Town Special Reserve Accounts--a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma

 

Via E-mail and US Mail

PO Box 130

West Shokan, NY 12494

October 1, 2011

Supervisor Berndt Leifeld

PO Box 180
West Shokan, NY 12494
845-657-8118
FAX 845-657-6117

Dear Supervisor Leifeld:

At the recent Town of Olive budget workshop several citizens raised the question of balances in special reserve funds being used for emergencies such as the recent tropical storm devastation.  Your response was that money in reserve funds cannot be used for purposes other than those designated in the accounts.  Your claim is false because special reserve accounts can be reduced or dissolved.  I located a policy statement of the New York State Comptroller’s Office located  at: http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/pubs/lgmg/reservefunds.pdf .   The report states:

When conditions warrant (subject to legal requirements), the board should reduce reserve funds to reasonable levels or liquidate and discontinue a reserve fund that is no longer needed or whose purpose has been achieved.

The report implies that different reserve funds are subject to different methods of dissolution or reduction.  As well, the report states:

Because of the complexity of some of the legal requirements relating to the establishment, funding, expenditure, and dissolution of reserve funds, we encourage local officials to consult with their municipal attorney.

I assume that you have done so and can produce letters to and from lawyers as to the statuses of the various special reserve funds.  As well:

(R)eserve fund(s) should be established with a clear intent or plan in mind regarding the future purpose, use and, when appropriate, replenishment of funds from the reserve. Reserve funds should not be merely a “parking lot” for excess cash or fund balance.

The report also gives some guidance as to prudent oversight of reserve funds:

Reserve funds can be excellent financial planning tools when combined with a realistic analysis of future financial needs and obligations. All too often, however, reserve funds are established and substantial cash is accumulated without due diligence in monitoring the reasonableness of reserve fund balances. To help ensure that reserve funds are being properly established for an authorized and needed purpose, and the balances in existing reserve funds are not accumulated excessively or unnecessarily, governing boards should answer the following questions:

• ·         Has legal counsel provided guidance on the authority to establish new reserve funds?

• ·         Has the financial need or purpose served by the reserve been identified?

• ·         Does the reserve fit within or complement the long range financial or capital plans of our locality?

• ·         Has a written reserve fund plan or policy been developed?

• ·         What events and obligations is the board planning for?

• ·         Is cash being accumulated for the purchase of a major piece of equipment or to help finance other major capital outlays?

• ·         Is cash being sequestered to help mitigate the impact of other large, nonrecurring expenditures?

• ·         Are there risks that need to be protected against?

• ·         Does the board’s policy address replenishing depleted reserve balances, as appropriate?

• ·         Is the board provided with periodic financial reports on reserve fund activity?

• ·         Are reserve balances at an appropriate level?

• ·         Has the board reviewed all reserve funds currently established and determined if the balances are necessary and reasonable?

• ·         Is there a limit on the dollar amount to be accumulated?

• ·         Is the reserve serving the purpose for which it was established?

• ·         Are the best interests of the taxpayers being met?

• ·         Any governing board that is planning to establish and finance reserve funds on a regular basis should develop a written policy that communicates to taxpayers why the money is being set aside, the board’s financial objectives for the reserves, optimal funding levels, and conditions under which the assets will be utilized. Boards should also periodically assess the reasonableness of the amounts accumulated in their reserves.

• ·         When conditions warrant (subject to legal requirements), the board should reduce reserve funds to reasonable levels or liquidate and discontinue a reserve fund that is no longer needed or whose purpose has been achieved.

The last three bullets address questions that citizens asked you and that you failed to answer.  Surely you have addressed all of the concerns listed in the above bullets, and I now request you to apprize the public of your deliberations, due diligence, and thoughtful planning at the next town meeting.  Alternatively, I can send an additional freedom of information law requesting documentation of your compliance with the Comptroller’s guidelines and take the information to the media.  As a local gadfly, I anticipate your response with interest.

Sincerely,

Mitchell Langbert, Ph.D.

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Freedom of Information Request Regarding Town of Olive's Agenda 21- and Section 8 Housing-Driven Comprehensive Plan

Via E-mail and US Mail

Freedom of Information Law Request

Ms. Sylvia Rozzelle

Town Clerk

Town of Olive

PO Box 96
West Shokan, NY 12494

October 1, 2011

Dear Town Clerk Rozzelle and Supervisor Leifeld:

Under the provisions of the New York Freedom of Information Law, Article 6 of the Public Officers Law, I hereby request records or portions thereof, or to inspect such records if copying costs exceed $50, pertaining to (or containing) the following:

-All correspondence, meeting minutes and invoices that mention the proposed Comprehensive Plan

-All correspondence, meeting minutes and invoices that mention the Rudikoff consulting firm, including, but not limited to, any invoices received from the Rudikoff firm immediately following the August 8 meeting.

