affected by the fire and to provide more aid if needed. Volunteers will also assist victims develop a post-disaster plan to get each started on the road to recovery.
The Red Cross urgently needs volunteers to assist with disaster relief efforts throughout the county. For more information on volunteering, contact 338-7020 or www.ulsterredcross.org.

Palen’s Problems
The former head of the Ulster County Health Department ran an operation based on nepotism, intimidation, political favoritism and manipulation, according to a report released recently by county Comptroller Elliott Auerbach. So rife with mismanagement and questionable leadership was the department under Dean Palen’s administration that the “only saving grace was the dedication and commitment of the staffs of the Environmental Sanitation and Public Nursing divisions,” Auerbach wrote in his report.
The 46-page report from the comptroller comes as the result of a five-month investigation into the Health Department under Palen and paints a picture of a department operated more as a personal fiefdom than a part of county government. It also revealed the flaws of Ulster County being run, until recently, by a part-time Legislature in which existed a decentralized system of departmental oversight.
Palen was appointed Ulster County public health director by the county Board of Health in 1994. Members of the Board of Health were appointed by the Legislature and charged with overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Health Department. But, Auerbach said, many board members were “hand-picked by Palen and, at one time, included his personal physician.”
For much of his tenure with the county, Palen also served as the director of environmental sanitation, where he controlled operations of that department. His wife Debra was his administrative assistant in the Environmental Sanitation Division, and, according to Auerbach’s report, she was given responsibilities and authorities that far exceeded her job description.
Palen was let go by county Executive Michael Hein in June 2009; Mrs. Palen was sent home the same day and was slated to be transferred to a different position, but she chose to retire instead.
A day after Palen was fired, county officials discovered more than $32,000 in uncashed checks and dozens of unissued health permits in a locked safe behind his wife’s desk. As a result of those findings, Hein asked Auerbach and Ulster County District Attorney Holley Carnright to investigate operations at the Health Department.
Carnright, in a statement issued Friday, said he will review Auerbach’s report before deciding whether a criminal investigation is warranted.
Local journalists have noted that reports on Palen, including his mismanagement of oversight responsibilities for the Pine Hill Water Company, were coming out throughout the years of the man’s problematic tenure.

Affordability…
A study of the region’s housing needs, in the works for months and talked about last summer, has found the area lacking affordable housing and is projecting that the problem will get worse over the next 10 years. More specifically, it found that Ulster County had an “affordability gap” of 10,696 houses and 5,257 apartments and Dutchess County had a gap of 17,913 houses and 6,900 apartments in 2006, according to the study of the housing climate in Ulster, Dutchess, and Orange counties.
“Three-County Regional Housing Needs Assessment - 2006-2020” projects that by 2020 the gap in affordable housing will grow by 6,079 units in Ulster County and 7,648 units in Dutchess County.
The study was prepared by the planning departments of the three counties with Economic and Policy Resources Inc.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development defines affordable housing as costing a household no more than 30 percent of its gross annual income on mortgage payments or rent, taxes, utilities, and insurance.
Despite the fact that a “correction” in the housing market after the bubble burst led prices to decline in some places more than 25 percent from the 2006 peak, “house price declines are expected to alleviate some affordability pressures in the three-county region, but not to the same extent that the price run-up added to those pressures,” the study says.
Additionally, in the next few years, housing prices are expected to recover and exceed 2006 levels, Economic and Policy Resources President Jeffrey Carr said recently at a Rural Ulster Preservation Co. lunch during which he outlined the report’s key findings.
Looking forward, the study noted a number of hurdles remain, including the fact that the economic recession is likely to make credit more difficult to obtain in the near future, residents will continue to struggle with high energy prices, property taxes have been steadily rising, and the difference between supply and demand of affordable housing could continue to push prices up.
Solutions on the demand side, according to the study, include assistance with financing and down payments while on the supply side include development through planning and zoning regulatory changes and incentives for developers.
In order not to fall further behind, the study noted by 2020 Ulster County would need to build 714 affordable owner units and 1,113 renter units and Dutchess County would need to build 898 affordable owner units and 1,310 renter units.
Researchers pointed out, however, that increasing the supply of housing is “not a ‘magic bullet’” and broader solutions include economic development efforts to create jobs and increase the incomes of residents in the community.

