Scotia police officers won a big victory on Thursday in their ongoing fight with village officials for a pay raise.
The police union wanted a 3.5 percent increase to the salary schedule for 2009-2010 and 2010-2011, a comparable raise to what other village employees received during this time. Village officials rejected this idea, but the union's proposal was basically approved by the New York State Public Employees Relations Board, which approved a 3.25 percent wage increase for the three pay periods from 2009 to 2012 and 2 percent increases for the next two years. The average increase is about 2.75 percent a year.
"The award is a compromise," reads the NYS PERB report. "Although it does not fulfill all of the wishes of either party, it is accepted by all three panel members."
Read the full settlement below.
The police argued their members should be paid like officers in surrounding Schenectady County municipalities, like Glenville, and not like officers in the villages of Herkimer, Hudson Falls and Ilion. Scotia officials suggested the comparison to other villages because they have a similar population and the same type of government. The panel found that the town of Glenville was the most relevant comparison for the Village of Scotia, because the village is located in the town and they share other commonalities.
Regarding the village's ability to meet the demands of the police union, the panel found that the village wasn't as poor as it claimed. "The panel finds that the village has the ability to pay for this award and that the wage and other increases awarded herein constitute a fair and reasonable award," reads the report.
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Friday, November 22, 2013
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Assemblyman tries to knock out the "Knockout Game"
Assemblyman James Tedisco doesn't find anything fun about the "knockout game."
The Glenville Republican has crafted legislation aimed at curbing this brutal new trend, where gangs of teens and tweens target unsuspecting people and sucker punch them, causing serious injury and death in some cases. Tedisco's bill would amend the state's law to treat youths who play this game the same as adults when it comes times for criminal sentencing.
“Killing or injuring a person with one punch is no game and the state’s criminal penalties to prosecute these dastardly individuals should not be a joke," Tedisco said in a statement. "These twisted and cowardly thugs are preying on innocent bystanders and they don’t care if the victims are young, old, a man or woman. Life isn’t a video game. These are real people whose lives are not only being put in jeopardy but in many cases destroyed."
“This bill is a deterrent because it will ensure that juveniles who commit these vicious adult crimes are tried as adults. It also ensures that any gang member who is part of a ‘knockout game’ assault – even if they don’t lay a hand on the victim – could face a long prison sentence," he added.
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The Glenville Republican has crafted legislation aimed at curbing this brutal new trend, where gangs of teens and tweens target unsuspecting people and sucker punch them, causing serious injury and death in some cases. Tedisco's bill would amend the state's law to treat youths who play this game the same as adults when it comes times for criminal sentencing.
“Killing or injuring a person with one punch is no game and the state’s criminal penalties to prosecute these dastardly individuals should not be a joke," Tedisco said in a statement. "These twisted and cowardly thugs are preying on innocent bystanders and they don’t care if the victims are young, old, a man or woman. Life isn’t a video game. These are real people whose lives are not only being put in jeopardy but in many cases destroyed."
“This bill is a deterrent because it will ensure that juveniles who commit these vicious adult crimes are tried as adults. It also ensures that any gang member who is part of a ‘knockout game’ assault – even if they don’t lay a hand on the victim – could face a long prison sentence," he added.
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Monday, November 18, 2013
Christie edges Cuomo as New Yorkers choice for President
Gov. Andrew Cuomo needs to worry about winning his backyard if he squares off against New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in the 2016 presidential race, according to a Siena Research Institute poll released on Monday.
Christie, a Republican, garnered support from 47 percent of New York voters and Cuomo, a Democrat, grabbed up 42 percent in the hypothetical match up. "Despite ‘home court advantage’ and a two-to-one Democratic enrollment advantage, Christie is besting Cuomo by five points," said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg in a statement. "Cuomo’s New York City lead is not enough to offset Christie’s comparable upstate and suburban leads, not to mention Christie’s 21-point lead among independent voters.”
"Christie, who is viewed favorably downstate and upstate, has a 57-31 percent favorability rating with Democrats and a 67-19 percent favorability rating with independents,” Greenberg said.
