Sign on to this petition to slash county property taxes and stop tens of millions of dollars in proposed county budget cuts to towns, cities, and villages (sales-tax revenue sharing) and county services and nonprofits-- there's another way-- we can stop more budget cuts with progressive revenue alternatives locally here!

[scroll down for list of dozens of Dutchess County folks signed on for years to this]

How much worse does it have to get?...(before we stand up to stop more cuts-- and more property tax hikes-- with progressive taxation!)

[Many of us have been working and fighting for progressive taxation for 20 years now on state and federal level-- and yes, it is very much true that that still needs to happen-- but easier to make real change happen locally-- let's work on getting a majority of 13 of 25 Dutchess County Legislators to push for this-- to send home rule request to Governor and NYS Legislature to allow progressive revenue source!]

Fact: Over the last decade Dutchess County households making $500,000 and up have raked in literally $222 million from fed Bush tax cuts-- money that we need to start taking back to stop more cuts. Households here in Dutchess County making $500,000 and up now actually pay $24 million less in federal income taxes each year (because of Bush tax cuts) than they did in 90's under Clinton. For every 1% less that Dutchess households making $500,000 and up pay in taxes, six million dollars are lost in revenue (multiply that by four to get difference between 35% and 39.6% top federal tax rate).
[see http://www.FiscalPolicy.org -- FPI Exec. Dir. Frank Mauro crunched numbers here re: Dutchess-- and above computations don't even take into account $3 billion in annual NYS income tax break gift given last Dec. by Cuomo/Skelos/Saland et. al. in special "deal" chopping state-level millionaires tax in half (NYS millionaires tax now takes in $2 billion annually; used to take in $5 billion annually in revenue before last Dec.)]

Fact: Over 90 percent of small business owners make less than $250,000 a year.
[ ]

Fact: Dutchess County Budget Director Val Sommerville's May 1st memo to our County Legislature noted "anticipated $40 million budget gap for 2013." [79 county employees leaving = small dent in this]

Fact: As it is already Dutchess County government has been cut back to the bone; we've already lost 200 county employees over the last four years, our county's Office of Consumer Affairs, Human Rights Commission, Youth Bureau Project Return program, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Dutchess County has been forced to slash their workforce from 40 to 25 staff over just the last few years; just about every other nonprofit in the county has taken similar multiple-year hits in recent county budgets, tuition was just hiked at Dutchess Community College, and the County Executive has just cut sales tax revenue-sharing with municipalities (and note-- this is but just a small, partial list of all the recent cuts; twelve years ago 67% of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Dutchess County's budget came from county funding-- now only 20% of the CCEDC budget comes from county funding-- more re: CCEDC below).
[tell me what austerity looks like?...Dutchess Co. in 2012]

Fact: In NYS, cities of NYC & Yonkers have local-level income taxes (that reduce property taxes):
;
.

Again-- this isn't a new idea-- recall this one from December 2010 in The Nation-- idea for NYC too:

"Saving Our Cities With Fair Taxes" by Brad Lander (of NYC Council-- cofounder, Progressive Caucus)
http://www.thenation.com/article/157227/saving-our-cities-fair-taxes

Fact: Fourteen states and the District of Columbia allow cities, counties, and municipalities to levy separate individual income taxes in addition to state income taxes (in order to lessen the burden on property taxpayers and fully fund services)-- including all 24 Maryland counties, all 92 Indiana counties, Birmingham, Denver, Wilmington, Louisville, Baltimore, Detroit, Kansas City, St. Louis, Columbus, Toledo, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Reading, Scranton, and Wilkes-Barre.

