Noble (standing): “… I’m not going to negotiate against myself”
KINGSTON – The Kingston Common Council met voted unanimously in a special session Wednesday night, to support Mayor Steven Noble with a memorializing resolution advocating a five-year “status quo” moratorium regarding sales tax negotiations with Ulster County.
Controversy began on January 26, when Ulster County Legislature Ways and Means Chairman Richard Gerentine made a presentation concerning the renegotiation of sales tax revenue sharing between the county and its local municipalities, which happens every five years.
The current agreement of 85 percent county, 11.5 percent city, and three percent towns ends on February 29.
Gerentine provided numbers from the office of County Executive Michael Hein, alleging that the municipalities had been irresponsible with their newfound revenue from the safety net takeover during the past four years, because none of the money was passed along to property tax relief, but instead went to additional spending.
Private negotiations arranged between Hein, Gerentine, Mayor Noble, and the two legislative party leaders, quickly fell into stalemate in late January. The county side wanted to reduce Kingston’s share by $1.6 million, from 11.5 percent down to 10 percent of the annual county sales tax pie. Towns collectively risk losing a percentage point as well.
Noble’s response was that the city couldn’t afford any cuts, and deserves another five years with the same ratio split before any changes be made.
“We had one meeting with all of my staff and all of [Hein’s] staff, and they said the status quo is not on the table,” Noble explained. “There’s no need to have behind closed door negotiations. If the status quo is not on the table, the only way I can negotiate is down, and I’m not going to negotiate against myself.”
Town of Ulster Supervisor James Quigley, representing the Ulster County
Association of Town Supervisors and Mayors, said “In analyzing the
[Ways and Means’] presentation and decision, I noted a large number
of misrepresentations, both in the historical spending on the part of
the town, and also the city.”
Quigley also warned that Kingston’s last-resort option to pre-empt the county sales tax with one of its own, would have a draconian effect. It would be “a pattern of mutually assured destruction,” he said.
Schwartz-Berky: “… ambush
politics …”
This is not a theory that is going to turn out nice, when the City of Kingston and the County of Ulster butt heads,” Quigley cautioned. “The diabolical leaders of Ulster County are working hard to pull this coalition apart,” he added.
First Ward Alderwoman Lynn Eckert said that Hein’s presented numbers are distorted, inaccurate and unfair.
“I think we need to press him on those numbers and ask for transparency,” Eckert said. “We need to see where he got them from, because they’re just not matching the data that we have.” She added that this debate should have been had prior to the election.
“With today’s economic climate, we’re all treading water,” Noble said. “When this agreement expires, nobody really knows what’s going to happen on March 1. I don’t know who’s holding the cards,” the mayor said.
County Legislator Jennifer Schwartz-Berky, representing District 7, encompassing Kingston’s 6th, 7th and 8th Wards, said the current discussion is unnecessary, and unnecessarily unpleasant. “I think this discussion needs to happen in front of the public, not ‘ambush politics’,” Schwartz-Berky said. “It is time for transparency. The fate of Kingston is going to also hold the fate of Ulster County.”
