Hike the County sales tax now - are they kidding!!!

The County wants to raise the County Sales tax 1%.  What will it do to the Cities of Saratoga Springs and Mechanicville; the towns of Clifton Park and Malta?  People from surrounding counties often come here to shop where they can save sales tax.  That may stop if our sales tax is increased. The County administrator, Spenser Hellwig, doesn’t seem to care.

Here’s little history of County Administration.  The County has no charter.  It functions under General County Law portion of State Law. The County Administrator position was created many years ago under the leadership of then Charlton supervisor Fred Hequembourg (now deceased). He was old school but very astute and ultimately agreed to establish the county administrator title.

The title was established by simple local law and the administrator is appointed by, and serves at the pleasure of, the Board of Supervisors. The county administrator is NOT the County executive. He is the County budget officer.

Spenser Hellwig is the 4th person to hold the title. The first two did not last long; both were forced out after brief stays by Fred McNeary who, in those days, had an inordinate amount of power. David Wickerham became the 3rd administrator enjoying McNeary patronage. Over the years Wickerham assumed more and more power simply because the Board of Supervisors was willing to abdicate theirs.  In the end, nothing went on the supervisor’s agenda unless Wickerham approved it.  Some of our own supervisors even referred to him as the "county executive."

Let’s see what Spencer Hellwig’s qualifications are for the job of County Administrator.  He came from the County Personnel Department were he served as County safety officer until he became Wickerham's deputy administrator. Hellwig came up through the ranks on the strength of Jasper Nolan's patronage.  He is a very political animal and has been rewarded for his blind allegiance to the Party.

Evidence for that allegation?  Once Hellwig was overheard by a reporter calling the then City Attorney, Matt Dorsey, regarding one Louise Barney.  He requested, probably at the behest of Jasper Nolan, that Mrs. Barney, mother-in-law of Lew Benton be evicted from her apartment at Jefferson Terrace.  Mrs Barney was 94 at the time.  Fortunately when Mr. Dorsey went to court, his order of eviction was denied.

Now as County Administrator Spenser Hellwig has - according to the papers -  essentially spent down the entire $35 million County surplus and hidden that fact from the taxpayers until the day AFTER the election. His excuse is that approx. $60 million of the County's proposed $300 + million 2012 budget are "mandated expenses".  Perhaps that is true. BUT that means that $240 Million are NOT mandated.

Senators McDonald and Farley say that Hellwig’s proposed sales tax increase is DOA.  One hopes that our Supervisors Yepsen and Veitch are also working to defeat the proposed 1% sales tax hike.  But what does this say about Hellwig’s competence?  Is he so unskilled that he did not do any homework BEFORE proposing to raise the sales tax from 3% to 4% (that is a 33% increase).  Do we really believe that there is no fat in the $240 million in NON-MANDATED County expenditures.  Remember Mr. Hellwig is supposed to be the budget officer and adept at finding the fat in these trying times.

Remember, again, we had a $30+ million surplus before Hellwig took over.  Now he says we will have a $20+ million deficit.  That is a loss of over $50 million.  Mr. Hellwig has demonstrated that either he is way over his head as county budget officer or he is downright incompetent.  That he kept all this from the public until the day after the election shows that he is at best a political hack.

 The Board of Supervisiors should remove him immediately and replace him with someone who has the background and knowledge to understand the hard choices we all have to make these days with budgets.  It would also be good if they chose someone who puts the good of Saratoga County citizens over the demands of any party.