-All correspondence concerning the legality of transfer of development rights mentioned in the draft comprehensive plan

-All correspondence and minutes of any meetings with with Rupco or any of its directors or officers

-Regarding potential paid work for the Town of Olive, all correspondence with Mr. ...  and minutes of any meetings with him

-All correspondence with Tongore Pines Housing Development Co. and minutes of any meetings with any of its directors or officers

-Minutes of any meetings held in the past five years and any correspondence concerning establishment of special revenue funds or any other encumbrance of specific or special purpose funds

If there are any fees for copying the records requested,  please supply the records without informing me if the fees are not in excess of $50. If they are above $50 please advise me when I can inspect the records in person.

As you know, the Freedom of Information Law requires that an agency respond to a request within five business days of receipt of a request. Therefore, I would appreciate a response as soon as possible and look forward to hearing from you shortly. If for any reason any portion of my request is denied, please inform me of the reasons for the denial in writing and provide the name and address of the person or body to whom an appeal should be directed.
        

Sincerely,

Mitchell Langbert, Ph.D.

PO Box 130

West Shokan, NY 12494          

845-657-8460

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Obama's Stock Market Weakness

The Dow fell 391 points today while the S&P 500 fell 37 points, 3%, to 1129.  The immediate reason was that yesterday the Fed announced a lukewarm as opposed to a hot easing whereby it is exchanging long term for short term securities.  Take this into account: Federal Reserve Bank Credit has increased over 300% in the past three years. That's the largest money supply increase in American history except when the Continental Congress destroyed the Continental, America's first currency, back in Revolutionary War days.  Given the massive easing, including QE2 earlier this year, one would think that Wall Street would be satisfied. But it isn't.  Dollar inflation isn't enough, and when the Fed announced a lukewarm response to the implosion of European socialism, the American markets crashed.  I've lost a chunk of change because I wasn't expecting QE2 to have had such a weak effect. Plus gold, following a record high within the past few weeks, is in a correction or consolidation mode.  But the strengthening dollar due to the Fed's relative conservatism means that cash has gone up in value, which reduces the losses in riskier assets.

The Obama administration deserves responsibility for recent stock market weakness.  The massive quantitative easing should have had more of an effect on the markets.  It still might. What's holding it back is that the left-wing Obama Democrats have sledge hammered America's economy--the health care bill, environmental regulation, and proposed tax increases frighten investors.  Perhaps Obama and Congressman Maurice Hinchey believe that subsidies to corrupt "green" businesses that quickly fail will somehow stimulate the economy.  Such are Democrats' and America's economics profession's superstitions.  Throwing away money will not stimulate the economy.  We are in for a generation of economic decline because of Obama, Bush and The New York Times.

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Robin Yess to Ulster County Legislature: Why No Action on Golden Hill?

TO: Ulster County Legislators

Good evening. Sorry to say – it’s me again.

While I am aware that many of you were not members of the Legislature when the attached report was presented, a fair share of you were. Whether you were or you weren’t, I suggest that you read the attached report and meeting minutes.

In the spring of 2007, Chairman of the Legislature Dave Donaldson authorized the formation of the Blue Ribbon Health Care Services Advisory Panel to address the issues surrounding Golden Hill Health Care Center, a county-run nursing home.  A group of volunteer citizens including Steve Kelley, Anthony Marmo, Francoise Dunefsky, and Peter Roberts spent more than a year researching the solutions for Golden Hill Health Care Center and submitted a written report in July 2008 and formally presented it to the Health Services committee in September 2008. Their findings after more than a year of work suggested first that “The Committee recommends transfer of the 280 nursing home beds at Golden Hill from County ownership to private ownership.”

Also in the Executive Summary of the report dated July 2008 – “Timely consideration by the Legislature will ensure an orderly transition from an outdated facility in need of major costly repair and requiring annual taxpayer subsidies, to new state of the art facilities with the same total bed component, providing better geographic access, without additional cost to taxpayers.”

So I must ask what did the Democrat-controlled Legislature do with this report that took a year of meetings and volunteer time to pull together? Could it be that because the report recommended privatization that Chairman Donaldson and Health Services Committee Chair Rob Parete decided the best course of action is no action at all because too many union jobs exist at Golden Hill? From July 2008 when the report was released until the end of the Legislative session in December of 2009 no action at all was taken.

So now here we are more than three years after this report was submitted and more than four years after the Committee first met and we are no further ahead. You have made no decisions, made no plan for repairs, and made no plan for reducing the taxpayer subsidy.

I would like to ask every Legislator who was serving during the 2008/2009 term and who continues to serve today and all current Legislators  – what do you intend to do to address the problems outlined in this report and the subsequent report from November 2010 titled the Ulster County Golden Hill Special Task Force Report?

