So are the residents of Amherst happy?

[WNYresident]

In Cheektowaga we have an empty Dick's Plaza for long time. I think there is an empty restaurant and the empty mexican restaurant also. How much property/school tax is that eye sore generating for us?

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

In Cheektowaga we have an empty Dick's Plaza for long time. I think there is an empty restaurant and the empty mexican restaurant also. How much property/school tax is that eye sore generating for us?

Not sure about how much they pay to the town...

What I am thinking is if Company A says this property should pay $20,000 a month in rent but it stils empty and the town charges $50,000 in taxes, they could claim a $290,000 loss at the end of the year. If they are making good money elsewhere...it might make sense to them to have a specific % of properties in high tax areas vacant.

[WNYresident]

As long as they are paying full property taxes on those buildings it's fine if they are empty. No skin off our community's teeth. I'm only referring if they are getting tax discounts because they are vacant.

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

As long as they are paying full property taxes on those buildings it's fine if they are empty. No skin off our community's teeth. I'm only referring if they are getting tax discounts because they are vacant.

I don't think you're seeing the whole picture.

An empty plaza = property taxes.
A full plaza with stores = property taxes, sales taxes, jobs and spin off.

What you have to question is a tax structure that pushes a company to take properties 'offline', to the determent of communities. in order to maintain or increase profits.

[WNYresident]

I know exactly what your talking about. But on the other hand if you received a very good property tax discount if your building sat empty you wouldn't be as motivated to have it fully rented.

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

I know exactly what your talking about. But on the other hand if you received a very good property tax discount if your building sat empty you wouldn't be as motivated to have it fully rented.

I would pick the more profitable option. My point was how sad it is that an empty building is more profitable than a full building.

[WNYresident]

I would to. It doesn't happen when you are losing population. 900,000 people usually require less services than 1,000,000 people and so on.



The best thing for the community would be full buildings. If you can't have full buildings you might as well collect full property taxes on all buildings. Why on earth would you allow spec buildings to be built while others sit empty especially if they are receiving discounts in the first place. Renting an empty building for 16 days for a Halloween store isn't really like having a full time business move into the area. All it does is allow some company who setups up temporary holloween stores poach clients from our local business.

I just look at is as we are all in the same boat. We all gotta row together. Can't have some business rowing a little less because they are politically connected and get property tax discounts. I really don't mind discounts on one shot taxes like sales tax or mortgage taxes on business expansions. That revenue would not have happened anyways if the business didn't move or expand. Property taxes should be basically the same across the board.

[wolfpack]

Amherst overbilled taxpayers $323,000 That equates to $3.00 per man woman and child in the town. The Town gets to keep the money for one year. The budget is therefore out of balance because it is not a revenue source and reserves are hit for that amount. We are told the reserves can accommondate this hit. The reserves should be at 10%. Hopefully they did that math correctly. The next point is that those responsible should step up and take responsibility. Instead a key punch error by some employee becomes a question of is it a firable event. The answer is no. A review is done, and should be done by the responsible department head. It is the Comptroller (budget officer shared with Supervisor) and the Assessor and the Clerk (and the IT department head).

[WNYresident]

Your worried about $3 dollars that at least was not wasted just collected? I think that is the least of anyone's worries.

[wolfpack]

hopefully the union will defend someone against poor supervision

it matters because taking resposnibility is important for public officials- just as transparency is (not secret afternoon sessions and consent agendas that so few citizens ever even hear about) - only large developers get thier projects done and the little guy never pays enough in tithes to count - speakers who have the nerve to show up at meetings need to sign in very early, wait for permisison to speak with draconian rules in force about what, whose name you canuse, how anyoen can explain their position in 3 minutes when the developer is given 20-30 minutes to speak proheticly about the merits of overcrowding, right-of-way rezone, parcels with drainage and power issues they will take care in some future world - bobbleheads let the supervisor rule iron-fisted (why not the pay is so meager at $25,000annually) - bloated departments and outrageously overpaid department heads who have been persuaded that whatever Whiney wants Whiny gets
there is not even a Republican party in Amherst, it is the Weinstein Party

[WNYresident]

The money wasn't stolen or wasted right? A typo somewhere?

[wolfpack]

"The money wasn't stolen or wasted right? A typo somewhere? "

check the news today- quite a fallout for a typo
people had to pay too much this year and have to wait for a correction next year since a budget is an annual event, not just a mistake on your credit card that is corrected next week or next month
say goodbye to the IT guy and the Assessor

[WNYresident]

Not sure about how much they pay to the town...

What I am thinking is if Company A says this property should pay $20,000 a month in rent but it stils empty and the town charges $50,000 in taxes, they could claim a $290,000 loss at the end of the year. If they are making good money elsewhere...it might make sense to them to have a specific % of properties in high tax areas vacant.

I don't think you can right off a loss on something you never collected. That would be like saying you purchased $100,000 in inventory but because you couldn't sell it for $150,000 you write off $150,000 not $100,000.

[FMD]

I hear assessments are going up this year, so they may end up keeping that little typo.

[wolfpack]

The Dictatorship of Barry Weinstein Continues

The Public Has Stayed Away From Town Board Meetings, And They Should. There is no opportunity to speak to issues in Amherst. Whatever the agenda is (and you can't request something to be on teh agenda) on a given Monday night at 7 PM, it has been discussed at a 3 PM work session. A work session is a place for Weinstein, his chief henchman Marlette (who never disagrees with teh master), and the rest of the bubble heads conjure up a "consent" agenda or unanimous "we ain't gonna talk about this stuff" and if Manna the lone Dem doesn't have the energy to object to items is set for passage at 7PM. Is there any publi support? No interference form citizens. Now at 7PM if there is some resolution that you feel you want to talk about, then be specific, take 3 minutes, mention no ones name, address no board members or staff, sit down and no answers will be given.
All politics is local was once coined, but there is no politics here and definitely no democracy (you elected the bums, and if you don't like it vote them out).

It is all about the real estate mogul (that is Barry's first and only real profession, not law or medicine) and now when he wanted to be a Congressman for at least one term, Collins got into the fray. What is left for Barry? Stay supervisor until he can mail it in, or run to win again and bail out so Marlette can carry on his tradition (he doesn't have the heart to be an effective dictator) for the remainder of the term. How does our boy hold everyone in line? Raise the salaries of department heads to $120,000 or $150,000 and do it with less people. Does the Pepsi Center or golf course have transparent financials? No One way is to have transfer pricing that has various departments charge their time to these profit centers (one is actually an Enterprise fund which has no overtime charged to it.

Some day the town will wake up and find Barry retired to Florida and the mess left for others to clean up. Tonawanda has its problems, Cheektowaga as well and Clarence is the escape route. It was such a good town.