The complete breakdown of the poll is available below.
It's interesting to note how poorly Cuomo does among low-income voters, a traditionally Democratic base of support, which in this poll only vote for him by a 46 percent to 45 percent outcome.
If Christie squares offs against Hillary Clinton, though, he shouldn't count on winning New York, where Clinton served as a U.S. Senator. Only 40 percent of New York voters support Christie when he's pitted against Clinton, who brings home 56 percent of the state, according to the poll.
"Christie splits the suburban and upstate vote with Clinton, who dominates in New York City," Greenberg noted.
A major difference in the two hypothetical elections is the female voting bloc, which only gives a slight edge to Cuomo, but gives a big lift to Clinton. Female voters, who turn out in much larger numbers than males voters traditionally, appear to swing these two scenarios.
And while this poll wasn't encouraging for Cuomo's presidential prospects, it did show he'll likely cruise to reelection as governor.
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Christie, a Republican, garnered support from 47 percent of New York voters and Cuomo, a Democrat, grabbed up 42 percent in the hypothetical match up. "Despite ‘home court advantage’ and a two-to-one Democratic enrollment advantage, Christie is besting Cuomo by five points," said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg in a statement. "Cuomo’s New York City lead is not enough to offset Christie’s comparable upstate and suburban leads, not to mention Christie’s 21-point lead among independent voters.”
"Christie, who is viewed favorably downstate and upstate, has a 57-31 percent favorability rating with Democrats and a 67-19 percent favorability rating with independents,” Greenberg said.
The complete breakdown of the poll is available below.
It's interesting to note how poorly Cuomo does among low-income voters, a traditionally Democratic base of support, which in this poll only vote for him by a 46 percent to 45 percent outcome.
If Christie squares offs against Hillary Clinton, though, he shouldn't count on winning New York, where Clinton served as a U.S. Senator. Only 40 percent of New York voters support Christie when he's pitted against Clinton, who brings home 56 percent of the state, according to the poll.
"Christie splits the suburban and upstate vote with Clinton, who dominates in New York City," Greenberg noted.
A major difference in the two hypothetical elections is the female voting bloc, which only gives a slight edge to Cuomo, but gives a big lift to Clinton. Female voters, who turn out in much larger numbers than males voters traditionally, appear to swing these two scenarios.
And while this poll wasn't encouraging for Cuomo's presidential prospects, it did show he'll likely cruise to reelection as governor.
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Cuomo still the favorite in 2014, despite low popularity
Gov. Andrew Cuomo's job performance ranking has dropped to its lowest point in about three years, according to today's Siena Research Institute poll.
More than half of voters polled, 56 percent, gave the governor a negative ranking, while only 44 percent gave him a positive rating. While this continues a decline from last month, the polling shows that he would still crush potential Republican opponents, Rob Astorino, Ed Cox and Carl Paladino.
“While Cuomo maintains his nearly two-to-one favorability rating, voters are less enthralled with the job he is doing as governor,” Siena pollster Steve Greenberg said in a statement. “More than twice as many voters think he’s doing a poor job compared to an excellent job."
A complete breakdown of the poll is available below.
He added that the governor is still in a commanding position to defeat state Republican Committee Chairman Ed Cox, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino and 2010 Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino. “Against all three, he gets the support of more than 80 percent of Democrats, a strong majority of independents and a little more than one-third of Republicans. And that’s before he spends a dollar from his $30 million campaign war chest," Greenberg said.
Part of the challenge for the Republican opponents, especially Astorino, is that they're not well known around the state, according to the polling.
Voters are basically divided on Astorino across the state, with 12 percent viewing him favorably and 14 percent having a negative perception, but about 75 percent of the people polled had no opinion about him. In the "suburbs" region, where only 69 percent of voters had no opinion about him and he is known best to voters, his favorable rating was up to 18 percent and his negative rating was down to 13 percent, a slightly encouraging nugget for Astorino's gubernatorial aspirations.
