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From: Joel Tyner
To: newsroom@poughkeepsiejournal, klenihan@poughkee.gannett.com, lhertz@poughkee.gannett.com
Subject: Poughkeepsie Journal folks-- 295-word piece re: Traudt forum Tues.; Tyner forum Mon. in Rhinebeck....
Date: Dec 3, 2010 4:27 PM
[recall 295-word article in this past Tuesday's paper re: GOP-hosted forum in Red Hook re: county budget; I'm only asking that similar coverage fairly be extended to Dem-hosted forum re: county budget this coming Mon. 5:30 pm @ Rhinebeck Town Hall hosted by yours truly; see below; recall "Red Hook To Host County Budget Event Tonight":
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20101130/NEWS01/11290317/Red-Hook-to-host-county-budget-event-tonight ]
[note, too-- contrary to "Dutchess Officials Welcome Jail Expansion Study" article from last Thursday's paper, our Co. Leg.'s Public Works and Capital Projects Committee did not "unanimously" approve the jail expansion study (I know this because I'm on that committee and I raised objections to this at the time and voted no myself!) see:
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20101125/NEWS01/11250330/Dutchess-officials-welcome-jail-expansion-study ]
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UPDATE/REMINDER PRESS RELEASE FROM COUNTY LEGISLATOR JOEL TYNER:
TYNER HOSTING FORUM ON COUNTY BUDGET MONDAY 5:30 PM AT RHINEBECK TOWN HALL
County Legislator Joel Tyner (Rhinebeck/Clinton) will be hosting a forum at Rhinebeck Town Hall at 80 East Market Street Monday, Dec. 6th at 5:30 pm-- "The 2011 Dutchess County Budget-- What Do YOU Want It To Look Like?"-- all area residents are welcome to attend to ask questions and state their concerns.
Fact: More and more (23 so far Dutchess residents have signed on to Joel's http://www.petitiononline.com/cobudget effort-- for progressive tax solutions to stop all of the proposed cuts and layoffs; endorsers so far includejoin Hyde Park's Doris Kelly, Rhinebeck's Ruth Boyer, Fred Nagel, Sandra Oldenburg, and Edmond Roberts, Clinton's Carmen Region, Milan's Sheila Buff, Fishkill's Josh and Mara Farrell, Wappinger's Rich Carlson and Richard Vineski, Beacon's Susan Osberg, Erika Waldron, and Dan Rigney, Poughkeepsie's Scott Patrick Humphrey, East Fishkill's Joette Kane, Red Hook's Cary Kittner and Doris Soroko, Dover's Nora Edwards, Bangall's Alison Francis, and Millerton's Dianne Engleke.
Joel will also be speaking Monday on the need for a full-time Fire Coordinator position at our county's Department of Emergency Response; Rhinebeck's Sandy Williams and others have reached out to Joel on the importance on this-- for fire rescue, fire training, fire police, fire prevention, etc.-- necessary as John Murphy is retiring in three weeks from his position as head of our county's Emergency Response department after decades of experience there; a representative of our county's Fire and Safety Board spoke last night spoke out eloquently on the need for this as well.
FIVE NEW, CRUCIAL PIECES OF INFORMATION FROM LAST NIGHT'S HEARING ON THE COUNTY BUDGET:
1. Last night a representative from the Lexington Center for Recovery spoke about how literally fifty different heroin addicts in Dutchess County are about to be cut off from methadone treatment because of short-sighted county budget cuts from our County Executive and the current GOP Co. Leg. majority. Note-- he also spoke on how, instead of cutting 50 heroin addicts off from treatment, there is actually a need for 300 heroin addicts in Dutchess to be treated annually (instead of the current number of 250).
2. Last night East Fishkill Senior Friendship Center Site Manager Rosemary Yasiejko spoke on how last year the Hyde Park Senior Friendship Center run by our county's Office for the Aging closed its doors due to county budget cuts, and the other nine Senior Friendship Centers in the county switched to a four-day week from a five-day week-- and just recently the County Executive has proposed to close the Fishkill, Millerton, and Pawling Senior Friendship Centers and lay off Office for the Aging staff there, and last Tuesday the current Co. Leg. GOP majority refused to vote for Dem caucus amendments to restore those cuts (as part of the Budget, Finance, and Personnel Committee meeting).