What are you going to do now besides vote on a nonsense resolution (#197) that makes only a statement about keeping Golden Hill, but does nothing to address any of the problems?

Read the reports and please, make some decisions that result in taking action!

Robin Vaccai Yess, CFP

CERTIFIED DIVORCE FINANCIAL ANALYST

Fee-Only Financial Consulting

181 Church Street, Suite 101

Poughkeepsie NY 12601

(845) 471-0764

www.robinyess.com

www.hvdivorce.com

PRIVACY NOTICE: This email message, including any attachments, is for the sole purpose of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you received this email in error, please notify us by return email and destroy original message, copies and all attachments.

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Team Watch 22 Exposes Congressman Hinchey's Extremism

TeamWatch NY 22   has produced this video (h/t Mike Marnell).  TeamWatch NY describes its mission:

We believe one  reason the recent protest movement may not have been as effective as it possibly could have been is that most citizens engaged the process of political  activism as disgruntled Americans.  Many elected officials were more unsettled by the presence of  angry constituents than willing to listen to their many concerns.  With disdain  congressman and senators asked, “Where have you been until now?”

Congressman Hinchey "serves" the 22nd Congressional District in New York.  TeamWatch 22 is a group of fine citizens who have done their homework and taken the time to confront a congressman whose fringe positions have become an embarrassment to his district.

I doubt that Representative Hinchey will respond to TeamWatch NY 22's call for a town meeting.  Simply put, Hinchey lacks the character.  As well, it would be an acid test as to whether he is deteriorating mentally, and he likely does not want to take that test. 

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Sharia Law in America

H/t Sharad Karkhanis and The Silent Majority.

H/t Sharad Karkhanis. 

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Tarek Fatah: Anti-Semites in the Obama Administration

Canadian author and TV personality, Tarek Fatah, a Muslim and former Obama supporter, states that the Obama administration has been infiltrated by anti-Semites aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood.  As well, he states that anti-Semitic professors have made statements in class at several Canadian universities to include York and the University of Toronto. 

Watch live streaming video from ideacity at livestream.com

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Torchwood

The BBC's dystopic series Torchwood, which first aired in the UK in 2006, has been running on Starz.  The series begins on Miracle Day, when for some reason people stop dying, particularly Oswald Danes, a child rapist and murderer who is to be executed but is pardoned when the execution fails.   It soon becomes evident that people have stopped dying all over the world.   When injured, burned to a crisp, shot in the head or any other gory variation that creator Russell T. Davies can concoct, they still live although in wounded and often grotesque form.  As the series progresses, the semi-dead are designated a separate category of life, herded into concentration camps, and burned.  It is in around episode 5 of the first season that Torchwood begins to remind me of a Tea Party protest.  For instance, a covert government operation involving the herding of large numbers of defenseless victims into concentration camps is a common fear among some Tea Party activists. As well, Miracle Day is attributable to a corporatist conspiracy.

The image of wounded immortality is a critique of big government and socialism. Just as failed industries are not allowed to die, wounded Wall Street firms and sub prime borrowers are not allowed to die, so the world is inhabited by the undead, made so by a corporate conspiracy.

Where the show is going I do not know, but it is great if gory entertainment.

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Hudson Valley Focus Interview Re Agenda 21

Tom Sipos interviewed me on Hudson Valley Focus concerning the Town of Olive's adoption of an Agenda 21-driven master plan.  Hudson Valley Focus airs on nine Clear Channel stations in the Hudson Valley.  The interview is about 25 minutes.  HV Focus airs on Saturday mornings between 6:30 and 8:00 on WRNQ, WBPM, WKIP, WGHQ, WPKF, WRWD, WLEG, WBWZ, and WRWC. The interview is linked here:

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Obama's Upcoming Speech Out of "Groundhog Day"

Yesterday, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh were mocking the Obama administration's gaffe concerning the scheduling of his speech next week. The Obama staff had scheduled it to conflict with the national Republican presidential debate. After a silly quarrel with John Boehner the Obots rescheduled it to the following night--when it conflicts with the opening game of NFL football.   Tom Sipos of Hudson Valley Focus just forwarded to me the following e-mail which suggests a deeper gaffe: the utter failure of the Democrats and the American economics establishment to solve the current economic disintegration, caused by the institutions that they have advocated for a century.  Obama's silly repetition of ideas that have repeatedly failed is a tragic laugh:

With the worst (ZERO) jobs report,  since the end of WWII, out today and Obama scheduled to give us "His Plan" next Thursday I thought I would send this along.

In Ground Hog Day Bill Murray kept living the same day over and over. 

