The rich get richer

With coffee-stained shirts and while sweating enough grease to fill a dirty fast-food frialator, state legislators signed off on a nearly $8 billion worth of budget increases Sunday, adding more fat to an already overweight spending plan. And coming home to Saratoga County with perhaps the biggest slab of fat-laden bacon was Hollywood Joe Bruno, who managed to wrench open the spigot of video lottery terminal “aid” Governor Eliot Spitzer had proposed to distribute to more needy cities in the state.

As a result, the impoverished lawmakers of Saratoga County and Saratoga Springs will pocket a cool $1.2 million and $3.7 million respectively for their trouble in hosting a little slice of Vegas on their turf. Now the county legislature will finally be able to add real gold plating to the horse-head bike racks or maybe purchase some trendy platinum toilet seats for the county offices in Ballston Spa.

True, it’s a bit cynical to not only look but poke fun at a gift horse’s mouth. The city continues to bluster on about building a recreation center, while the Saratoga cops are giving tours of their crumbling station like carnies through the haunted house ride at the state fair. And at the county level, the Republicans are running out of time to find ways of making their overly expensive water plan not seem like tax payer drain.

But to think this county –or the city for that matter –is in any sort of financial dire is ludicrous. Unless of course you consider the burden most lower-middle class property owners in the city and county are bearing these days, in which case the term dire is probably a marked understatement. Nevertheless, this windfall cash infusion will likely be spent largely on pet projects rather than to lower taxes for those most in need.

Speaking of taxes, the state Legislature will need to find some way to pay for the rampant 11th hour pot-dipping by Bruno and the other windbags who promised to stead the tide of government spending this year. Instead, it seems like the spending went back to the basic state legislator precept that crafting a budget is akin to a 15-minute supermarket shopping spree at the local grocery store –grab as much as you can and fire across the finish line before time runs out.

Among some of the other budget highlights is a $10,000 slush fund for the Saratoga Anniversary Committee, which apparently organizes a remembrance of the eponymous Revolutionary War battle. Not that this is an exuberant amount, but one would think the county could pony up the cash using some of the millions they bilked from VLT funding.

Bruno also tried unsuccessfully to bring home $9 million worth of loan forgiveness to the Saratoga Economic Development Corps. apparently used to lure AMD to Luther Forest in Malta. Hey, the state’s already forking over $1.2 billion to get the chip maker here –not including the county water boondoggle –so who cares about an extra million here or there?

Not the state legislature, which saw fit to shove an extra million ducats in the budget to fund the construction of cell towers along the Northway. Republican Sen. Betty Little made enough public noise in January to secure the funding, which some might argue is a necessity to keep the northern passage through the Adirondacks safe. But a more fiscally wise way to get this accomplished would have been to hardball the multi-billion dollar communications companies into doing the project themselves. After all, they’re the ones that will benefit the most from the better coverage.

Instead, the state’s lawmakers will again pat themselves on the back while putting off for a later date the inevitable need to curb of spending. Inevitably, the only way they’ll be able to do this if the budget involves the entire Legislature and not just three –or two –men in a room. Budget gurus also have to at last agree to stop raiding the cookie jar each year and start thinking in the best interest of the state, not just their own little fiefdoms.