The poll was conducted from Nov. 11 to Nov. 14 and interviewed 806 registered voters. There is a margin of error of about 3.5 percent.
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More than half of voters polled, 56 percent, gave the governor a negative ranking, while only 44 percent gave him a positive rating. While this continues a decline from last month, the polling shows that he would still crush potential Republican opponents, Rob Astorino, Ed Cox and Carl Paladino.
“While Cuomo maintains his nearly two-to-one favorability rating, voters are less enthralled with the job he is doing as governor,” Siena pollster Steve Greenberg said in a statement. “More than twice as many voters think he’s doing a poor job compared to an excellent job."
A complete breakdown of the poll is available below.
He added that the governor is still in a commanding position to defeat state Republican Committee Chairman Ed Cox, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino and 2010 Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino. “Against all three, he gets the support of more than 80 percent of Democrats, a strong majority of independents and a little more than one-third of Republicans. And that’s before he spends a dollar from his $30 million campaign war chest," Greenberg said.
Part of the challenge for the Republican opponents, especially Astorino, is that they're not well known around the state, according to the polling.
Voters are basically divided on Astorino across the state, with 12 percent viewing him favorably and 14 percent having a negative perception, but about 75 percent of the people polled had no opinion about him. In the "suburbs" region, where only 69 percent of voters had no opinion about him and he is known best to voters, his favorable rating was up to 18 percent and his negative rating was down to 13 percent, a slightly encouraging nugget for Astorino's gubernatorial aspirations.
The poll was conducted from Nov. 11 to Nov. 14 and interviewed 806 registered voters. There is a margin of error of about 3.5 percent.
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Friday, November 15, 2013
Capital Region representatives divided on Obamacare fix
A bill that would allow people to keep health plans that won't be offered in the future passed the U.S. House of Representatives today with support from two local representatives and opposition from one.
The Keep Your Health Plan Act would allow plans currently offered to be extended into 2014 and beyond. If enacted, it would potentially allow more than 3.5 million people, whose plans will be cancelled, to continue to receive their current coverage.
U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, was the lone local no vote on the Republican sponsored idea, which was advanced as the result of the latest backlash against Obamacare. The latest uproar is over the death of some health insurance plans that don't meet the basic coverage requirements in Obamacare.
There ended up being 157 no votes, while the 261 yes votes took the day. One of the more than three dozen Democratic yes votes was U.S. Rep. Bill Owens, D-Plattsburgh.
U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson, R-Kinderhook, joined his side of the aisle in supporting the bill too. “As I’ve said all along, the Affordable Care Act, which had the right goals of lowering health care costs and increasing access to quality care, would never deliver on these promises," he said in a statement.
"One of these tenets was that my constituents, and Americans across the country, would be able to keep their current health insurance if they liked it," Gibson said. "That has turned out to be a false promise, and today’s legislation would fix that – allowing insurance companies to continue to offer current plans."
President Barack Obama recently said that people who like their current plans, even if they were supposed to be cancelled, can stay on them for another year. Gibson argued that despite this promise, the president isn't in a position to make this promise.
And while Gibson would prefer to scrap Obamacare, he said, "In the absence of that, we should at a minimum ensure the law is not forced on Americans with a broken website, unfair applicability, and direct promises that are not being kept."
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The Keep Your Health Plan Act would allow plans currently offered to be extended into 2014 and beyond. If enacted, it would potentially allow more than 3.5 million people, whose plans will be cancelled, to continue to receive their current coverage.
U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, was the lone local no vote on the Republican sponsored idea, which was advanced as the result of the latest backlash against Obamacare. The latest uproar is over the death of some health insurance plans that don't meet the basic coverage requirements in Obamacare.
There ended up being 157 no votes, while the 261 yes votes took the day. One of the more than three dozen Democratic yes votes was U.S. Rep. Bill Owens, D-Plattsburgh.
U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson, R-Kinderhook, joined his side of the aisle in supporting the bill too. “As I’ve said all along, the Affordable Care Act, which had the right goals of lowering health care costs and increasing access to quality care, would never deliver on these promises," he said in a statement.
