Adam

its worked well for revitalization so far, just look at all the hustle and bustle.....oh wait its just the Hustle

I knew that reference without using Google!!

it not a tear down mentality plaguing the City, it is a combination of continuing to blame Agnes, apathy of Community and Voters, a tolerance for blight and ignorance on their part as well. Elmira has chased one pipe-dream after another, essentially only seeking the low-hanging fruit no matter how rotten.( a symptom of the irresponsible and neglectful government) Add in the tendency of sentimentalists to want to save each and every decades-old structure in the area. Yes there are some appealing buildings throughout the City that can be used as a draw, if preserved and put to good, profitable uses, but others are long beyond their use and can detract from future prospects; you do more honor to the City's past by doing what it takes to make it thrive.

"Some" is being bit generous given how the current Chair seems to have no qualms about spending each and every last penny that can be squeezed, and im quite sure other entities that dont get as much, have and are doing much more for the community. In that case they should be getting ZERO taxpayers' dollars as no other for profit should. And if you look at the minutes i posted, theyre doing a piss-poor job of profiting anywhere, another reason they shouldnt be trusted with any more public monies

IF would be more accurate descriptor, i understand the set up of the entity but they are still funded through monies that come from the taxpayers of the county and the way their account is dwindling, and continuous negative net-income all the while pouring marge sums int o the proven quagmire that is the arena which distracts from other possible/better ways of investing int he area you would think providing one vehicle and looking to possibly provide for more employees would NOT be a smart idea. in fact it gives the impression they feel the funding comes from an ever-full teet so why be judicious with it

November 2024: "Net income is down $423,000. We are working with the County Executive on receiving the $500,000 in ARP funds that were approved. The County Legislature provided information to the County Executive last week. The funds won’t solve the arena’s problems, but it will help accommodate expenses. Ms. O’Brien asked about the auto expense for the IDA. The IDA vehicle lease is a benefit Mr. Roman receives with his position. She said the Steuben County IDA put more money in the budget for auto expenses so staff can travel for economic development projects." "Old Business Check Ratification: Mr. Roman discussed a check ratification for $108,799 to cover three payroll periods, vendors and credit card payments for the arena." interesting that robbing peter to pay some interest to Paul continues, and they KNOW its not improving anything, but hey lets pile on by providing transport for Mr. Roman, and perhaps few more folks on the taxpayer's dime!

Oct 2024: "Utility expenses at the arena are approximately $20,000 per month." "We have payments for arena insurance, Stemerman Sports and MRB Group. We have a net loss of $21,000. Current assets are $1.2 million, down from approximately $3 million." "Ratification of Check: J. Roman discussed the operational expenses for $39,000 that needed to be covered at the arena for the Price is Right show and other items, which needs to be ratified." "Budget: Mr. Roman reviewed the 2025 budget with the board. We estimated agency income at $500,000 as we never know how many projects there are going to be each year. This year we exceeded the $500,000 since 3 Sisters Solar Farm closed recently. The CVS Bond payment will be gone after 2025, leaving an approximately $650,000 hole in the IDA’s budget." Mr stemerman is mentioned quite a bit but i cannot seem to find just how much he is being paid

Sept: "Total income was $7,839.87. Expenses were $163,085.07 with a net loss of $155,245.20. Year to date total income is $699,109.93 and Net Income through August is a negative $1,099,877.76. Cash on hand is $1,305,263.92."

August: "Mr. Margeson and Bob Kramarik have been working with LECOM on naming rights. LECOM has agreed to a five year contract for $500,000. LECOM will have 400-500 students attending school here. Mr. Margeson hopes it will bring the community together. Cash remaining is $1.4 million."

June 2024: Joe Roman: "Expenses are mostly for the arena" "Net income for June was a negative $151,046.28. We have $1.7 million cash on hand." " Mr. Roman commented that things happen quickly at the arena and bills over the agreed upon amount sometimes need to be done prior to board approval." quite concerning on many levels "Mr. Collins commented that the City’s Code Enforcement Officer attempted to inspect the arena with previous tenants and was told to not come in the building." UMMM, maybe THIS was a red flag for those in charge of the building to get involved, maybe so much damage and alleged theft could have been prevented? yet there was no one held accountable to date. "July Payroll/Payables: This expense for $85,531.00 is related to payroll, payroll taxes, union, IC, Britt Floyd and debit card purchases. There is not a lot happening in the summer at the arena." seems to contradict recent claims....