Feds Get Enck
New York State’s Deputy Secretary for the Environment Judith Enck, who has served since November 2006 as top environmental advisor to Governors Paterson and Spitzer, has left state government for a new job at the US Environmental Protection Agency. A November 5 announcement by the agency named Enck as its new Regional Administrator for EPA Region 2, overseeing New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and 7 tribal nations. Whether the state post she vacates will be immediately filled is unclear as of press time, although according to Enck, her deputy Peter Iwanowicz will remain on the job.
Locally, Enck is best known as the architect of the controversial 2007 Agreement in Principal for the proposed Belleayre Resort, which suspended that project’s SEQRA process under then Governor Spitzer’s executive authority. Although the AIP framed a non-binding conceptual agreement between the state, the project’s developer, and other parties, the project’s status remains uncertain at this time.
Enck was also the leading champion of “Smart Growth” policies within state government.
In related news, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg named his longtime Special Advisor Caswell Holloway as the new head of the cuity’s powerful Department of Environmental Protection More on that in our next issue.

Ag To The Aid!
A presentation entitled, “The Role of Agriculture in Curbing Climate Change: Win-Win Scenarios,” will be presented at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County’s Annual Meeting to be held on Monday, December 14 at 6:30pm in the Student Lounge located in Vanderlyn Hall at the SUNY Ulster campus in Stone Ridge. The meeting and presentation is free and open to the general public.
The keynote speaker, Jennifer G. Phillips, Assistant Professor at the Bard Center for Environmental Policy, will look at agriculture as both a source and a sink for greenhouse gases that are likely to be regulated in the future. Fortunately, many of the practices that will curb greenhouse gas production or lead to increased carbon storage are also ones that can increase farm productivity, lower costs, and lead to resilient, sustainable agro-ecosystems. Although in the early stages of research, many of these practices are both familiar and proven. Phillips will include a brief review of the role of greenhouse gases in climate regulation and the expected changes in store for the Northeast that focus on recent science and field research.
For more information about Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County’s community programs and events call 845-340-3990 or visit us www.cceulster.org.

New Loans
Ulster County is initiating a new “Credit for Success” Program, which will provide loans from $25,000 to $150,000 to Ulster County businesses that meet the program’s requirements. All of the funding for this initiative is from private sector sources not County taxpayer dollars.
At a recent press event launching the new loans, County Executive Mike Hein introduced the newly formed Ulster County Bank Consortium, whose members are Catskill Hudson Savings Bank, Provident Bank, Rondout Savings Bank, Sawyer Savings Bank, TD Bank, Ulster Savings Bank and Walden Savings Bank, who are working with the New York Business Development Corporation (NYBDC) and the Ulster County Development Corporation (UCDC) to provide this option to Ulster County businesses.
The program requirements include presentation of a lending institution declination letter and among other things a business must work with the Small Business Development Center to create a business plan. The program is available now and is only offered by participating banks, who are sharing the risk of each loan spread across the seven participating entities. NYBDC is managing the program as the primary lender.
Ulster County businesses wishing to participate in this program should contact the Ulster Business Development Corporation at 338-8840.