[note-- perhaps most chillingly, another speaker at last night's hearing reminded all in attendance of how last year's county budget cuts to the Office for the Aging left 500 seniors across the county without nutrition (hot meals) on Fridays!]
3. Hudson Valley Mental Health President Kevin Hazucha and other representatives from HVMH last night spoke of how at least two or three times a week people from the Beacon center are sent to a psychiatric hospital with commitment papers because they are actively suicidal or homicidal with a plan (roughly 100 ambulance rides a year from the Beacon center alone)-- and about the county tax dollars saved with the five HVMH clinics Dutchess by keeping mentally ill in community-based treatment and therapy instead of behind bars or hospitalized-- and about how HVMH clinics often serve as the last stop before someone is incarcerated or sent away.
4. Again, Judges Amodeo, Sammarco, and Posner spoke of the need to keep the current 18-B assigned counsel program for Family Court, for the Court-Appointed Special Advocate program at Mental Health America of Dutchess County, and for the Mediation Center of Dutchess County's highly effective program for troubled youth.
[Of course, the GOP drive to leave 100 heroin addicts on the streets of Dutchess has nothing to do (naturally) with their push for a new, $75 million, 300-bed county jail-- and nothing to do with their ending the GED program in the jail, nothing to do with their ending the Mediation Center's program from troubled youth, nothing to do with their ending the Youth Bureau's Project Return program, nothing to do with their shortfunding Hudson Valley Mental Health, Hudson River Housing's overnight shelter for the homeless, and Project More (transitional housing for drug addicts and alcholics just out of jail)-- all of which will lead to county taxpayers ultimately paying more in tax dollars when the folks served by those programs end up behind bars again or in hospitals...]
5. There is only a $100,000 cost to Dutchess taxpayers to keep our county Health Department's water lab in-house!...(because of revenues brought in and NYSDOH reimbursements).
From: "Cicilioni, Robert"
To: "Tyner, Joel"
Subject: Env Lab
Date: Dec 3, 2010 7:21 AM
Mr. Tyner:
Thank you for speaking to me after my presentation last night at the public hearing. The following is the text from last night.
“Good Evening. My name is Robert Cicilioni. I am the Environmental Laboratory Director for the Dutchess County Department of Health. I have been with the environmental lab for 26+ years, 22 as the lab director. Next to me is Sandy Winder, she has worked in the lab for ten years. The lab has been supporting our mandated environmental division for 52 years. It is true that not all counties have an environmental lab but Dutchess County is truly unique.
Dutchess County has the most water supplies out of all counties in New York, and second most in all of the United States.
Besides testing six to seven thousand drinking water sample each year, the lab also tests 50- 60 beach samples weekly between the months of May and September to ensure swimmer’s safety, we test sewage treatment facilities to ensure compliance with discharge permits, we perform thermometer calibrations for staff for restaurant inspections, and a myriad of other tasks including euthanizing bats for rabies testing.
Between revenues produced and state reimbursements at a program mandated rate, the overall cost to the county is small compared to the services provided to the residents of the county to ensure public health and safety. I ask that the Environmental Health Lab would be reinstated into the 2011 budget.”
Thanks again:
I can also be reach on my cell phone if you need any further information. 845-797-0262.
Robert L. Cicilioni, Environmental Laboratory Director
Dutchess County Department of Health
387 Main Street
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
845-486-3482
rcicilioni@co.dutchess.ny.us
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Recall this list below of nineteen different crucial programs being
decimated by GOP Co. Leg./Co. Exec:
[see carnage here: last Tues. night's Co. Leg. BFP mtg.:
http://www.totalwebcasting.com/view/?id=dutchess ]
'Tis true-- Tues. night Co. Leg. GOP rejected EVERY Dem amendment to
restore funding for these 19...
[GOP added back $500K+ for Comptroller and County Clerk for
cost-saving programs-- why not these?]
