By Bob Friedrich
Increases in property taxes for 2005 just about erased any possible benefit from the $400 tax rebate that all property owners received last year. October of 2006 will mark the final $400 rebate, unless the program is renewed by the City Council. Rather than rolling back some of the huge 18.5 percent tax increase of two years ago, we were thrown a bone in the form of this $400 rebate. Don't get me wrong: I will gladly accept my own money back any time the government feels so generous. But let's get real. The $1,200 combined tax rebate over three years doesn't even make a dent in the property tax increases that have piled up over the same period. The source of these property tax increases is higher tax rates and/or higher assessments, decided upon by the City Council. Either way, they hit hard, and no one seems to be doing anything about it. And if you're a renter, don't for one minute think that you have escaped the punitive effects of them; they are certainly part of the calculation when your landlord sets your monthly rent. Don't expect a quick fix; the City Council is still trying to determine who should be its majority leader. As in any business or institution, the chairman, leader, president – or whatever name you want to call it Ð wields enormous power and influence. It's the nature of the beast when you are dealing with man-made institutions. In New York City, this selection is not made based upon ability and merit but rather connections and backroom dealing. And if you think all council members are created equal, then you haven't engaged many of them in conversation. Believe me, I'm no big fan of the “you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours” system of selection that is alive and well in the City Council. However, there is a candidate among those running for this position who seems to have more of the defining attributes you want in a person in such a position. David Weprin, who is the councilman for most of the area served by this newspaper, happens to also be chairman of the Finance Committee of the City Council. The ability to understand finances and to piece together budgets does give one a heads-up over others. Being an accountant/finance guy myself, I know firsthand the intimate knowledge you accrue when putting together a budget and crunching the numbers. I work very closely with the staff and other members of the budget committee here in Glen Oaks Village, where we recently adopted a $23 million budget. Although this pales in comparison to the city's multibillion-dollar budget, it does give one an appreciation of the dynamics that come into play when calculating revenues and deciding on spending. By virtue of his role as chairman of the City Council's finance committee, Mr. Weprin has gained fiscal insight and knowledge that should naturally put him ahead of any of the other candidates seeking the leadership post. But will the best candidate get the job? Probably not. More likely, a popularity contest within the City Council will determine our next Council leader and it will be this leader who will have to put the fires out in a city that has a melting pot of competing interest groups. Speaking of fires, let me gripe about a subject that I have seen scant attention being paid to and that is the behavior of some of our bravest in the New York Fire Department. A few months ago, tucked away in the middle of the Nov. 5 edition of Newsday, the headline read, “It's Not Like the Boozy Days of '04.” The article talked about the FDNY, particularly a series of scandalous (my word) alcohol- and drug-related arrests involving New York City firefighters during the past year. While I do respect these hard-working guys and understand that it is a small number of them who are running amok, that small number is still too large. I think it is time for the hero-worshipping that began shortly after 9/11 to undergo a reality check. This does not mean you can't respect the bravery, hard work and heroism that many display, but blind worship I suspect promotes some of the “I can do no wrong” attitudes and behavior. I know this won't be popular reading in the local firehouse, but I have heard no one in the political arena tackle this matter and say that the city needs to get this type of behavior among some of our fire department personnel under control. It was certainly not reassuring when in the same article, FDNY spokesman Frank Gribbon seemed to suggest things were improving because “this year, the number of DWIs involving off-duty firefighters is down dramatically, fewer than a dozen.” A dozen!? If an FDNY spokesman finds solace that slightly less than a dozen firemen were actually caught and arrested for DWI, then we have a far more serious problem. Had that number been one or two, OK, but a dozen firemen driving around drunk gives me great pause to think that this department needs some serious behavioral training. Now that I have gotten that off my chest, I am sure to see some letters to the editor excoriating me for my comments. Just tell me where I was inaccurate. The city needs to do better in 2006.Bob Friedrich is the president and CFO of Glen Oaks Village Owners Inc., the largest garden apartment cooperative housing complex in New York. He has been a member of its board of directors since 1991. It is a non-paid, volunteer position with oversight responsibilities of 85 employees and a $22 million budget. He earns his real income as CFO of a public relations company in Manhattan.
