Once again Kate Murray's tax freeze is a farce, it is a tax delay. She does this every two years to help herself get reelected. Over 8 years of Kate, the average tax bill has gone up 30%, faster than the rate of inflation.

This year she is having a tax freeze, yet spending is going up $11.8 million dollars. Kate is also using $30 million in reserves, $12 million more than last year. Do you see a pattern?

Also, if you look at the budget you will see other anomalies which demonstrate Kate's priorities. One is Kate has raised the budget for postage costs 25% from 2010 to 2011. This was to pay for the additional taxpayer funded mailers used to promote her talking points during the 2011 election year. In 2010, Kate sent out 27 mailings (one every two weeks). Does anyone really think residents needed 25% more mailings to keep informed about what is happening in the Town. During an Election Year, Kate feels this is necessary.

She also doesn't mention that she borrowed $50.7 million dollars this year. This is her job stimulus program. In the Federal government, Republicans call politicians that do this sort of stuff Socialists.

She also didn't mention that debt service costs went up +25% under her leadership, from $40.9 million in 2003 to $52.8 million in 2011.

The following is a summary of Kate's budget accomplishments. To get these numbers all you have to do is look at your 2003 and 2011 tax bills.

In summary, take a look at what Kate accomplished. Kate approved all these budget increases. And yes, she does approve Special District budgets, she just doesn't want to admit to it. NOTE : Five of nine budgets went up over 40%

DESCRIPTION................ 2003..................... 2011..................... %Change
GENERAL PURPOSE :....$15,883,091.15....$17,126,589.87 .......7.80%
HIGHWAY DEPT :............$42,853,039.47....$63,951,727.30 ......49.00%
BUILDING/ZONING :........$ 7,659,950.53.....$10,823,57212........41.00%
LIGHTING DISTRICT....... $7,018,990.72.....$10,243,928.53.......45.90%
FRANKLIN SQ PARK......:.$ 1,465,457.84....$ 2,443,839.45.......66.70%
REFUSE DISPOSAL :......$37,050,010.31...$43,202,557.60......16.60%
SANITARY DISTRICT 6 :..$16,971,667.28..$24,840,787.69.......46.00%
FRANKLIN SQ WATER :. $ 757,797.98.......$ 936,803.76...........23.60%
FRANKLIN SQ FIRE :.......$ 1,894,668.21...$ 2,335,609.81........23.00%

Also the animal shelter budget went up 88% from 2003 to 2011 under Kate Murray primarily due to administrative costs (What this you ask? Kate wouldn't say).

The solution will come when people stop paying their taxes.

Hey Kate, ya know what happens when u give away free animals? they are sold to labs, used in dog fighting or abused, not always, but why don't u let the 3 volunteers back in? they actually got the animals good homes, but i guess they saw too much abuse and neglect ie kill the kitty video. you have a good thing going, $7 million dollar budget and those lazy workers do nothing. hell there was no heat for at least a week in that dump. things will change. God doesn't like ugly.

"Again, thank you to all the members of the town’s family who participated in the Nov. 8 elections."

Literally, a big thanks to the family members of Town employees who were forced to campaign for Team Murray!

I voted for Gary Port. Kate is a liar. I will be at the meeting tuesday night and watch her ignor the pleas of the banned volunteers. Her attitude is total disrespect, she disgusts me.

I wonder how long it will be before she gives herself another $10,000 raise, she waits until after the election and then rewards herself. Time will tell.

Nobody forced anyone to campaign for the. Wow, what a bunch of sore losers. however, the animal rights people only have themselves to blame. They turned people off with alot of their bloody sign and literature.

@Terry, that shelter is killing animals and that IS a bloody business. Should we sugar coat it? Please Terry, google kill the kitty and see what goes on there and that's just a small sample. We are not trying to turn people off, just educate them on what goes on. I couldn't believe it myself. I was treated awful by those workers and all I was trying to do was adopt a dog that was on the kill list (an adorable shih tzu that people stop and ask me about now) They are keeping out 3 volunteers that worked their butts off trying to get homes for the dogs and cats. They did it for free. Now the animals are being killed. Why are they banning them? Good question. They saw too much. We don't want to turn anyone off. We want the killing stopped. I don't think that is unreasonable, do you? Also go the the meeting on tuesday and see how disgusting Kate acts to us. Tax paying citizens. Shame on her.

