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Thread: Buffalo's raising taxes, fees & surcharges alot

  1. #1
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    Buffalo's raising taxes, fees & surcharges alot

    Buffalo's raising taxes, fees & surcharges, It's going to sting hard 3 ways 1) 3.4% higher property taxes ) Garbage totes going up to $230 to $250 per year that's a increase of $50 to $70 per year and surcharges on everything from Sabers, Bison games, Parking, Shea's, Canalside etc.... Business's are even getting hit even harder with 5.5% property increase, https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/lo...s/71-547732103
    Last edited by VegasDude; May 2nd, 2018 at 10:20 AM.

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    Member Jerry A's Avatar
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    Why did the Buffalo Taxes pay for this? Mayor's Pay-to-play defense a total of $645,341.00 ? This can be checked at the Buffalo News.

    Taxpayers foot the $645,341 bill for Brown's pay-to-play defense – The ...
    buffalonews.com/.../taxpayers-foot-the-645341-bill-for-browns-pay-to-play-defense/
    Oct 2, 2016 - Taxpayers foot the $645,341 bill for Brown's pay-to-play defense ... When Mayor Byron W. Brown found himself facing allegations of a pay-to-play scheme at City Hall, he turned to one of Buffalo's most respected ... He also noted that his firm charges municipalities such as Buffalo a discounted hourly

  3. #3
    Tony Fracasso - Admin
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    Jennifer is correct.



    When asked why there wasn't a tax increase last year when it was an election year, the Mayor said, "in the 12 budget that I've put together before this year, whether it was year 12 or year six or year two, there was either a tax reduction or holding the line on taxes so it has nothing to do with an election year."
    I'm surprised he didn't giggle when he said it has nothing to do with an election year.

    The garbage user fee is slated to increase. "A single family with a 95-gallon tote right now, you'd be paying $170 per year, with the increase you would be paying $237," said Donna Estrich, Buffalo Commissioner of Administration, Finance, Policy and Urban Affairs.
    My garbage fee is $308 in Cheektowaga so I see Buffalo is still less.

    $237 versus $308 ~ 23% lower.


    The city is also looking at a public facilities surcharge. If you go to an event at Shea's, Kleinhans, Canalside, Keybank Center and Coca-Cola Field, the mayor has proposed you pay a surcharge because "it's expensive to provide public safety at those venues...those costs are solely borne by the city taxpayers these are all regional attractions."

    He says a working group would come up with what the surcharge would be, but the hope is that it will generate approximately $2 million in additional revenue.
    Valid point. How do we know the surcharge will literally go to providing public safety once the money is taken?

    Do you think Canalside's public safety cost are far higher than what is needed for Kleinhans? If so why should Kleinhans subsidize Canalside's public safety issue?

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    WNY, your garbage fee might be higher but I imagine they at least actually pick up the garbage in Cheek.

  5. #5
    Tony Fracasso - Admin
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    When we lived on Lovejoy we never had an issue with garbage not being picked up. We don't have an issue in Cheektowaga either. The issue is what we are charged for services. You get to a point where you price yourself out of the market unless you are given a monopoly on your services.

    Why are monopolies undesirable for an economy?

    This isn't a bad read. They talk about "product" but I think this can also apply to a "service"

    https://www.quora.com/Why-are-monopo...for-an-economy



    4 Reasons Why Monopolies Are Bad, and 1 Time They Were Necessary

    Four Reasons Why They're Bad for an Economy
    Monopolies restrict free trade, preventing the market from setting prices. That creates the following four adverse effects:

    1. Since monopolies are lone providers, they can set any prices they choose. That's known as price-fixing, and they can do this regardless of demand because they know consumers have no choice. It's especially true when there is inelastic demand for goods and services. That's when people don't have a lot of flexibility. Gasoline is an example. Some drivers could switch to mass transit or bicycles, but most can't.

    2. Not only can monopolies raise prices, but they also can supply inferior products. That's happened in some urban neighborhoods, where grocery stores know poor residents have few alternatives.

    3. Monopolies lose any incentive to innovate or provide "new and improved" products. A 2017 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that U.S. businesses have invested less than expected since 2000 due to a decline in competition. That was true of cable companies until satellite dishes and online streaming services disrupted their hold on the market.


    4. Monopolies create inflation. Since they can set any prices they want, they will raise costs to consumers. It's called cost-push inflation. A good example of how this works is the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. The 12 oil-exporting countries in OPEC now control the price of 46 percent of the oil produced in the world.

    https://www.thebalance.com/monopoly-...istory-3305945

    because they know consumers have no choice
    This is currently what we have in many small towns throughout NYS. If "your only choice is to move if you don't like it" then it's monopoly in that small geographical area.

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    I don't understand how "OPEC" is a monopoly. You are free to explore for oil anywhere you wish (subject to state/country/municipal regulations). If you cannot compete then that's your problem. A bunch of private producers got together and are price fixing. That's the epitome of free market. If they accidentally price fix too high then producers who are more innovative will be encouraged to enter the market, correct? That's how the market operates. If a company can buy influence that's just part of the "free" market.

  7. #7
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    Right on, Genoobie. US oil producers undermined and undercut the towel heads in 2008 and the price of gas and oil plunged. Of course, Obama worked like a coolie to preserve the Moslem oil oligarchy in the wake of US success. Makes one wonder whose side he was on. Nah, no need to wonder on that count!!!

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