Don't forget good revenue alternatives to counterproductive budget
cuts pushed by GOP:
Municipal Electricity/Gas Alliance membership (as in 23
co.'s).........$300,000 in new revenue annually
Canadian Rx option for county employees/retirees (as in 5
co.'s)....$1 million in new revenue annually
[ http://www.MEGAEnergy.org http://www.PetitionOnline.com/SaveOnRx
even GOP in other counties support these, folks!...(including
Rensselaer County Exec for Cana Rx; Putnam Co. GOP for MEGA]
GOP want new, $75 million, 300-bed jail addition-- not these 8
cost-saving alternatives to incarceration:
1. BOCES adult education program in the County Jail (program endorsed
even by jail's leadership!)
[tho only $87,000/year this program cuts recidivism rate in half for
Transition Unit-- from 56% to 28%]
2. Project Return (juvenile delinquency prevention) for 45 kids at
our county's Youth Bureau
[effectively costing only $24/day to keep youth with families--
instead of $657/day to be incarcerated!]
3. Mediation Center of Dutchess County (juvenile delinquency
prevention for troubled teens)
[youth in 245 different families served last year in community-- not
$240,000/year each for incarceration]
4. Youth Mentoring/Job Training/Placement at Dutchess County Regional
Chamber of Commerce
[incredibly successful and effective program turning lives around of
troubled teens-- proven to work]
5. Dutchess County Arts Council (Du. Co. gets $3.52 in state funding
for each dollar invested in arts)
[Co. Leg. GOP are keeping County Exec's 75% cut in place-- no more
3500 kids in Arts in Education]
6. Mill Street Loft (long-time wonderful program for teens in City of
Poughkeepse; very effective ATI)
7. Court-Appointed Special Advocates for foster children at Mental
Health America of Dutchess County
-- CASA saves tax dollars-- families keeping foster kids get $500 a
month; saves to keep with families
-- $276,000 of volunteer time is leveraged for only $26,000
investment in CASA; was $43,000 in '08
-- CASA = one-on-one volunteers that make sure children don't stay in
foster care more than needed
-- assigned by Family Court judges to supervise 75 kids annually--
1/4 of kids in foster care in county
-- both GOP and Dem Family Court judges have strongly endorsed this
program for years now
-- according to U.S. Dept. of Justice Office of Inspector General,
only 5% of foster kids with CASA volunteers get mixed up with the
criminal justice system, while 16% of those without CASA volunteers
do end up this way-- and also according to the Insp. Gen. in the same
audit of the national CASA program, only 13% of foster kids with CASA
volunteers stay more than three years in foster care-- while 27% of
foster kids without CASA volunteers stay more than three years in
foster care
8. Literacy Connections (impossible for folks leaving jail to get
jobs without GED; this cuts recidivism)
So-- besides those eight effective alternatives to incarceration cut
by Co. Leg. GOP and County Exec...
Here are the other 11 valuable county programs decimated Tues. night
by Co. Leg. GOP/County Exec:
[again-- email all 25 of us now-- at
countylegislators@co.dutchess.ny.us-- to stop local tea-party idiocy!]
1. Dutchess County Human Rights Commission (they receive 100's of
discrimination complaints yearly)
[forcing local residents to go to Peekskill to get complaints heard;
Eleanor Roosevelt spinning in grave]
2. Annual Veterans Celebration at FDR/Wallace Center in Hyde Park
(350 attended this year!)
3. Cornell Cooperative Extension of Dutchess County's Environmental
Program (Allison, Carolyn, all)
[these folks do a great job working with our county's Environmental
Management Council and town Conservation Advisory Councils-- and just
coordinated the best Natural Resources Inventory (NRI) update in the
state-- a collaborative effort saving county taxpayers at least
$100,000 by reaching out to the best and brightest scientists at the
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Vassar, Marist, and beyond:
http://www.co.dutchess.ny.us/countygov/departments/planning/16138.htm ]
4. Senior Friendship Centers in Pawling and northeastern Dutchess
(Hyde Park's already shut down!)
5. Senior Home Care Program (under our county's Dept. of Health)
[see http://www.petitiononline.com/duhealth -- privatization doesn't
save $, folks; still 40,000 seniors]
6. Senior Dial-a-Ride Programs for Towns (we Dems tried to stop GOP
plan forcing towns to pay for all)
7. Hudson River Housing (this will literally cut our county's
overnight homeless shelter beds in half!)