@Felix I am not sure where she ever lied about the 50 million dollar capital program being a debt service program. She always adds the reason she could advance such a program is do to the the highest Credit Rating, which is for debt service. Also while debt service has increased she also has paid back a great deal of debt service to allow room for this new capital program. Also it lowers your credit ratings and triggers state and national audits to pay for such capital programs any other way such as raising taxes directly of using reserve funds to pay for capital programs. I do not know where Kate Murray locally or nationally republicans have called debt service socialist.

Please choose wording more carefully. Research facts before stating semi-false claims to have a truly engaging discussion about political issues in the town.

@Felix here is where we agree. Kate Murray has the power to approve special district budgets, which account for about 5 percent of our tax bill separately from the TOH. While it is untrue that these are secret taxes on communities in the Town, it is true that Kate Murray has final say in the budgets. She does not get to deny them though I understand, but could vote to take them over. Over the years she has said if the proper petition is made with enough signatures from the district, she would begin discussion to remove commissioners and take them over or dissolve them. The issue is no special district resident has done this and she has refused to do it without community backing.

@Felix I agree and think personally the mailers should end, except for those that sign up for them and all members of the town who wish for updates should give email and by emailed updates to save hundreds of thousands in costs.

Also while budget has gone up Murray has used reserves to lower the budget. I must tell you Cuomo And Comptroller Dinapoli have both said consistently the reserves are used for this purpose as "rainy day" funds to lower the budget and avoid tax increases without severe changes, that is what it is for and why a Town must have 5 percent in reserves i believe to maintain a credit rating. Remember only Huntington and Hempstead have the highest credit rating on Long Island.

Also the Animal Budget, which is being audited by the state comptroller, who also is from Nassau County, will certainly be a topic for discussion, the volunteers have made this a bigger and central issue then needed. I am more concerned about why the code enforcement budget is so low. West Hemsptead and other towns are crying out for government help to maintain quality of life.

Kate Murray meanwhile has engaged in a parks upgrade prior to this capital program and has also been improving Lido, Atlantic, Point Lookout and rebuilt Camp ANCHOR. She is not my favorite cup of tea either, but like it or not she has done a decent job.

Laurie, with all do respect, I'm suspect of the 3 that were banned. They only made allegations, after, they were banned. They were there for ten years and never said anything about abuse/killing, but once they were banned, they suddenly scream abuse.

The video was clearly taken well before Ms. Murray was even Supervisor, but its disgracfile and all employees should be fired who were there.

As for the literature they handed out, it turned people off. They should really hire a proper consultant to help them, because they aren't. And the guy Felix is enough of a turn off. Drop him. Do you see how he acts.

Why some of the animal rights individs may have true caring in their hearts, others are obviouslt involved for pure political reasons. They should get rid of those people because it diminishes the true advocates.

Also, iif they are all of these abuses, how come nobody has been arrested, charged or even investigating it. All I see is budgets investigations.

The animal rights core group seem like truly dedicated people, but they need to clean house because they let themselves be taken over by purely political partisans. They also need to reach out to people in a way that does not turn them off. Thats been the problem with them to date.

And I watched one of the video's of a board meeting you posted. watch that guy Felix and you will understand what I'm talking about.

My special district taxes account for over 10% of my tax bill. $674 for garbage, $157 for water, and $268 for fire. I never said they were secret taxes. Few people are aware that special districts exist and know how they work. You would need to have a major education of residents before a fair election can occur. The fact is SD6 taxes have gone up 46% in 8 years and no one is held accountable. Few people know when the election is, and usually there is only one person on the ballot. Why don't you ask Kate to send out a few pieces of literature to educate people on how special districts work and what her role is on approving or disapproving the budgets. Her postage budget is $2.9 million this year, $650,000 more than the 2010 budget when she sent out 27 mailers. Instead of telling residents 6 times in one year that she has frozen taxes, why doesn't she send out a few mailers to educate people on their tax bill.

Kate got re-elected. Two thirds of the voters thought her actions as Supervisor were acceptable. I do not agree with this outcome, but the people who decided to vote, for whatever reason, have spoken. This is the American way.

amen

How DARE they keep 2 volunteers out that were doing excellent work. This is a free country and they sould be allowed in there. The staff at tohas certainly don't care if the animals are adopted and I know this first hand, they way they treated me was an outrage. I wonder if there is heat there now. The animals were freezing and they are killing them. It's such a shame with such a big budget, $7 million dollars, and this is the best they can do? Terrible. Let the volunteers back in to do their work of saving lives of these poor homeless animals. Stop the free adoptions. Maybe if they would answer their email, they could adopt some animals the good old fashioned way, WORK!! Not just giving them away, so they end up in labs or used as bait for fighting dogs. Kate you MUST do better!!