Ground Hog Day The sequel starring Barack Obama, or Obama Deja Vu: "I'll Have a Plan When I Get Back"

Number of people employed when Reid and Pelosi took over Congress 146,033,000
Number of people employed when Barack Obama was inaugurated      142,201,000
Number of people currently employed                                                139,627,000 and falling

Obama says he'll have a plan for the economy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxaT19rQ-Do&feature=related (3 Minute Compilation. Well worth watching)
Obama says he'll have a plan for the economy. June 04, 2008
Obama says he'll have a plan for the economy. February 1, 2009
Obama says he'll have a plan for the economy. September 15, 2009
Obama says he'll have a plan for the economy. October 29, 2009
Obama says he'll have a plan for the economy. November 18, 2009
Obama says he'll have a plan for the economy. December 02, 2009
Obama says he'll have a plan for the economy. January 27, 2010
Obama says he'll have a plan for the economy. February 17, 2010
Obama says he'll have a plan for the economy. March 2, 2010
Obama says he'll have a plan for the economy. May 7, 2010
Obama says he'll have a plan for the economy. September 13, 2010  "Now our # 1 focus has to be jobs, jobs, jobs."  What was it before?
Obama says he'll have a plan for the economy. December 22, 2010 "We now have to pivot and focus on jobs and growth." What was it before?
Obama says he'll have a plan for the economy. June 13, 2011 "Everyone who wants a good job will have a good job."
Obama says he'll have a plan for the economy.  August 2011 "After he gets back from vacation after Labor Day."
Obama says he'll have a plan for the economy. August 30, 2010  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_Jm8r-Qjks
Obama says he'll have a plan for the economy. August 29, 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYsXqiw64K0&NR=1
Obama says he'll have a plan for the economy. September 8, 2011
Obama's Jobs Plan and Jobs Council  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbJylJQ3JGE  (Watch as least the first 2 or 3 minutes)

Touting Michigan as the poster child for job growth.     When down is up and up is down-the logic of the left. 

Leave it to George Soros and the liberal left to rewrite the story to suit themselves. 

REPORT: Texas Ranks Dead Last In Total Job Creation, Accounting For Labor Force Growth

"While over 126,000 net jobs were created in Texas over the last two and a half years, the labor force expanded by over 437,000, meaning that overall Texas has added unemployed workers at a rate much faster than it has created jobs. And although states like Michigan have lost jobs (29,200 since February 2009), the state’s labor force has shrunk by over 185,000 since then. As a result, while there are fewer jobs, there are significantly less workers looking for them."

Michigan-"As a result, while there are fewer jobs, there are significantly less workers looking for them."  Can someone please explain to me how this logic signifies a healthy economy where individuals can earn a living and care for themselves.  T Sipos 

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/08/17/297556/report-texas-ranks-dead-last-in-total-job-creation-accounting-for-labor-force-growth/  Yes, this report was published by George Soros.  Data for this post was compiled by Matt Separa, Research Assistant with the Economic Policy Team at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

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An Environmentalist Rant

The Kingston Freeman published my letter on August 28.

Dear Editor:

The Town of Olive is considering a comprehensive plan.  The motivation, debate and the plan itself reflect Olive’s, New York’s and America’s moral and consequent economic decline.

Supervisor Berndt Leifeld told a packed town meeting  and a well-attended Town Board meeting  that the plan need not be taken seriously because its chief purpose is to procure grant money.

Starting with a lack of integrity, the plan was drafted by a politically correct consultant from Beacon who parrots the superstitious and ideologically-driven radical environmental claims of the International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) and Agenda 21, the globalist United Nations manifesto beloved by Goldman Sachs and DuPont.

The plan should not be so called. It is an environmentalist rant that proposes expensive projects such as a new community center and a new town hall without considering costs, benefits or the effects on taxpayers and homeowners.

More broadly, the plan follows Ulster County’s general commitment to excessive construction costs at the law enforcement center and Golden Hill Health Care facility (which, if authorized, will host 1 percent — 250 -- of Ulster County’s senior citizens at a cost of between $1,000 and $2,000 per Ulster County household -- of which there are about 67,000).

Given President Obama’s parlous economy, it is astonishing that  Leifeld has chosen to propose a reckless spending spree and crackpot regulatory binge without considering that since Congressman Hinchey’s election in 1991, Ulster County’s economy has grown at one third the national average.  The county’s high school and college graduates have been driven to move to states that would not consider ICLEI’s superstitious radical environmentalist claims.

Benjamin Franklin said that America would be a republic — if we can keep it.  The voters of Olive, Ulster County and the United States do not appear to be capable of  keeping a republican form of government.

MITCHELL LANGBERT

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Agenda 21: Ignorance Is Not a State of Grace

Agenda 21 is a UN statement that, in 1992, was signed by the United States under the George H. Bush administration.  It advocates globalization, extreme environmentalism, and increasing the United Nation’s control over local governance. It is consistent with Congressman Maurice Hinchey’s proposal to turn Ulster County  into a federal park and with increasing Wall Street’s control of water rights, farm land, and local governance.  It can be read at http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/agenda21/.

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