The proposed 2021 budget totals $41.9 million which represents a reduction of $6.8 million from this year’s $48.7 million budget. Among the items is a 10% salary reduction for all full time employees. This will require the voluntary support of the city’s staff as most are covered by existing union contracts. In addition to this, the budget calls for further reductions in the line items for the staff of the Public Works Department and the Public Safety Department.
The budget also calls for a 6% rise in tax rates.
This is the release from Commissioner Madigan that lays out all the proposed cuts and increases in taxes.
Saratoga Springs Politics 
I cannot afford another tax increase. They need to tax the 100s of condos appropriately if they need more money.
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This is exactly why the party put forward Mrs. Morrison, yet Mrs. Madigan and her friends stomped their feet. Now the whole city gets to witness the level of competence, and why the Democratic Party stood behind Mrs. Morrison.
I am sure Mrs. Madison’s friends will come to her defense, and how no one could do better at this difficult time, but to them I say pooh pooh.
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And here’s to you Mrs. Madison, Jesus loves you more than you will know.
Wait, ….there’s no Mrs. Madison in City Hall. !!
Maybe after Margot lives in Saratoga Springs for a few more months she will know the names of our City Council members.
pooh pooh ……koo koo ka choo.
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Margot – Not sure who you are yet I can only guess (with some serious predictability) who your friends are. The almost 8 year campaign against Commissioner MADIGAN is tired and old. It stems from the fact that she had the gaul to stand up to Yepsen and her minions, that she demanded a CITY attorney who worked for the CITY and not act as the sole representative of the Mayor. And, yes, I am a friend of Commissioner Madigan though for the time I worked for Yepsen I was forbidden to be and yelled at for any social contact I had with her. Really good ethical leadership there, ya think? That said, there has not been a tax increase in the first 8 years of Commissioner Madigan’s tenure. She built a health fund balance and helped the city to a AA+ bond rating (all that your Mrs. Morrison would have destroyed by her own claims). So, I stand as a friend of the Commissioner yet defend her with facts. Add to that, I’m willing to put my full and real name here. You, NOT SO MUCH!
Note – when you’re talking about the Commissioner in her professional role it would be respectful to refer to her as that – COMMISSIONER MADIGAN.
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A couple of thoughts, if I may.
First, John says “Among the items is a 10% salary reduction for all full time employees. This will require the voluntary support of the city’s staff as most are covered by existing union contracts.” OK, lets follow this to its logical conclusion. What happens if the staff doesn’t “voluntarily support” this? Can the city print money or make it appear out of thin air? Create it out of whole cloth? If an organization finds it only has enough money to pay 90% of total payroll costs, and employees don’t agree to a 10% paycut, then … what? Layoffs. I listened to the budget message and read the press release. Madigan clearly stated, repeatedly, that absent the Federal government assistance that cities and states nationwide desperately need there will be layoffs. She also made it pretty clear that the 10% pay cut is there to MINIMIZE that number. So not agreeing to a pay cut equates to MORE people losing their jobs. Furthermore, union contracts impact how money is spent – not how much money comes in. You can’t pay employees with money you don’t have. Hopefully the city employees will understand that and agree to take action to protect as many jobs as possible.
Second, to Margot, pray tell what Ms. Morrison would do differently. You and the remnants of the city dem committee certainly didn’t see the pandemic and resulting recession/depression coming (no one did). To claim that the crusade against Madigan was motivated by competence is absurd (to that I say “poo poo”). We haven’t had a property tax increase in over 8 years, our bond ratings are stellar, our reserves going into this mess were strong and allowed us to get through 2020. Due to Madigan’s competence, the 2021 tax increase is only 6%. (According to her press release that’s only $6/month for a home assessed at $200,000. Put another way, someone with a home assessed at $500,000 has to cough up an additional $180 a year in property taxes to keep the city functioning during a severe economic downturn.) Seems like Madigan made some good choices when presented with extremely difficult situation. Morrison actually said during the debate last year that our fund balances were too high! Without those funds there would have been more layoffs, a higher tax increase, and steeper pay cuts. Give me a ******* break.
I am convinced that the Turner-Kane-Kim-Yepsen-McTygue-Morrion-Burger cabal had a few messages ready to launch against Madigan no matter what she did. If she did’t include layoffs or pay cuts, they would have screamed for them. If she left taxes flat and drained all surpluses to $0 they would have screamed for a tax increase. No matter what she does (or anyone else they oppose, for that matter) they attack. They constantly lie about the city’s finances and our public servants. It’s all about power and control to them, the city be damned.
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Maybe I am missing something here. I don’t think any of us can afford a tax increase, but here we are. The comment from Margot just has me scratching my head. We are just starting to claw our way out of this situation. A situation that is out of our control. When I look at the budget I don’t see what Margot sees. What I see is a budget that spreads the cost of running the city at this time as fairly as possible. I am not Ms. Madigan’s “friend”. I am a resident of this city. I can see in this budget that they are trying their best to keep this city going through this terrible time. I believe in this city and am willing to share the load to keep us going as well as we have been for a long time.
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Michelle Madigan is exceedingly competent and we are lucky in this city to have her critical eye on the numbers. The macro economic situation does not look good, as we have increased the monetary supply by nearly 100% in the previous six months while tax remittances have fallen by about a quarter. The city may wish to look into using ‘payroll promissory notes’ in lieu of permanent pay cuts while they continue to issue more debt.
The Federal Government will have to buy the municipal debt (RAN and TANs) at some point, else we are going to see cascading failures that will result in more than a charter change in a few years.
I do not think property tax increases are tenable, as many households are in economic distress. If the city works out a ‘no-tax foreclosure’ for residential properties, I think this will help.
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To follow up on Justthinking 75, might there be some proud citizens in our fair City that would nor only share the load but support a fund drive for the City.
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