If you ask Kate to do better, she will create more patronage positions for the place.

Bonnie, Wow you are awfully defensive of that so called shelter. Hoping for a paid job? I guess you also are hoping that the pals Linda, Cindy and Peg and Dolores see this so you get your gold star this week. Or are you just a Kate lover? Pathetic though that you are picking on Diane. You should maybe take a lesson or two from her instead of trying to attack her and defending THE WORST SHELTER on LI! I guess you are ok with all the needless suffering and deaths there? Anyone who defends that place has an agenda of their own and unfortunately it isn't those poor helpless animals! What "great things" are happening there? Dogs spinning, no real volunteer program, no real TNR program, NO HEAT OR HOT WATER for over a month (and spare me the "space heaters" excuse because on the wet cold concrete in the kennels that don't have the heaters, the animals DO NOT FEEL IT!)..and killing of many, many animals.This place has become the NY ACC thanks to Cindy and her past experience there, so what of this is "good things"? You have been drinking the kool-aid I see. They are giving away the animals because the people in charge couldn't adopt an animal if they started paying people to take them. How safe is that to the animals? And even with the freebie adoptions they still can't get them out. Those running the shelter are clueless and it seems they are not alone by your comments!

And Felix, Great job! I always enjoy reading your factual info versus the garbage the town and Kate tries to feed us. Too bad that so many lemmings believe it and vote for her. Those non thinkers and all the TOH employees and hopefuls looking to pay back their favors and keep them coming are how she gets re-elected.
I also wonder when the next raise she will give herself and the board will be. If history repeats itself I believe that would be this month in time for the holidays. Stay tuned....

@Catherine. Please visit that shelter before u defend it. My dog was not a pit, he was a 2 year old shih tzu that needed a bath and he was on the kill list. They don't adopt out because they don't care, they don't answer emails. I tried emailing them about an older cat and they NEVER answered. They have a $7 million dollar budget! they have no heat or hot water and the dogs are spinning in their cages. is that right? because i care about these animals does that make me crazy? I am really offended by your post and I don't think you are an animal lover, but if you are a HUGE dog lover, pls visit that "shelter" maybe you could volunteer unless u are already on the payroll.

I did not name you in my post Laurie. Why would you think I was referring to you in particular as crazy? I would like to see the dog's file that was supposedly being destroyed for being dirty. That does not make sense to me. I have been to that shelter MANY times over MANY years and taken dogs out of it. Why would you assume I had never been there? Would I want one of my dogs to spend even an hour there? Hell no! But that counts for ANY shelter. What exactly do you want there? How do you propose to stop dogs from spinning in kennels? The volume is simply too high to make it home like there. I am a dog lover, but I am also a realist. That shelter cannot be no kill. And while I have asked just about everyone who has said it should be no kill how they propose to make that happen, I have not receieved ONE answer. Because it is not possible. Reality, try it sometime. The county can do better, but they cannot make it no kill. And everyone who wants to volunteer there is not a valid choice. Some of those people are terrific, and some are unfortunately just looking to stir the political pot and not actually help the dogs

Hey, catherine, if you got a position there, you would have to vote for Kate (LOL).

I know you all like to say that town workers have to vote for Kate, but no ones sees your ballot but you. At the end of the day, we can all vote for whomever we please. No one knows who we voted for but us.

Maybe by the time she runs again, I will want to vote for her no matter who is paying my salary (currently NOT any town or county). That will depend on what's happens in the TOH between now and then.

@Catherine. It doesn't have to make sense to you, it happened. That's why I support the volunteers who are banned from this dump. I was also treated very disrespectfully by the staff in there. They couldn't have cared less that I wanted to adopt a dog. I know that sometimes sick or very dangerous dogs must be pts, but they are killing healthy animals and giving them away for free, which is very dangerous. How do u stop dogs from spinning? Toys, interaction, walks etc. what do i want there? For $7 million dollars I want alot more than they have now. Heat and hot water would be nice. for starters. Let Diane and Lucille back in to save animals. Please google "kill the kitty" video and see how they treat the animals. Now that was a healthy young cat. I rest my case....