[$80,000 cut by County Exec and Co. Leg. GOP will force thirty
homeless on to our streets this winter]
8. BOCES Wheels to Work (700 cars fixed/gifted; 2500 families over
last decade for working taxpayers)
[even DSS Commissioner Allers says this saves county $6.5 million
annually for only $245,000/year!]
9. Mid-Hudson Library System ($156,000 cut will impact libraries all
over Dutchess County)
10. Hudson Valley Mental Health (hundreds of thousands of dollars
cut; 5% increase last year in use!)
11. Water Lab (under our county's Dept. of Health-- for years GOP
have tried to kill this program; why?)
[pollution all over: http://www.RealMajorityProject.blogspot.com ;
http://www.ToxicsTargeting.com ]
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Finally-- note as well, folks-- Sam Busselle, long-time member of our
county's Criminal Justice Council, strongly warned Joel recently
against the GOP's headlong rush for a $75 million, 300-bed jail
expansion-- here's what Sam just told us-- "I have been trying to
persuade the CJC to accept the services of the National Institute of
Corrections ( http://www.NICIC.gov ) at no charge-- to do a survey
using their process of "Evidence-Based Decision Making" to look at
our entire system from arrest to sentencing to jail/prison/ATI. They
will hire staff consultants from the Center for Effective Public
Policy ( http://www.CEPP.com ), look at our stats, ask for info, and
then conduct a two-day workshop that will result in recommendations
as to where our system could be improved-- I think this should
precede or even take the place of a jail study"(!)...
And-- re: Joel's response to Sam Busselle-- the NIC stuff looks great, frankly...
[esp. this-- http://www.nicic.gov/Downloads/PDF/Library/023356.pdf --
finding innovative ways to cut recidivism ]
[recall Joel's blog post on all this--
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/11/stop-gop-plan-for-new-75-million-300.html
]
Tuesday night there will be another vote (by the full board of our
County Legislature) on a 2011 Capital Projects Plan that includes a jail expansion study...Joel has done a ton of research on this over the last 5 years too (have had to since then to deal with jail issue)....scroll down just a bit to see a list of
programs that Dutchess needs to have up in place and working before Joel
votes for one penny of Dutchess taxpayer dollars to be spent on a jail
expansion study (and Joel also needs to see county funding restored for
GED program in jail, for county Youth Bureau's Project Return
program, for Mediation Center's teen program, etc.-- GOP Co. Leg.'s
refused last Tues. to restore county funding cut for all those 3 by
County Exec).....
The County Exec and GOP-led Co. Leg. majority is pushing for new, $75 million, 300-bed jail expansion as "cost-saving solution"-- as opposed to spending $2.5
million annually on housing out inmates)-- when Dutchess has not yet
embraced effective programs proven to work:
-- in Newark (fraternity for dads behind bars that has cut recidivism
rate from 65% to 3%; recall Time magazine article on this Nov. 29th!)
[ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2032144,00.html ]
-- Brooklyn DA Charlie Hynes' ComAlert program there that has
tremendously slashed recidivism (and been recognized by the Times in
editorial for this; still working; see
http://www.petitiononline.com/comalert )
-- Lancaster County/PA's Job Court program profiled a few years ago
by NPR (see http://www.petitiononline.com/jobcourt )
-- Father Peter Young's programs that have slashed recidivism in
parts of NYS from 67% to less than 10%, as proven by a recent study
by the John Jay School of Criminal Justice (you may recall forum I
hosted with Father Peter Young on this at the Family Partnership
Center in Poughkeepsie several years ago; rep's from sheriff's office
actually came out)
-- even Sheriff Butch Anderson and DA Bill Grady over the years have been
members of national and statewide Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
Coalition-- see http://www.FightCrime.org (click on NYS chapter)--
calls for serious pro-active, preventive, cost-saving investments in
pre-K, afterschool activities, community-based programs for low-risk
to medium-risk juvenile delinquents
....never mind the fact that housing-first still has yet to be
seriously embraced as a strategy for homeless alcoholics and drug
addicts cycling in and out of jail here in Dutchess (while it has
saved serious tax dollars in Westchester, cutting the homeless
population in half there as well, also working in NYC, Chattanooga,
Frisco, and beyond; Joel also brought folks from
http://www.PathwaystoHousing.org to FPC in Poughkeepsie for forum a
few years ago)....