Meningitis…
A Marbletown Elementary School kindergartner died in recent weeks, apparently from a bacterial - and non-contagious - form of meningitis, according to Ulster County’s new public health director, Dr. La Mar Hasbrouck, who said the Health Department is monitoring the situation but believes no preventive treatments are required for people who came in contact with the child, identified by a funeral home as 5-year-old Grace L. Imperato of Stone Ridge.
In a letter to Marbletown Elementary School parents, Principal William Cafiero wrote the Rondout Valley School District was advised that, “given the minimal risk involved, schools should not be closed and children do not need to be kept home.”
Hasbrouck, who has been the county’s public health director for less than two weeks, said lab tests indicated the student who died did not suffer from the H1N1 influenza virus, commonly called swine flu.
The type of meningitis that health officials believe afflicted the child is rare and occurs when bacteria from common infections like strep throat, pneumonia and bronchitis “get out of the normal places” and move into the bloodstream and brain.
Meningitis is an inflammation of the membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord and often is referred to as “spinal meningitis.”
Nereida Veytia, a registered nurse and director of patient services for the county Health Department, said parents still should watch their children for the symptoms of meningitis. Common symptoms in patients over the age of 2 include a high fever, headache and stiff neck. Other symptoms include nausea, vomiting, discomfort looking into bright lights, confusion, sleepiness and difficulty eating and sleeping.
School and health officials said the symptoms can develop in as little as a few hours or as long as one or two days. In newborns and infants, some of the symptoms can be difficult to detect, but babies with meningitis may appear slow or inactive, be irritable, feed poorly and vomit.

Recovery Time?
While there may be some signs of an economic upswing, there will be no significant progress unless we see more jobs created, according to Jonathan Drapkin, president of Pattern for Progress, who said this week that the addition of jobs is what will stimulate the economy back into an upswing.
“Until you see that unemployment number start to come down, then I don’t believe that we’ve seen the end of this period of the recession,” he said. “I know there are all kinds of economic models and measurements that exist and clearly it is a good thing for the confidence of the country that the stock market has gone up, but unfortunately there are still way to many people out of work.”
Drapkin said, though, that a means by which to turn the corner on job losses has not yet been figured out.

No Casino?
If Empire Resorts wants to continue its efforts to develop a Native American casino at Monticello Gaming and Raceway, it will have to find a new partner. The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe conducted a vote of its community members in recent weeks and the majority turned thumbs down on continuing with the off-reservation gaming project.
The vote among its members was 178 “no” and 140 “yes”.
Meanwhile, the president of the Seneca Indian Nation has reaffirmed its intent to seek a state compact to develop a full-service Class III gaming casino and hotel in the Catskills.
“The Seneca Nation is firmly committed to Sullivan County, the town of Thompson, its officials and residents,” said a statement from the tribe. “This project will bring economic growth opportunities to generate a rebirth of this region, put it back on solid financial footing to develop its tourism base and provide much-needed job opportunities. We understand the hardships this area has faced because as an independent nation, we are challenged every day to create economic sovereignty opportunities for our people,” Snyder said.
This past August, a government contingent led by Snyder and tribal counselors met with U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Bureau of Indian Affairs head Larry Echohawk and Sullivan County representatives to urge the federal government to lift the Kempthorne restriction, which prohibits Indian tribes from taking off-reservation land into trust for gaming purposes. That’s a necessary step for New York state’s Indian nations to establish gaming operations in Sullivan County.

