Silly reason in Gates to raise fees - just tell the truth
I’m basing my opinion on this D&C article today,but given the quotes that are used, Gates is raising fees because other towns have higher fees.
Seems stupid.
I mean if other towns jumped off of a bridge, would Gates do so as well? Here is Town Supervisor Ralph Esposito
“Any kind of user-based fee increase is going to have less impact on taxpayers,” said Ralph Esposito, Gates supervisor. “We’ve been looking to raise some of our fees to put us in line with other surrounding municipalities. And I doubt someone buying a house in Gates will be dissuaded from coming to the area because their certificate of occupancy rose.”
He is probably right, people will still come to Gates, but why raise fees on your town residents if you don’t have to? Well, John Lanthrop says:
John Lanthrop, director of the town’s department of public works, said town officials spend many hours investigating sites and reviewing applications, and that costs money.
So, doing the things required of these fees actually required work. But Lanthrop says
“In a sense we were losing money because our fees were so behind everyone else,” he said.
So, some other towns fees has an impact on your fees? Sounds like you have been behind the curve for a while. But what is this really all about?
Esposito, who said fee increases also help raise revenues and can prevent higher taxes, will next review the recreation department fees.
Just be honest here with the reason. The town needs money and is raising fees to do just that-pass the cost directly on to people who need the service. What does the cost of other towns have to do with it?
Seems silly to me.
What else is going on here?
Gates is in serious financial difficulties. I would refer you to the state comptrollers report a couple of years back which detailed extensive mismanagement. The repot is scathing in my view. Gates has trouble paying its bills . As soon as any revenues come in they are needed to pay up due or overdue bills.
Esposito is very poor manager and constantly blames Kodak departure from Elmgrove as the source of all his problems. But that was over 5 years ago. If you or I lost our job 5 years ago no one would accept this excuse.