The kill the kitty video was horrible, but it was shot about 15+ years ago. That is not a current situation. Do you think they should just make the place bigger and bigger to handle all of the animals you think should not be put to sleep for lack of adoptors? Keep hiring more people to take care of them? Increasing the budget to pay for it all? Make a shelter city eventually? Can't happen! How about all the no kill shelters stop importing animals from other states and help place the ones we already have here on LI instead. Last Hope is one address over from the TOH shelter, yet they are bringing dogs in every week from other states while dogs are being put to sleep next door. NSAL brings in thousands every year. Adopts them out as cute puppies and kittens then turns their back on them once they are no longer little and cute and the owner doesn't want them anymore. Some of these end up in our pounds. NSAL makes money on them and they end up costing the taxpayer in the end when the family doesn't dumps them at the local shelter. How about we worry about our own before we take in everyone else's? Might make a HUGE difference to the animals actually born on LI in need of homes.

@Catherine. Why do you stick up for that shelter? That IS the current situation. That is why they have to give the animals away, which is very bad in this day and age. I agree that we don't need to go to other states, when we have plenty of animals here. NSAL could go to TOHAS and get some dogs. BUT these dogs wouldn't be puppies and they couldn't charge $200 bucks for one. Really sad situation and its people like you that don't know whats going on and stick up for this abuse shelter that I would love to reach. I experienced this place first hand. The way they treated me was awful. All I wanted was a dog, a dog they wanted to kill, a young 2 year old shih tzu, that now, with a good diet and baths people stop me on the street cause he is so darn cute. I always make sure I tell people where i got him. But many people wouldn't be able to see past the matted fur and smell to adopt him. For $7 million dollars they could have sent him to a spa. 25% roughly of dogs in shelters are pure breed dogs that people dump.

Catherine Mary you make a lot of sense, no easy answer to this problem, hence why it still not fully resolved.
Laurie Lat, you sound very passionate animal lover, my only advise to you is move on and dry taking that passion to a place that can use it, whether your own adoption rescue service or what, but I can tell you your plea's of "let us in" are falling on deft ears. Just my 2 cents, and I've been told sometimes that's what its worth!

Thanks Joe. I will move on when Diane and Lucille are allowing back in TOHAS. This is a free country and to not let them in to save these animals is an outrage. If enough people make noise we can make change.

All due respect, I wouldn't allow either of them in the shelter because they have pending litigation against the town. Common sense dictates to keep them out until the lawsuit is resolved. Also,why did they wait 10 years to make claims of animal abuse? If they are so dedicated, you would think that they would not wait for 10 years to pass? Also, no complaints until after they were banned, seems iffy.

And I adopted an animal from the shelter this past year. They were very nice and polite. maybe its just you Laurie? Did you talk to them they way you respond on the boards?

PS, I also called there and was told they have heat and hot water

@Terry I was very nice to them. This is a free country so they should be allowed in that place like everyone else. they waited because they were saving animals that's why. I was also told there was heat and hot water and they wasn't. they are liars. That's been proven. Talk is cheap. AND i know for a fact they are dedicated because I got a dog from Diane and a cat from Lucille(who had a store-front with kittens being adopted out, at her own expense) I know its hard to believe that places are run really badly, but its true.

Diane is not Mother Theresa. She might have helped a lot of dogs, but she is not an angel.

OK, so if "this is a free country" means we should all have access to any business we want, I want access to Citbank. Just saying...

catherine, I was thinking the same thing. And not saying anything for 10 years, because they were saving animals......cmon? Only after they were banned did they say a word. Talk is cheap, tens years cheap.

But wait, Robert will chime in that we must have town jobs because we won't bash Kate. I guess 70,000 people had town jobs this election, lol.

As for Laurie,actions speak louder than words. If killing went on for 10 years and they stood by silently, think Penn State. Says little about those two.

Val, it is not considered an open access public building. So the public should not feel entitled to roam around.

Also, 10 years of standing by in silence if any abuse was actually taking place. You try and say they were helping, 10 years? They are accomplices if anything actually happened. 10 years of standing by and not saying a word. If anything were truly happening, they should have spoken up on day 1. Some real advocates. Send them over to Penn State and they can hang out with others who stood by for 10 years.

Terry, the public is invited to visit the shelter and tour the facility during the hours of operation.

As for the rest of your comments, you are even more confused than Catherine Mary. Specifically, why are you attributing "You try and say they were helping" to me? I never commented on what the women were doing at the shelter. I wasn't there to observe them. Were you? How do you know they never spoke up? Were you there? Maybe you should be subpoenaed to testify also. You could rebut their corroborating witnesses, but judging from your abilty to get any facts straight on this forum, I don't think your testimony would carry any weight.

Well Terry, so hope you have been duely chastised as have I. Let's hear it for people filing frivolous lawsuits at a cost to the taxpayers.