"One of these tenets was that my constituents, and Americans across the country, would be able to keep their current health insurance if they liked it," Gibson said. "That has turned out to be a false promise, and today’s legislation would fix that – allowing insurance companies to continue to offer current plans."
President Barack Obama recently said that people who like their current plans, even if they were supposed to be cancelled, can stay on them for another year. Gibson argued that despite this promise, the president isn't in a position to make this promise.
And while Gibson would prefer to scrap Obamacare, he said, "In the absence of that, we should at a minimum ensure the law is not forced on Americans with a broken website, unfair applicability, and direct promises that are not being kept."
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Thursday, November 14, 2013
Cuomo's tax commission offers its ideas
The commission tasked by Gov. Andrew Cuomo with making the state's tax code simpler and fairer has released its final report.
The New York State Tax Reform and Fairness Commission focused its reform efforts on the tax code's inequitable treatment and its negative impact on state revenues, according to a note on the report from co-chairman Peter Solomon and H. Carl McCall. And while the co-chairs don't expect every recommendation to be adopted immediately, they're hoping this report prompts long-term changes.
Read the full report, HERE.
The report's recommendations touch on sales tax, estate and gift taxes, corporate tax and the 18-A surcharge, real property tax and tax code simplifications.
One of the credits the commission recommends scaling back is the film production tax credit, which is one of the state's largest annual incentives at a price tag of $420 million. Film companies are able to be reimbursed through this credit for 30 percent of their "below the line" costs. The report argues that the credit has been successful, but says it should be scaled back because it doesn't pay for itself and noted other states are scaling back what they offer.
"Given the growing pressure on State resources, the State should consider scaling back the annual allocation of the credit by $50 million. In addition, the Commission suggests that the State monitor developments in other states and adjust its financial commitment as competitive conditions and budget constraints dictate," reads the report.
This is an interesting recommendation, as it comes less than 24 hours after Cuomo vetoed a bill that would have expanded a more lucrative version of the credit to the Capital Region.
In a release accompanying the report, Cuomo thanked the co-chairs and reiterated his commitment to turning around the state's negative tax reputation. “ Today’s report represents another step in that direction as we seek to simplify New York’s antiquated and unnecessarily onerous tax code, and to ease the tax burden on families and businesses statewide," he said.
These efforts have the support of Unshackle Upstate, a broad coalition of New York businesses, which credited the report with offering a number of sensible options. Unshackle Executive Director Brian Sampson said in a statement, "We’re especially encouraged by the inclusion of important measures such as the accelerated phase out of New York’s energy surcharge.
He also noted that Unshackle introduced its own tax plan recommendations in September.
"It’s become clear that we can and must reduce New York’s crushing tax burden," Sampson said. "We appreciate the Governor’s efforts and strongly believe that real tax relief must happen in 2014.”
Follow @poozer87 on Twitter.
The New York State Tax Reform and Fairness Commission focused its reform efforts on the tax code's inequitable treatment and its negative impact on state revenues, according to a note on the report from co-chairman Peter Solomon and H. Carl McCall. And while the co-chairs don't expect every recommendation to be adopted immediately, they're hoping this report prompts long-term changes.
Read the full report, HERE.
The report's recommendations touch on sales tax, estate and gift taxes, corporate tax and the 18-A surcharge, real property tax and tax code simplifications.
One of the credits the commission recommends scaling back is the film production tax credit, which is one of the state's largest annual incentives at a price tag of $420 million. Film companies are able to be reimbursed through this credit for 30 percent of their "below the line" costs. The report argues that the credit has been successful, but says it should be scaled back because it doesn't pay for itself and noted other states are scaling back what they offer.
"Given the growing pressure on State resources, the State should consider scaling back the annual allocation of the credit by $50 million. In addition, the Commission suggests that the State monitor developments in other states and adjust its financial commitment as competitive conditions and budget constraints dictate," reads the report.
