NORTH GREENBUSH SUPERVISOR'S 2008 BUDGET A FRAUD

The North Greenbush Town Budget submitted by Supervisor Mark Evers appears on its face to be balanced and he boasts that his budget will provide residents a slight tax decrease as he campaigns for reelection. "The entire budget is a fraud." stated Joshua Sabo, "2006 was a fiscal disaster for the Town under the leadership of Evers. At last week's Town Board meeting Evers indicated the report would show a deficit in excess of $330,000.00."

"Last week the Supervisor justified the fact that his budget shows a starting fund balance of zero instead of being in the red by hundreds of thousands of dollars by claiming that he took fund balance surpluses that our water and sewer districts had in 2002-2005 to balance the budget." "In my role as Town Attorney, I contacted the State Comptroller's office to see whether such a move is legal", continued Sabo, "It is absolutely illegal and never happened. The reality is that the Town is faced with a huge deficit for 2008 that must be erased. Given the Supervisor's budget, each taxpayer is faced with approximately a 35% tax increase to bring it into balance."

"The Supervisor's budget is an illegal and improper attempt to bolster his reelection efforts by hiding the fact that providing jobs and favors to his political supporters will result in a huge tax increase to the residents of the Town", concluded Sabo.

There is a public hearing on the 2008 budget tonight at 6:30 p.m.. The public is encouraged to attend.