further, Mr. Margeson was adamant that they only used Exec session once....looking in the minutes, there are 3 between Jan 24 and Aug 24. here is the notes pertaining to it: "Mr. Margeson provided a brief overview of the board’s discussion. There is consideration of providing a new hockey league at the arena. We have a local businessman, Mr. Marc Stemerman, who is involved in this particular process. Marc has made a significant investment in the community and in the team and I think it is going to be a tremendous asset to our community. A couple things about this particular operation; it is our fiduciary responsibility to continue financially to look at the arena. This particular deal will cost approximately 50% less out of pocket for the hockey structure. We will continue to offer hockey in the arena. The form of hockey will be the North American League. This is a league that actually brings college students into the D-1 division and additionally, effective today, there’s been over 50 participants in the NAHL League that have gone to the NHL. We are looking at a different style of hockey. These are the folks that are the future hockey players coming from Elmira and going onto D-1 colleges and into the NHL. I feel it’s a very strong financial decision we needed to make to keep hockey in Elmira. I think it will be a real positive impact to the community having a significant business owner involved in this process. I would like to publicly thank Marc Stemerman for getting involved." 1. this seems to be in direct contradiction to the reason for going into Exec session...what monies were discussed/promised since public monies are being directed to the arena? 2. Exec session details are not supposed to be discussed outside of the session, so it seems( i could be mistaken) that Mr. Margeson providing even the synopsis he did either violates the NYS meeting Laws, OR more likely, shows that the exec session for this discussion was mis-used. 3. WHY the strict fous on hockey in ANY form for so many years? it seems a complete 180 from the bolded quote from him in my previous post.

march IDA minutes: "There was $15,731 in total income. Total expenses were 321,482. Net income was a negative $305,751.00. On the profit and loss for January through March 2024 total income was $155,325.00. Total expenses were $768,926 and total net income was a negative $613,600. We have $1,816,081 cash on hand. Mr. Margeson commented that approximately $600,000 are hockey expenses. He hopes to make changes in the coming year to reduce that amount. Mr. Keenan commented that the amount of spending needs to be addressed. We need a cash flow statement/projection for the IDA. Mr. Margeson further commented that the IDA is for business development. We need to get back to expanding business opportunities that we may be overlooking. We need to be aware of opportunities out there. " Perhaps concentrating so much on the arena is blinding them to other opportunities? also if one reads the minutes, as the year progresses, the negative balances further increase while cash on hand steadily dwindles

except any past offers have been soundly rejected, or nit-picked until backed out of

theyd still screw that up.... word is, they are putting vending machines in with centralus swag for purchase....smh

oh FFS

i know of another village/Town in need of the Odessa treatment

the "average" drones would not/ should not be too concerning....you can get or build them withh little to no trouble. its the reports of drones the size of refrigerators/small cars that is more curious, as i assume those are not something one can get off the shelf or easliy build/fly?

interesting the 180 outlook from just before election time huh?

ill watch with open mind, but much like Bale is Batman, Jackman=wolverine, Reynolds=Deadpool, Cavill is/was best Superman(aside from Reeves)

ill be pulling up all the plants by our side porch in th spring for transplant

as for Mr. Margeson: for many taxpayers, it has zero to do with drama, but the fact that you are forcing( not asking) us to pay out more from our resources while taking even the smallest % of that for yourselves, between that and the incessant cheerleading and financial blood-letting for the Arena...you and many others deserve every "beating" you've gotten thus far and any future ones until some true financially responsible decisions get made

Well Joe, i can think of no one better to serve the public than someone who has no financial incentive to do so As to your concerns about making ends-meet: WEAR A DAMN CONDOM!

while glad to see majority of Legislators have scruples and voted down their increase, it is disappointing to see the raises approved, at least, for the exec/deputy exec. he keeps bemoaning how Leg got 3% last time around, but fails to mention his 15 and her 21 percentage increases the year before! Moss has been such a disappointment as the Executive and frankly while im not thrilled with attitudes of a few Legislators; he has increasingly shown himself petty and authoritarian in his approach to just about anything requiring cooperation

except the Exec/deputy got 15.3% and 21.1% increases last year respectively, and given that 33 governors make less than moss, and close to 30 make less than his deputy, and bigger counties pay their execs less( monroe comes to mind) combined with decreased revenues, the ridiculous amounts of monies bled into the arena AND an increase in our property taxes Mr. Moss is WAY out of line. and 7% of his previous raise was approved by the Legislature, so him winging about how THEY got 3% last year is just plain bullshit no matter how you cut it.

all the idiots out there cheering and supporting this move had better stay silent then, when in 4 years trump starts passing out pardons. theyve had their chance to call out wrong despite political ideology