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Putnam National Golf Course to be Operated by RDC Golf Group, Inc.
Plan praised by Legislature's Chairman
by Margaret Sternberg
The County Legislature held a "Special Meeting" on March 18, 2008 to approve a number of "memorializations" - resolutions that do not make new laws or amend old ones, but are generally sent on to the State to let lawmakers know the County's position on issues - all of which sought to decrease the tax burden. The one exception to the memorializations was approval of a resolution authorizing the County Executive to take all measures to sign a contract with RDC Golf Group, Inc. to manage the Putnam National Golf Course.
Calling it "an excellent proposal," Legislature Chairman Tony Hay thanked County Executive Bob Bondi for having brought the proposal forward to the Legislature, bordering on effusiveness in the manner in which the Request for Proposals was handled as well as the speed of the process.
Under the proposal, the County will pay a management fee of $204,000 per year to the vendor, and the vendor guarantees to the County at least $230,000 per year for the five years the contract runs. Hay admonished that during the preparation of the annual budgets no more than the minimum $230,000 would be put into the budget in order to keep revenue expectations as fiscally realistic and conservative as possible.
Hay said that based upon the records he'd seen of the other courses managed by the company, the proposals made for Putnam County seemed "possible and doable."
Deputy County Executive John Tully explained that all operating expenses are the obligation of the contractor, with revenues generated from the operations being used to pay for expenses. Tully also said the contractor anticipated earning enough to pay the County, but also guaranteed the County the minimum payment regardless of revenues. Tully added that if revenues exceed expectations, the County would also benefit. RDC Golf has predicted a profit to the County in 2008 of approximately $350,000 to $400,000.
Hay, who has been a constant critic of the handling of the golf course, said he had heard nothing but positive things about the contractor, describing the accepted proposal as "great."
In other business, and the reason for approximately 25 people attending the meeting that evening, Legislator Sam Oliverio asked for unanimous approval of Assembly Bill A04746 ("Cahill Bill,") a bill that seeks to contain school tax increases by mandating that "all costs of a basic quality education be paid directly by the state through revenues collected by income taxes."
Although acknowledging that Putnam County is just a small part of the state, Oliverio said the memorialization will be sent on to other counties with the hope of other counties' support and that a grass roots movement develops.
Describing the bill, Oliverio called it "a school equity bill that looks to not only equalize funding for education, but also revamp the way school taxes are established - base it upon income, and not property." Oliverio said that each Legislator had heard from his or her constituencies that "[the school taxes are] driving our residents out of the Hudson Valley."
Legislator Anthony Fusco alone raised objections to the bill, questioning such issues as tax shelters, second homes, the determination of what was "fair" for each district, ultimately saying that he would "encourage support of this bill if it were with language asking for certain additions, but the bill in its current form I would have to oppose," suggesting a hybrid bill that would incorporate sections that would address some of his objections to the current bill.
Oliverio noted that Assemblyman Cahill had looked at a number of issues over the years and was aware of some of the drawbacks of his plan, but Oliverio said that "right now, this is the most inclusive, the most focused, the best," bill available, concluding that action needed to be taken sooner, rather than at some future point.
Chairman Hay agreed, saying that they had been hearing about school tax reform for close to 20-years and it was necessary to "do something [to] make it a living document." Hay also said he did not expect the bill to succeed but felt he "would like to start somewhere." Hay prophesied that the bill "would go nowhere because of each Assemblyperson wanting his or her own "slight change" but said the county should do something to "get it off the ground."
Fusco appeared to capitulate, saying that he "wanted to go on the record" that he felt "a spending cap, avoidance of tax shelters and a certain measure of property tax are needed in some form of this bill" before voting for the memorialization.
The audience applauded following the unanimous vote.
Copies of this memorialization were sent to Governor Patterson, Majority Leader Bruno, Speaker of the Assembly Silver, Senator Leibell, Assemblywoman Galef and others.
Passed with no comment was a memorialization in which the Legislature called for an end to the "practice of passing on costs for state programs to county government and our property tax payers; however, a memorialization in which the County Executive and the Legislature opposed a new policy shifting 100 percent of the cost of juvenile detention facilities to counties (it had been 50 percent until the 2008-9 Executive Budget) received emphatic comment decrying the attempt to shift the entire cost onto the county.
The Legislature also memorialized its opposition to the state, in the 2008-9 budget proposing to increase the county share of public assistance by two percent, decreasing the state share by the same amount. The memorialization pointed out that in shifting the burden, local property taxpayers increase their taxes for public assistance. Also noted was that the state and counties had shared the costs on a 50 percent state, 50 percent local basis since 1938.
Copies of all of the memorializations were sent to Governor Patterson and the New York State Legislature.
The Legislature also passed a memorialization requesting the state restore 2-1-1 funding to the 2008-9 budget, citing the importance of state funding in bringing 2-1-1 to its current level of service as well as the need for the service itself, noting that in 2007 there had been 360,000 callers assisted by the service and that given the economy the need is expected to grow. Copies of this memorialization were sent to Governor Patterson, Majority Leader Bruno, Speaker of the Assembly Silver, Senator Leibell, Assemblywoman Galef and others.
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