Editorial: A matter of trust

Thursday, 22 July 2010 00:00

Last year, The Ledger was highly critical of then Town Supervisor Edward Brancati, a Democrat, and his handling of the budget and financial matters in general. The Republican slate of candidates successfully rode that political vulnerability in the Democratic administration to the Town House, winning back the majority.

But, at the middle of their first year in power, how are the Republicans doing and are they fulfilling their campaign pledges?

Remember that they ran on a campaign of lower taxes, and opposed Mr. Brancati’s proposed tax increase, which was eventually 25%. It was pointed out many times during the campaign that taxes would have to be significantly raised to erase the deficit and while the Republican candidates largely brushed that aside they failed to offer any real plan to generate additional revenue to offset the need for a substantial tax hike. Yet, they continued their campaign rhetoric of railing against the increase and promising lower taxes, which ultimately got them elected.

Now, those words are coming back to bite them as the administration is not only not going to repeal this year’s tax increase, it is actually talking about raising taxes, possibly by 2%. In addition, the board is considering taking on debt to balance the books. Not much, if anything, is separating them from their opponents last year, whom they often criticized for a lack of financial acumen.

While Town Supervisor Charles Duffy is working on the budget, the board as a whole is not, barely discussing it at all at meetings. It was the Republican members of the Town Board last year who ripped Mr. Brancati for not laboring on the budget enough, despite it being the focal point of most of the weekly meetings for the second half of the year, which often ran into the late hours of night.

The problem with the new administration is not its performance so far. The budget crisis is not the fault of any political party and raising taxes, unfortunately, is the only way to erase the deficit outside of position cuts and furloughs, the latter of which Mr. Duffy, to his credit, tried to enact but was thwarted by the unions. Since the wetlands law was expanded about five years ago, the issue has been argued along party lines, so it’s not surprising the Republicans want to use their majority to change it. And to be fair, Democrat Bruce Pavalow criticized Mr. Brancati for not spending enough time on the budget last year, too, yet he also has been largely quiet on the issue now.

But can the administration’s word be trusted? Taxes are being raised, not lowered as promised. And why the double standard? The town’s finances remain in a dire state, yet the board is spending less time on budgetary matters this year than it did in 2009.

It’s time to rebuild trust by dropping the rhetoric, and working instead on closing the budget gap.