[we've been advocating for this for years now; recall-- ; , ; , ]

From the Poughkeepsie Journal Sept. 15th-- "All cities, towns, and villages in Dutchess County will take cuts in revenue from sales tax in a plan proposed by County Executive Marc Molinaro. Molinaro proposes to help close the county's 2013 budget gap of $40 million by capping how much of the sales tax the county will share with its municipalities, giving them a 15 percent reduction. Some impact would be offset by the county picking up election costs that localities pay and, in the longer run, by a shared-services approach that Molinaro said would ultimately save them money. The total sales-tax collection runs to nearly $160 million, and the estimated 2012 sharing to localities is $29.5 million. His plan would cap local distribution at $25 million, cutting about $4.5 million out of municipal sharing and keeping most of that for the county. The plan will be part of his budget proposal to the county Legislature. Molinaro's plan comes as mayors and supervisors are wrestling with fiscal challenges they already have."
[above from "Dutchess County May Cut Municipalities' Share of Sales Tax" (Sept. 15th)
]

[City of Poughkeepsie Mayor John Tkazyik, Fishkill Town Supervisor Robert LaColla, others opposed; I know that municipal officials here in Clinton and Rhinebeck aren't thrilled either-- TIME TO STAND UP!]

[Molinaro wants tens of thousands of dollars in cuts to Town/Village of Rhinebeck and Town of Clinton]

[also: "Dutchess Executive Molinaro To Reduce Sales Tax Distribution to Municipalities" [Sept. 14th]
]

Recall-- 79 county employees leaving: "Dutchess Legislators Approve Workforce Adjustment Incentive":

Fact: In 2009 former County Executive Steinhaus bragged that his proposed budget for 2010 contained 53 fewer employees than in 1987 (despite the fact that there were 50,000 more Dutchess residents as population). In 2010 again Steinhaus continued to make bold claims about how many county workers he has laid off; here's a direct quote from his 11/1/10 "budget message"-- "For 2011, this budget plan reduces the workforce by 101...my 2011 budget plan as proposed reduces the original 1992 total workforce number by 236 net positions, from 2074 positions down to 1838 positions...187 of the 236 have been eliminated in just the past three years alone...when I first became County Executive in 1992, county government had peaked with a workforce count of 2074 employees."
[ http://www.dutchessny.gov ]

Fact: "More than a decade ago, county funding for Cornell Cooperative Extension of Dutchess County accounted for two-thirds of its budget. Now, it is 20 percent. In 2009, the organization received $1.1 million from the county. That fell to $520,000 in 2011. This year, there was a slight increase to $537,000. The reduction in county money means less in state and federal matching grants that are based on how much the county gives. As a result, the organization has reduced its staff from 40 to 25 people and cut back on some services. A program that provided financial management services to county residents went from $68,000 in county funding in 2009 to none the past two years. The county also completely cut funding for the Green Teen program, which seeks to teach inner-city children about farming, nutrition and entrepreneurship. The program received more than $95,000 in 2008 and 2009.

[from "Cornell Agency Hardships; Director To Retire; County Funds Drop"
]

Recall this gem Aug. 13th--"Five Ways Privatization Degrades America" by Paul Buchheit:
.

Fact: Dutchess homeless now kicked out of shelter after 4 months-- and $10/night fee after 2 months(!):

"Homeless-Shelter Limits Generate Sharp Criticism: Clients May Stay 120 days, But Pay $10 a Night After 60 of Them" by Chris Valdez (from last Thursday)

"Homeless Advocates Blast Dutchess County Shelter" by Hank Gross

"Homeless Advocates Blast Dutchess Shelter's New Fee Policy" [MidHudsonNews.com]

"Poughkeepsie's Emergency Shelter to Begin Imposing Time Limits and Fees" [Comm. Voices Heard]

So-- how much worse does it have to get?...how much more must be cut?...how many more layoffs?...

[recall Paul Krugman's; see http://www.ManifestoforEconomicSense.org -- more cuts hurt the economy!]

Enough is enough-- time to seriously push for progressive revenue solutions/alternatives to more cuts.

[Deval Patrick was right: "it's time for Democrats to grow a backbone and stand up for what we believe"-- and if we here in FDR's/Eleanor's own Dutchess aren't going to fight for innovation like this-- where?]

