Common Council member Glen Casey said he didn't deserve getting a boot on his car. The city says he still owes more in parking tickets.

Casey's Cadillac was immobilized Wednesday night on South Swan Street, and he said he paid fines at the treasurer's office Thursday to get it released.

It was Casey who in January proposed requiring police to arrest people who went two years without paying parking fines. He also offered legislation in 2006 that raised the booting threshold to $200. But an upset Casey said Friday he received a letter from the treasurer's office saying he owed only $85.

Barnette said she found it hard to believe Casey only got a single letter saying he owned $85.

Twenty days after a ticket is issued, Barnette said, a reminder notice is mailed to the registered owner of the car. After 30 days, a late notice is dispatched — and once again every three months after that. Every six months, a notice is sent on all outstanding tickets in the system, she said.

"He's received multiple notices on both his wife's plate and his own," Barnette said.

Casey admitted Thursday to knowing about at least one ticket he hadn't paid, but contended he sometimes loaned his car to clients, who may not have told him about others.

Albany Charter Amendment is Overdue

By Richard Conti

This Election Day, Albany voters will be asked to vote on an amendment to the Albany City Charter that will provide some basic checks and balances in the city’s budget making process.

“Proposition Number Two, Proposal Number One” will require that the Common Council approve: creating new jobs or reclassifying positions; and, any salary related increases to the budget.

This is important because, each year, the Common Council reviews and approves the city’s budget, including salaries and positions. However, when amendments to the budget are made, they are not made by the Common Council that approved the budget, but by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, an outdated five member body.

Other municipalities in New York State which once used a Board of Estimate and Apportionment process have long since abandoned it; only Albany retains it as the sole mechanism to adjust budgets after they’re adopted.

Budgets are significant policy documents; they set forth priorities and allocate resources to achieve objectives.

Our current City Charter gives the Common Council the authority to make additions or deletions and insert new policy objectives to a budget proposed by the Mayor before returning it to him for final approval.

If the Mayor disapproves the Common Council’s revisions, he can veto them. The Common Council then has the right, by two-thirds majority, to override those vetoes and enact the revisions over his objections. This is an example of the policy making role of the Common Council within city government and the checks and balances between the executive and legislative branches.

The basic flaw in the current system is that the Common Council, the policy making body that reviews, revises, and approves the budget, is not involved in any revisions that are subsequently made after its adoption. This is a significant breakdown in the balance of power and checks and balances that are central to our form of government.

“Proposition Number Two, Proposal Number One” rebalances the relationship between the Common Council and the Mayor and assures Albany’s taxpayers that their elected Common Council representatives have consistent oversight over the most important aspect of city government.

Salaries and benefits account for more than seventy percent of the city’s budget. How we staff city government and organize departments has a direct relationship on the delivery of services, the economic efficiency of government and attainment of policy objectives.

Through September of this year, nearly thirty salary-related revisions were made to the 2008 budget adopted by the Common Council in 2007. These included new positions, reclassifications and departmental reorganizations . . . all having an impact on the delivery of city services and how taxpayer dollars are spent. But your Common Council member, the person you elected to represent you in these decisions and the person that adopted the budget, had no role in reviewing these revisions and was unable to exercise oversight. That’s one of the reasons why the Albany Common Council is the weakest legislative body in New York State when it comes to city financial matters.

The Board of Estimate and Apportionment has its roots in the New York State Second Class Cities Law adopted in 1906. Isn’t it time that Albany moved into the twenty-first century?

By voting YES on “Proposition Number Two, Proposal Number One”, voters can strengthen checks and balances in city government and help create a better working relationship between the executive and legislative branches of government. That’s good for Albany. More importantly, that’s good government!

-------- Richard Conti is President Pro Tem of the Albany Common Council and author of “Proposition Number Two, Proposal Number One” that will be on this year’s Election Day ballot.

On this year’s ballot, Albany voters will be asked to vote on an amendment to the Albany City Charter to provide for more checks and balances in the city’s budget making process.   

Proposition Two, Proposal One will require:

1)  that the Common Council approve creating new jobs or reclassifying   positions;

2)  that the Common Council approve any  salary related increases to the  budget. 

This is important because each year, the Common Council reviews and  approves the city’s  budget, including salaries and positions.  However, amendments to the budget are made by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, which does not conduct an overall budget analysis. 

Salaries and benefits account for over 70% of the city’s budget. This amendment will assure Albany’s taxpayers that their elected Common Council  representatives have consistent oversight of how their dollars are spent. 

Checks and Balances are Good for Albany 

On the lower, right side of the election ballot, there will be two propositions for you to vote on.  PROPOSITION TWO, PROPOSAL ONE, works to improve the checks and balances in Albany City government.  It reads:

SHOULD THE ALBANY CITY CHARTER BE AMENDED SO THAT ANY TRANSFER OF BUDGETED FUNDS THAT AFFECTS ANY SALARY RATE OR SALARY TOTAL SHALL REQUIRE THE PRIOR APPROVAL OF A MAJORITY OF THE ENTIRE COMMON COUNCIL MEMBERSHIP? (Voting “yes” would require the approval of the Common Council in order for budgeted funds to be transferred that affects any salary or salary total.)

Supported by Councilmembers:

President Shawn Morris; 

Pres. Pro Tem Richard Conti;

Majority Leader Carolyn McLaughlin; 

Dominick Calsolaro; Corey Ellis; 

Cathy Fahey; Dan Herring;

Michael O’Brien; James Scalzo; Barbara Smith

and Council of Albany Neighborhood Assoc. (CANA)

Uncle Sam has a new name on Wall Street — Sugar Daddy. Bonuses for investment bankers and traders are projected to fall 40% this year. But analysts, compensation consultants and recruiters say the drop would be much more severe, perhaps as much as 70%, were it not for the government's efforts to prop up financial firms. "Year-end pay on Wall Street will be higher than it would have been had it not been for the government and mergers," says Alan Johnson, a leading compensation consultant. "You would expect it to be down much more."

Johnson predicts that the average managing director at an investment bank, a title typically earned after eight years on the job, will receive a bonus of $625,000. That's down from nearly $1.1 million last year, but it is still 15 times the income of the average American household. Top bankers could receive as much as $1 million. Even a bond trader just out of business school could see his or her bank account enriched by as much as $170,000 this Christmas. "The firms have had an extremely difficult year," says Joan Zimmerman, a Wall Street career coach. "But they can't afford to lose talent either."

While the government rescue limits the salaries of five top executives from each of the participating financial firms, Congress did nothing to restrict Wall Street firms from using taxpayer funds to boost the compensation of rank-and-file investment bankers. "Some people might argue that these bankers should not be penalized if they weren't personally involved in the risky mortgage-backed securities," says Sarah Anderson, project director of the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank in Washington. "My response is that the average taxpayer wasn't either, but she is being asked to take a hit."

HRI Properties, a lead investor of the Renaissance Grand and Suites Hotel next to the convention center downtown, said Monday it won’t make the next debt service payment of $3.5 million that is due on Dec. 15.

HRI said due to disappointing operating results for the hotel during 2008, it is not expected to meet projections and revenue is expected to deteriorate further next year amid a “rapidly declining economic environment"