Got 5 mins? Well, 5 mins and 39 seconds. Have a listen to Ted O’Brien - Democratic Legislator from Irondequoit- lay out the faults of the Monroe County Tax Intercept plan.

Here is the deal.

1:00 Ted asks for clarification on the exact proposal. He asks, I ‘m assuming, the county lawyer to clarify some points.

1:30 There is this bombshell when the answers are not satisfactory.

The County which elects the sales tax option must still allocate sales tax use revenues as if they had not made the election.

This means the entities receiving revenue are supposed to receive the same amount, independent of whether or not the county selects the intercept. Per this statue we need to still need to share tax revenue at current levels

3:00 He reads a letter from the East Irondequoit Superintendent of schools who is simply not impressed with the Republican proposal. 3% property tax increase to support the schools. Of course the East Irondequoit Superindendent nails it when he says it is unreasonable to solve [the county financial issues] by unilaterally walking away from a long standing government commitment that has served communities for many years.

But listen for yourself

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After Haney asked for additional time to study the proposal. Palumbo asks for additional time. O’Brien questions the unilateral and illegal activity proposed by the County Legislature. Gee wonder who is coming on next?

I’ve discussed the fairness and cooperation and distinct lack thereof previously. How about due diligence? How much money will the county pay to defend itself against a lawsuit by the school districts that could have been avoided? Seems like the Brooks administration and the lockstep legislature would have been wise to ENSURE that the proposal is above board. Seems to me our County government would have sought to AVOID problems by building consensus and coalitions - bringing all interested and affected parties on board.

Alas that isn’t the case -they recklessly rammed the proposal through with little forethought.

That is what people do when they rule not when they govern.

In an exclusive RT interview, Maggie Brooks’ spokesman, John Durso (folks, he really exists and really is Maggie Brooks’ spokesman). Speaking for the county, he basically said - well you can read it for yourself below the fold.