This is an interesting recommendation, as it comes less than 24 hours after Cuomo vetoed a bill that would have expanded a more lucrative version of the credit to the Capital Region.
In a release accompanying the report, Cuomo thanked the co-chairs and reiterated his commitment to turning around the state's negative tax reputation. “ Today’s report represents another step in that direction as we seek to simplify New York’s antiquated and unnecessarily onerous tax code, and to ease the tax burden on families and businesses statewide," he said.
These efforts have the support of Unshackle Upstate, a broad coalition of New York businesses, which credited the report with offering a number of sensible options. Unshackle Executive Director Brian Sampson said in a statement, "We’re especially encouraged by the inclusion of important measures such as the accelerated phase out of New York’s energy surcharge.
He also noted that Unshackle introduced its own tax plan recommendations in September.
"It’s become clear that we can and must reduce New York’s crushing tax burden," Sampson said. "We appreciate the Governor’s efforts and strongly believe that real tax relief must happen in 2014.”
Follow @poozer87 on Twitter.
Second choice same as the first choice for NYRA
The New York Racing Association hasn't changed its mind about what firm it wants to upgrade its online wagering platform.
Earlier this year NYRA tentatively awarded a contract to upgrade its advance deposit wagering platform to Global Betting Exchange, but was forced to start the bidding process again this fall following criticisms of the initial bidding process from the state Franchise Oversight Board. A new request for proposals was designed with consultation from the state and GBE was chosen again.
"We utilized a new [Request for Proposal] procedure and included several individuals in this decision-making process who were not involved in the last selection," NYRA President and CEO Chris Kay said in a statement. "Using an objective formula, developed in concert with the state, we selected an exciting technology company that withstood the scrutiny of an in-depth, step-by-step technical and financial analysis."
"I was also pleased to be told by outside counsel that the RFP evaluation was thorough, fair and performed in an extremely professional manner by our team," he added.
It's important to note that the state never had an issue with GBE, but was concerned with the RFP process, which they felt was inadequate. The initial process didn't appropriately outline criteria that was desired or how firms would be selected.
"Our NYRA Rewards members will benefit from having one of the most technologically advanced companies in the industry create a new platform that will make online wagering easier and more efficient and enjoyable," Kay promised.
The selection process was a hotly debated topic in NYRA board meetings earlier this year. During public meetings, some board members expressed resentment with the criticisms from the state and felt the first selection process was successful. They had initially hoped to be benefiting from GBE's work by the fourth quarter of this year, with the possibility of $3 million to $5 million in additional revenue this year as a result.
Follow @poozer87 on Twitter.
Earlier this year NYRA tentatively awarded a contract to upgrade its advance deposit wagering platform to Global Betting Exchange, but was forced to start the bidding process again this fall following criticisms of the initial bidding process from the state Franchise Oversight Board. A new request for proposals was designed with consultation from the state and GBE was chosen again.
"We utilized a new [Request for Proposal] procedure and included several individuals in this decision-making process who were not involved in the last selection," NYRA President and CEO Chris Kay said in a statement. "Using an objective formula, developed in concert with the state, we selected an exciting technology company that withstood the scrutiny of an in-depth, step-by-step technical and financial analysis."
"I was also pleased to be told by outside counsel that the RFP evaluation was thorough, fair and performed in an extremely professional manner by our team," he added.
It's important to note that the state never had an issue with GBE, but was concerned with the RFP process, which they felt was inadequate. The initial process didn't appropriately outline criteria that was desired or how firms would be selected.
"Our NYRA Rewards members will benefit from having one of the most technologically advanced companies in the industry create a new platform that will make online wagering easier and more efficient and enjoyable," Kay promised.
The selection process was a hotly debated topic in NYRA board meetings earlier this year. During public meetings, some board members expressed resentment with the criticisms from the state and felt the first selection process was successful. They had initially hoped to be benefiting from GBE's work by the fourth quarter of this year, with the possibility of $3 million to $5 million in additional revenue this year as a result.
Follow @poozer87 on Twitter.
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