retiredff914

OK. I'm going to bite at the dangling carrot, but I want to say I am writing this as if it was any fire district or municipality. I have no opinion of the one mentioned in the original post other then there are some very dedicated and talented personnel that work there.
Outside of the incumbent which there is at least one person who its clear would not vote for her, I have this one simple question? On average what does a 7% increase actually mean on average to the taxpayer? While its nice and I see it all the time those who are opposed to tax increases always and consistently throw out the increase in the percentage number. I mean if I weren't versed in statistics and math I would initially look at that 7% and even think to myself..."7%..that's utterly ridiculous and an unbearable and unreasonable increase!" But..being I do understand statistics, math and even how statistics can be turned to support or defend a cause, I know that 7% overall really means nothing but a number. I've seen 10 and 15% tax increases that people were up in arms in and when in a college government class, we broke them down and found that it equated to a tax increase no more then what equated for homeowners to a pack of cigarettes a month (yes NY prices) or 3 lattes. And it can also be shown that cost increases for more staffing can be offset with savings on fire insurance premiums.
If you look at any district or municipality there are things that flat out simply cost money, personnel being a huge one. Pension and health care costs have risen sharply every year. Equipment needs to be maintained or replaced, buildings need maintenance and in many of our cases needed to be replaced 10 years ago..not 10 years from now.
I have no intimate details about the hartsdale fire district so I cannot comment on them...and even if I did I wouldn't as its none of my business or my concern being I don't work nor live there. All I can say is that if the tax increases were a huge problem for people they would find a way to either change leadership or become active in the discussions. There are laws that require certain types of disclosure and I'm sure they'd have to be meeting it or someone would be on top of that. Also on a side note, why not have polling stations on every corner..there are those that don't vote for president, governor etc and they don't make it any easier for them. Even fire commissioner elections are governed by similar principles.