Fact: Over the last decade the following Dutchess County residents have endorsed various petitions from yours truly calling for a county-level income tax here to slash property taxes and stop more cuts:

Hyde Park's Doris Kelly and Pete Conklin, Rhinebeck's Marcia Slatkin, Ruth Boyer, Meg Crawford, Janet Stetson, Fred Nagel, Sandra Oldenburg, Edmond Roberts, and Alice Wilbeck, Clinton's Doug Smyth, Marion Thompson, Glen and Sarah Love-Burger, Chris and Ellen DiFrancesco, Larry Freedman, Suzi Hieter, William Lenehan, Jan Mills, Robert and Johanne Renbeck, Howard and Pauline Shapiro, Bernie and Donald Siefert, Art Weiland, Carol Valentine, Pat Zolnik, Carmen Region, Milan's Sheila Buff, Fishkill's Josh and Mara Farrell, Wappinger's Philip Banco, Rich Carlson and Richard Vineski, Beacon's Susan Osberg, Erika Waldron, and Dan Rigney, Poughkeepsie's Barbara Lindsey Nick and Gayle Garin, East Fishkill's Joette Kane, Red Hook's Cary Kittner, Patti Gordon, and Doris Soroko, Beacon's Bill Costine, Dover's Nora Edwards, Bangall's Alison Francis, Town of Poughkeepsie's Shaun Chesley, Millerton's Dianne Engleke and Joan Daidone, and Pleasant Valley's Sue MacNish-- http://www.petitiononline.com/cobudget ; http://www.PetitionOnline.com/Fairness , http://www.petitiononline.com/fairtax ; http://www.petitiononline.com/stopcuts , http://www.PetitionOnline.com/SaveDuCo ; http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-the-layoffs ;
;
.

Molinaro, Sommerville, too many other GOP, Dems locally, across NYS, U.S. suffer from same neoliberal bipartisan consensus-- TINA = There Is No Alternative-- more cuts, more cuts, more cuts...

But it doesn't have to be this way, folks...

Again-- let's not forget-- there are some very wealthy folks locally who can certainly afford to pay more...

Fact: Over the last decade Dutchess County households making $500,000 and up have raked in literally $222 million from the Bush tax cuts-- money that we need to start taking back to stop more cuts.
[see http://www.FiscalPolicy.org -- FPI Exec. Dir. Frank Mauro crunched these numbers re: Dutchess]

Fact: Households here in Dutchess County making $500,000 and up now actually pay $24 million less in federal income taxes each year (because of Bush tax cuts) than they did in 90's under Clinton.
[see http://www.FiscalPolicy.org -- FPI Exec. Dir. Frank Mauro crunched these numbers re: Dutchess]

Fact: For every 1% less that Dutchess households making $500,000 and up pay in taxes, $6 million is lost in revenue (multiply that times 4 to get difference between 35% and 39.6% top federal tax rate).
[see http://www.FiscalPolicy.org -- FPI Exec. Dir. Frank Mauro crunched these numbers re: Dutchess]

Fact: "In 1993 the Clinton administration proposed and the Congress accepted an increase in the top marginal rate to 39.6% for the 1993 tax year, where it remained through tax year 2000. In 2001, President Bush proposed and the Congress accepted an eventual lowering of the top marginal rate to 35%. However, this was done in stages: with a highest marginal rate of 39.1% for 2001, then 38.6% for 2002 and finally 35% for years 2003 through 2010."

Recall-- in the past Frank Mauro of Fiscal Policy Institute crunched these numbers (updated above):
http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/dutchessRPTlevies.htm ; http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/dutchess1999and2000.htm ;
http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/dutchess2001.htm ; http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/ImpactatDifferentIncomeLevels.htm .

So-- how many more cuts must we stand here in Dutchess County?...

...before we start taking back at least a LITTLE bit of the $222 million that households making $500,000 and up have received over the last decade in federal Bush income tax breaks?...

Pass it on...

Dutchess County Legislator Joel Tyner
D. #11 (Clinton/Rhinebeck)
845-444-0599/876-2488
324 Browns Pond Road
Staatsburg, NY 12580
joeltyner@earthlink.net
http://www.DutchessDemocracy.blogspot.com

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From ...