....and never mind all the innovative ATI's Joel has advocated for over
the years?...(see http://www.PetitionOnline.com/ATIs ).....
Did you see the cover article for the July 5th The Nation earlier
this year?
[until programs like HOPE Project, High Point project, and
Multnomah's are up and running here in Dutchess, no way Joel can support
jail expansion!]
"Is This the End of the War on Crime?" by Sasha Abramsky
http://www.thenation.com/article/end-war-crime?page=full
"Faced with a growing body of evidence that carefully tailored
rehabilitation models can reduce recidivism or drug use better than
jails and prisons, and with a burgeoning crisis in local and state
government finances, politicians and voters alike are turning their
backs on basic tough-on-crime staples. Instead, they are looking for
inspiration to programs such as the HOPE Project in Hawaii, the High
Point project in North Carolina and an experiment in Multnomah County
(home to Portland, Oregon) to divert low-end probation and parole
violators to nonincarcerative settings. All these model programs view
jail and prison sentences as a last option rather than a default, and
swift responses to violations are considered more important than
harsh ones. For reformers, it is a rare breath of fresh air."
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RECALL: PROGRESSIVE TAX REFORM COULD ELIMINATE COUNTY PROPERTY TAX-- AND CUTS!
Joel worked his tuchis off to get Alyssa Kogon and Sue Tooker elected
with phone-banking, door-knocking, radio time, and the like-- but
it's also true that even GOP state legislators like Molinaro and
Miller have long proposed huge income tax hikes to cut property
taxes-- without results in Albany to show for their ideas-- it's time
the Dutchess County Legislature took the bull by the horns and made
meaningful steps to make our tax system more progressive right here
at home (with a tiny county-level income tax on the wealthy to slash
property taxes while fully funding nonprofits and county services--
especially because neither state or federal governments coming to our
rescue.
Both New York City and Yonkers have local income taxes-- that, if
taken away, would drive their property taxes through the roof and
kill their local economies-- it's time for progressive taxation here.
[see: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/Fairness ;
http://www.petitiononline.com/fairtax (many on board)]
[go to these four links to see the numbers/possibilities Fiscal
Policy Institute's Frank Mauro crunched:
http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/dutchessRPTlevies.htm ;
http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/dutchess1999and2000.htm ;
http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/dutchess2001.htm ;
http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/ImpactatDifferentIncomeLevels.htm ]
[Mauro: "The calculations of the reduction in the county property tax
levy that could be accomplished with a 10% surcharge on income tax
(that's a surcharge on a taxpayer's state income tax bill, not a
surcharge on taxpayer's income) assume cut in all property taxes
(incl. business's property taxes)."]
Newsday, many Nassau County business leaders, the Chair of the
Tompkins County Legislature, and many in Monroe County have endorsed
similar local tax reforms; Rockland and Tompkins County Legislatures
started study commissions to look at similar revenue alternatives to
property tax hikes too.
Fact: 98% of small business owners make less than $250,000/year
according to Wall Street Journal.
[see: http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/taxes/Tax_Plan_Facts_FINAL.pdf ]
Do you think it's right that we in the middle-class here in Dutchess
now pay over 11% of our income in state and local taxes while
millionaires pay only 8% of their income in state and local taxes?
How many more years should this incredibly outrageous tax system be
perpetuated?
[see: http://www.itepnet.org/wp2009/ny_whopays_factsheet.pdf ]
Fact: By 4-to-1 ratio New Yorkers support tiny tax on millionaires.
[Hart Research Associates 6/10]
[see:
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=940073&category=state
]
Fact: Different recent Quinnipiac poll found overwhelming support
even in GOP for millionaire tax.
[
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2010/08/16/100816ta_talk_surowiecki
-- 8/16/10 New Yorker]
Fact: Millionaires used to pay 15 1/2% NY income tax rate in 70's
under Rockefeller; now pay 8.97%. [see:
http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/taxhistory2.htm ]
1 comment:
New York City and Yonkers have local income taxes are very high,great information thanks for sharing.
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