Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Gordon Woodworth, Chronicle News Editor
Doug Beaty has dropped his push to raise the Warren County sales tax from 7% to 8%, and use the new revenue to cut school and property taxes.
“To get it passed would have taken a two-thirds majority vote [on the Board of Supervisors] and I don’t think the votes are there,” he told The Chronicle Monday. “This was a winning plan, but people didn’t get behind it because of skepticism and mistrust of government. The mistrust is real.”
Mr. Beaty said his proposal would generate $18-million in additional revenue for the county. He proposed allocating $9-million to school districts to lower property taxes, and distributing the other $9-million to towns and the City of Glens Falls based on population.
In a subsequent e-mail, Mr. Beaty said, “Nobody trusted the schools superintendent to apply the money and reduce their taxes, nobody trusted the county to give all the money to the schools and towns to reduce the taxes, nobody trusted the town and city supervisors and mayors to use the money to lower their town taxes.
“It was a rather eye opening experience…Nobody trusted anyone. Even a few school superintendents did not trust the county supervisors to always give them the money.”
In the interview, he said, “I’m convinced this is the best plan for Warren County residents, but no one, including elected officials, trust anyone to execute it.”
Undaunted, Mr. Beaty said he will now focus his efforts elsewhere, including his 2030 Task Force designed to increase Warren County’s population.
“I’m going to get people to move up here,” he said. “We have a ton of opportunity here that is underdeveloped.
“We’re putting a package together and going to get after it. We’re going to go to Long Island and New Jersey and talk to Realtors and business people about what we have to offer in Warren County.
“Will it work? It may and it may not. But what I know doesn’t work is doing nothing. And that’s not working. I want to see Warren County grow and prosper.
“I don’t have all of the answers, but I’m willing to try things. I tried to lower school and property taxes by raising the sales tax, and discovered people on the board don’t trust the board to do the right thing!
“I’m not discouraged. I never get discouraged.”
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