Dutchess Legislator Joel Tyner Wants County Tax On Income Over $500,000"

Daily Freeman 9/24/12

RHINEBECK, N.Y. - Dutchess County Legislator Joel Tyner, D-Clinton, on Monday asked the Town Board to throw support behind establishing a county-based income tax on residents who earn more than $500,000. The request was made during a Town Board meeting, where Tyner tied the request to the proposed reduction in sales tax to municipalities in the 2013 county budget. "I'm not sure that there's anybody on any town board or village board or city council in the county who's thrilled about what the County Executive has proposed," he said. "It's about $29 million in sales tax revenue sharing proposed to be cut by $4.5 million." Town officials estimate that 2013 sales tax revenue will be $239,052 for a 15.22 percent decrease of $42,918. "There are 518 families in Dutchess County who make a half-million dollars or more," Tyner said. "They are literally paying $25 million less in federal income taxes every year than they paid during the '90s." Tyner said the county could increase revenue by $6.08 million by setting a 1 percent income tax on those families.

#################################################

DON'T FORGET THESE SPECIFICS ON HOW MUCH HAS BEEN CUT FROM COUNTY BUDGET(!):

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From
:

December 28, 2010

Eight crucial programs slashed in county budget-- help get truth out, folks...

The fact is that after all the county budget kabuki theatre over the
last few months, the County Exec and GOP Co. Leg. majority completely
eliminated the following eight crucial, proven cost-saving, and
pro-active programs-- preventive programs which, now cut (laying off
28 county workers) by their absence, will end up driving up county
property taxes further: [hold 'em accountable now, folks-- before
this all stale]

1. GOP eliminated county funding for BOCES GED program in our Jail (even though program endorsed by jail's leadership).
[tho only $87,000/year this program cuts recidivism rate in half for
Transition Unit-- from 56% to 28%]

2. GOP eliminated Project Return (juvenile delinquency prevention)
for 45 kids at county Youth Bureau.
[effectively costing only $24/day to keep youth with
families--instead of $657/day to be incarcerated!]

3. GOP eliminated Mediation Center of Du. Co. (juvenile delinquency
prevention for troubled teens).
[youth in 245 different families served last year in community-- not
$240,000/year each for incarceration]

4. GOP eliminated the senior home care program at our county's Health
Department; workers laid off.
[will end up costing local taxpayers more-- with increasing number of
seniors in nursing home instead]

5. GOP eliminated Senior Friendship Centers at Millerton, Pawling,
and Fishkill-- with workers laid off.
[will end up costing local taxpayers more-- could well end up pushing
local seniors into nursing homes]

6. GOP eliminated our county's Office of Consumer Affairs [we are all
consumers here in Dutchess!].
[according to County Exec, will mean 76% decrease in ability to
handle local consumer complaints]

7.. GOP eliminated county Health Department water lab
http://wwww.RealMajorityProject.blogspot.com .
[even though Dutchess has literally more public water supplies here
than any other county in NYS!]

8. GOP eliminated our county's Human Rights Commission (in spite of
over 900 complaints annually!).
[slap in face to local African-Americans, Latino immigrants, women,
seniors, disabled, gays, lesbians]

p.s. Let's also not forget the fact that the County Exec and GOP Co.
Leg. majority also, frankly, decimated county $$$ for Cornell
Cooperative Extension of Dutchess County (scroll down just a bit), leaving CCEDC's
Environmental, Agricultural, and Horticultural programs underfunded
by $327,000 for 2011 compared to this year, left the Dutchess County
Arts Council underfunded by $96,933 for 2011 compared to 2010
left Hudson Valley Mental Health clinics underfunded by $200,000 for
2011 (compared to 2010-- meaning higher costs to taxpayers down the road from psychiatric ward, jail, prison)-- and left the Lexingon Center for Recovery
underfunded by $20,000 (no methadone treatment 50 heroin addicts)...
[recall 12/2 statement: Bardavon county budget hearing on need to
fund treatment for 300, not just 250!]

