“Instead of using his budget message to inform the public of how he intends to responsibly administer county government, County Executive Michael Hein exploits the moment to once again salve his bruised ego. Hein continues to personalize his failed attempt to strong arm an unconditional extension of the state granted authority to impose a Temporary Additional One Percent Sales Tax on the residents and shoppers of Ulster County and also seeks to shift the blame for his previous refusal to negotiate a fair settlement.
“To be clear, the County Executive agreed to meet only once, last week, to resolve the so-called crisis he created. Even at that, it was long after the State Legislature had recessed for the 2013 session. His subsequent agreement to be bound by his previous commitment to take over Safety Net costs brought us to the very point that I offered in settlement of our disagreement in the Spring of this year, as evidenced by the legislation I introduced.
“Unfortunately, because of Mr. Hein's relentless effort to seek political cover by once again, in his budget messages, recasting events and facts, I am bound to reiterate some basic facts that have been largely unreported:
- At a recorded Spring meeting of the County Legislature Ways and Means Committee, there was a serious threat made to the county's commitment to an orderly and timely Safety Net takeover. Mr. Hein and his staff, including at least two members of which who were present, did nothing to refute that threat. Further, a number of Town Supervisors contacted my office to express their concern about statements attributable to the County Executive's office that Hein was indeed threatening to back down from the Safety Net commitment.
- Even with his concessions, Michael Hein's budget continues to make Ulster the only county in the entire state that forces other local municipalities to pay any portion of County Safety Net Program costs.
- Though formulas were altered, like every other county in the state, overall Ulster received increased state aid for public assistance programs, far in excess of any additional costs associated with the Safety Net program.
- Ulster County ranks at the very bottom among all counties reporting in New York State when it comes to employing Safety Net recipients, making the program more expensive and less accountable to local municipalities.
- Though he continues to threaten and actually lay off county employees in each of his budgets, Michael Hein also continues to hire into the ranks of high paid, executive level employees, even after he allowed the authority for the Temporary Additional One Percent Sales Tax on Ulster's residents and shoppers to expire.
- Throughout the Summer of 2013, Hein and his paid spokespeople sounded the alarm of grave consequences associated with the sales tax issue, threatening huge property tax increases, lay off of rank and file county employees, severe cuts to outside agencies and the Community College and even the safety and security of our county's road patrol. While these threats are consistent with his actions in previous years, this year he sought to deflect responsibility for his policy decisions.
- The reality is that a full quarter of the Temporary Additional One Percent Sales Tax on the residents and shoppers of Ulster County amounts to less than two percent of the entire county budget. Except from the danger of his personal whim, those programs were never at risk because of the sales tax dispute. In the end, Mr. Hein's budget reflected none of those false alarms.
“The people of Ulster County deserve nothing less than professional leadership, free from the deceptions and petty personalization that has typified Mr. Hein's actions over the last several months.
“I forgive Mr. Hein for his immaturity in acting out for not exactly getting his way. I am, however, puzzled by his current stance that he always intended to honor his Safety Net commitment. If that is the case, one is left to wonder why he would not agree to be bound by law in May and June of this year but is willing to be so bound now.”