Legalize It?
The same day they rejected a gay marriage ballot measure, residents of Maine voted overwhelmingly to allow the sale of medical marijuana over the counter at state-licensed dispensaries. Later in the month, the American Medical Association reversed a longtime position and urged the federal government to remove marijuana from Schedule One of the Controlled Substances Act, which equates it with heroin. And advocates for easing marijuana laws left their biannual strategy conference with plans to press ahead on all fronts — state law, ballot measures, and court — in a movement that for the first time in decades appeared to be gaining ground.
“This issue is breaking out in a remarkably rapid way now,” said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance. “Public opinion is changing very, very rapidly.”
The shift is widely described as generational. A Gallup poll in October found 44 percent of Americans favor full legalization of marijuana — a rise of 13 points since 2000. Gallup said that if public support continues growing at a rate of 1 to 2 percent per year, “the majority of Americans could favor legalization of the drug in as little as four years.”
A 53 percent majority already does so in the West, according to the survey. The finding heartens advocates collecting signatures to put the question of legalization before California voters in a 2010 initiative.
At the International Drug Reform Conference, activists gamed specific proposals for taxing and regulating pot along the lines of cigarettes and alcohol, as a bill pending in the California Legislature would do. The measure is not expected to pass, but in urging its serious debate, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gave credence to a potential revenue source that the state’s tax chief said could raise $1.3 billion in the recession, which advocates describe as a boon.
There were also tips on lobbying state legislatures, where measures decriminalizing possession of small amounts have passed in 14 states. Activists predict half of states will have laws allowing possession for medical purposes in the near future.
Interest in medical marijuana and easing other marijuana laws picked up markedly about 18 months ago, but advocates say the biggest surge came with the election of Barack Obama, the third straight president to acknowledge having smoked marijuana, and the first to regard it with anything like nonchalance.
“As a kid, I inhaled,” Barack Obama famously said on the campaign. “That was the whole point.”
In office, Obama made good on a promise to halt federal prosecutions of medical marijuana use where permitted by state law. That has recalibrated the federal attitude, which had been consistently hostile to marijuana since the early 1970s, when President Richard Nixon cast aside the recommendations of a presidential commission arguing against lumping pot with hard drugs.
Anti-drug advocates counter with surveys showing high school students nationwide already are more likely to smoke marijuana than tobacco — and that the five states with the highest rate of adolescent pot use permit medical marijuana.
“We are in the prevention business,” said Arthur Dean, chairman of the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America. “Kids are getting the message tobacco’s harmful, and they’re not getting the message marijuana is.”
In Los Angeles, city officials are dealing with elements of public backlash after more than 1,000 medical marijuana dispensaries opened, some employing in-house physicians to dispense legal permission to virtually all comers. The boom town atmosphere brought complaints from some neighbors, but little of the crime associated with underground drug-dealing.
Advocates cite the latter as evidence that, as with alcohol, violence associated with the marijuana trade flows from its prohibition.

New Audio Book
Silver Hollow Audio of Chichester has just released a new audio version of Petty de Llosa’s The Practice of Presence: Five Paths for Daily Life, read by the author. The work, first published in 2006, explores T’ai Chi, Jungian analysis, Gurdjieff work, the Alexander technique, as well as prayer and meditation, on a journey toward a more authentic life of daily awareness. Silver Hollow’s 12-hour audiobook will be available exclusively as downloadable content. It will be available through the company’s website, as well as other digital content providers, such as Playaway and OverDrive.
For more on this innovative and younglocal company, call 688-7333 or visit www.silverhollowaudio.com.

Cheaper Solar?
The New York State Legislature has passed enabling legislation that will eliminate the upfront costs of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects to homeowners and businesses by allowing PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) financing.
“This important legislation to the solar industry is all about creating more green jobs in New York,” said New York Solar Energy Industries Association Vice President Kevin MacLeod of KPS Contracting, Inc, who represented the interests of the association to lawmakers. “It will help create more jobs for contractors who will hire more employees and generate more taxes, and have a tremendous multiplier impact to the state.”
NYSEIA, the association representing the solar energy industry, wrote the initial legislation that was previously known as the Green Loans Bill, based on a financing model in the city of Berkeley, Calif., and has been lobbying for its passage since May, according to MacLeod.
Unanimously passed by both houses at a special session late Nov. 16, the bill authorizes municipalities to administer PACE loan programs to finance the installation of renewable energy systems and energy efficiency improvements across the state.
PACE programs eliminate the upfront cost for energy improvements by allowing property owners to pay for the improvements with low-interest bonds over 15 to 20 years that are repaid through property taxes. The payment plan is easily transferable to the next property owner if the current resident decides to move.
The state bill enables New York to tap into $454 million in federal funding that will be made available to support PACE programming. PACE programs are a recent innovation in finance and have emerged nationwide over the past year. New York becomes the 16th state to pass the enabling legislation.
The finance model can be used to finance a host of technologies, including solar PV systems, solar heat and hot water systems, energy efficiency installations and water conservation upgrades.