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Don't forget-- the following cuts were passed in Dec. 2009 for 2010 County Budget:

[despite best efforts from Joel Tyner on this; thanks to 120+ of you signed on over the past year to Joel's http://www.PetitionOnline.com/SaveDuCo petition effort to find alternative cost-savers to cuts here]

-- $1,000,000-plus cut to our county's Board of Elections (shortstaffing tho huge elections this year)
-- $26,000 cut to the Dutchess County Office of Veterans Affairs (part-time employee laid off)
-- $233,000 cut to our county's Office for the Aging (Senior Friendship Centers now on 4-day weeks instead of 5-day)
-- $209,839 cut to Dutchess County Community Action Agency (meaning less services, layoffs)
-- $200,000-plus cut to DCDOH laying off 4 county employees, eliminating countys senior home care program
-- $185,000 cut to Cornell Cooperative Extension (meaning less services, layoffs)
-- $165,960 cut to the Astor Home for Children (meaning less services, layoffs)
-- $114,000 cut to Family Services (meaning less services for the most vulnerable in our county)
-- $111,000 cut to Grace Smith House (meaning less services)
-- $106,987 cut to Hudson River Housing (in the midst of worst housing/foreclosure crisis in decades)
-- $56,553 cut to the Lexington Center for Recovery (shortfunding methadone clinic for heroin addicts)
-- $55,000 cut to Dutchess County Arts Council (meaning less services)
-- $41,000 cut to Mid-Hudson Library System (meaning less services)
-- $28,111 cut to the Mediation Center of Dutchess County (meaning less services)
-- $23,000 cut to Mental Health Association of Dutchess County (meaning less services)
-- $23,000 cut to BOCES (meaning less services in transition/re-entry program)
-- $11,000 cut to Lexington Center and $3000 cut to Literacy Connections (meaning less services)

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From the Poughkeepsie Journal...

"Laid-off County Health Worker Worries: Who's Being Helped"
by Larry Hertz * December 28, 2010

http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20101228/COLUMNISTS07/12280313/Laid-off-county-health-worker-worries-Who-s-being-helped

Nearly two months have passed since Caridad Cocurullo was rocked by the news she was losing her job.

The shock has worn off, she said last week. She recently found another job - at considerably less pay - that she will begin next month.

But the pain of leaving a "family" of co-workers and a job she loved at the Dutchess County Health Department remains.

For the past four years, Cocurullo has worked as a case manager aide in the Health Department, serving clients with AIDS and HIV. Because she speaks Spanish fluently, part of her job was to reach out to those in the Hispanic community, many of whom are wary of any government agency.

Cocurullo said to gain their trust, she and others in the department did far more for their clients than was listed in their job descriptions.

"My job was to advise them on what medications they needed, how to obtain them and to ensure they were taking them," she said.

Often, Cocurullo said, her clients talked to her about family and financial challenges they were facing. There were times when she gave them some clothes her daughter had outgrown or offered other help or advice.

"It was so much more than a job," she said.

The news she would be leaving the Health Department came Nov. 1, the same day County Executive William Steinhaus delivered his tentative 2011 county budget to the Legislature. The budget called for the elimination of 101 jobs.

Cocurullo knew something was wrong the minute her boss, Linda Squires, summoned her into her office. The two had become close friends over the last four years, as Squires and others in her unit helped her cope with a divorce. It was easy to read the look on Squires' face: Something bad was coming. And when Health Commissioner Dr. Michael Caldwell walked into the office, she realized she was being laid off.
"There was a sadness in that room," she said.

Squires and Caldwell assured her she was not being let go because there was anything lacking in her performance.

"They told me it was the department's loss. They said they would do everything they could to help me - and they have," Cocurullo said.

But she barely heard their words.

"It was surreal. It was like I was watching it all happen to someone else," she said. "And I thought about my clients. I felt I was letting them down."

