Minarik thinks too much public money spent on pet projects
Thought this was an interesting take from Steve in a guest essay from today’s D&C. Now remember, this is the guy who thinks a good way to pay back political donors is through COMIDA benefits, which are payed for by the good taxpayers of Monroe County. This is what he writes (my bold) :
For example, for the 2008-09 budget alone, the coalition successfully fought for increasing state spending by more than $130 million. Were any of these projects worthy of public investment? Perhaps, but let’s not pretend that they don’t come at the expense of local property taxpayers who must bear the burden of any increases in state spending
Of the seven proposals developed by the group for this year’s budget, six were million-dollar-plus funding requests, mostly for private institutions. The largest was for $65 million in state funding to make Midtown Plaza shovel-ready for PAETEC’s new headquarters. One wonders what the economic benefit would be from creating new office space in a city brimming with vacant buildings, and moving existing jobs from one side of the community to another.
I highly doubt it will generate $65 million in job growth, business creation or any other tangible benefits.
Now, the thing is here, these state benefits are being paid by all of New York State taxpayers, so a smaller percentage of them are a direct hit on Monroe County. COMIDA benefits are straight out of our local property taxes. And last time I looked, we didn’t pay property taxes to the state, state tax is income tax and sales tax.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t disagree with the basic premise of the essay, I really don’t know enough about these projects to form an opinion, one way, or the other. (PAETEC does seem like a better Idea than Ren Square, though) It looks like a case of sour grapes with our Republican leader talking out of both sides of his mouth, and that’s a bad visual.
Minarik talks out of both sides of his mouth. One of the biggest porkers (whether you think that pork is good or not) in our area is Joe Robach. If its Joe’s pork then its okay Minarik also claims that the PAETEC project merely transfers jobs, but them doesn’t turn the same critical eye on all those COMIDA projects which transfered jobs to places like Greece.
I think his argument is both strategic and insincere.
I couldn’t agree more. It’s ok for Republicans to spend the public’s money, but when it’s the Democratic State Legislature making the call, well that’s quite a horse of a different color (or maybe a donkey of a different color)
[...] a recent speaking out essay by GOP chairman Steve Minarik “One wonders what the economic benefit would be from creating [...]