Cocurullo tells herself she's lucky to have found another job so quickly. But she also questions whether county taxpayers are better off - financially or otherwise.

The salary for her new job is so low that she qualifies for state-funded health insurance for her two children. Other laid-off county workers are collecting unemployment benefits. Some will no doubt qualify for other government assistance that costs tax money.

"I never took anything from the government before - I just paid taxes," she said. "I understand the county having to cut back, and I have no hard feelings against anyone," Cocurullo said. "But I wonder about us all being laid off. Does it really help anybody?"

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From http://www.CCEDutchess.org (Cornell Cooperative Extension of Dutchess)...

2011 County Funding - Impact on CCEDC

On behalf of Cornell Cooperative Extension Dutchess County's Board and our constituents, we thank our Dutchess County Legislators for restoring as much as they could for CCEDC county appropriations in the 2011 Dutchess County Budget during their December 7, 2010 Legislative Meeting. Their amended budget for CCEDC resulted in restoring our 2011 budget from the County Executive's initial $150,000 to $520,000 - 56% of our 2010 budget. Please join our Board in thanking our Legislators for doing their best during a challenging process.

The $404,779 (44%) reduction in 2011 County appropriations has resulted in staffing reductions, loss of match dollars leading to grant funding reductions, and reductions or eliminations of educational programming and resources for Dutchess County residents. Specifically:

· 13 positions have been affected: 7 staff in currently filled positions have been laid off; 1 staff member's term has not been renewed; 1 vacant position has been eliminated; 1 vacant position has been reduced; 3 current staff have been impacted with reduced hours/job responsibilities - - - 35% of 2010 positions.

· All current programs are undergoing restructuring due to funding and staff reductions:

-- The $150,000 restored for 4-H Youth Development enables 4-H to continue in 2011

. This 28% reduction has led to a staff reduction from 3 to 1? staff with a restructured volunteer management system planned for 2011, as well as a reprioritizing of educational programming.

-- A $130,718 (41%) county funding reduction for Agriculture/Horticulture has resulted in:

* Decreased commercial Agriculture/Horticulture expertise with some areas eliminated due to staff layoffs/position reductions. Specific program decisions are in the midst of discussion. Commercial diagnostics will continue to be available.

* Diagnostic Lab hours will be decreased from 3 mornings/week to 1 morning/week April through October.

* Community Horticulture, including the educational demonstration gardens will continue through fundraising efforts and volunteer Master Gardeners support.

-- 2011 grant funding enables Green Teen Community Gardening to continue with program reprioritizing due to the elimination of 100% county funding.

-- With 100% county funding eliminated, Financial Management Education is severely impacted with the layoff of the sole county funded educator. Most programming will be eliminated with the Family Budget Volunteer Educators in transition pending further review. Other current programming will remain dependent upon grant funding.

-- With the restoration of 63% of the Environment and Energy Program's county funding, GIS services will be fully available. With a 37% county funding reduction resulting in the elimination of 1 ? positions, the remaining programming will be reduced and/or eliminated, pending further discussions. Watershed programming will continue through grant funding.

-- The 28% reduction in county funding for Nutrition Programs, as well as the 44% reduction in county funding for the entire organization, has led to a loss of critical match dollars for a major Nutrition Grant serving food stamp recipients. This loss of grant and county funding has led to layoffs and ultimately less available educational programs for those in need.

-- The Relatives as Parents program, currently solely funding by grant dollars, will continue due to that funding.

As Cornell Cooperative Extension Dutchess County looks to 2011 and celebrating 100 years of CCE in New York State, we will also engage in strategic planning for the future including restructuring, shared positions and resources, and other opportunities. CCEDC has a proud past, and although the CCEDC you know and rely on today will be different in 2011, we look forward to continuing to serve Dutchess County residents and welcome any ideas you may have.

2011 County Funding by program area are:

$150,000 for 4-H

$75,000 for Nutrition

$185,000 for Commercial Ag/Hort

$110,000 for Environment ($75,000 specifically for GIS)