Did He or Didn't He?

Did Congel pay COMIDA in 2010? I still don't know. I know the Town of Irondequoit and the EICSD were paid by COMIDA - but the Monroe County Real Property Tax Portal still shows his 2010 payment as delinquent, and there are new totals for 2011 that are due the end of January (I think). There are still no payments listed under "Payment History" for 2010 - all other years are listed.

Check it out for yourself, below:

092.05-1-85.111
092.05-85.2
092.05-1-87.1
092.05-1-20
092.05-1-84
092.05-1-18
092.05-1-17
092.05-1-19
092.05-1-16
092.05-1-9

Also, and I find this very interesting, the totals due (that shows delinquent - green check) for 2010 are higher than before...which means penalties and fees are being added to those totals. If he paid COMIDA - then the total wouldn't be going up....riiiight?

I did a blog back in September, 2010 asking if he paid. I listed like, 5 or 6 different properties to compare their payments on their property vs what the Medley property said.....to show that I do not think Congel paid COMIDA. I think COMIDA paid the SD and the Town out of "their own pockets"....but I don't think COMIDA has gotten the money from Congel yet.

Here's the screen shot of one property for Congel from when I did the blog in September 2010 - it shows a delinquent amount of $145,858.57 due for 2010.

Here's a screen shot that I just took today of the same property - and it shows a delinquent amount of $152,325.20 due for 2010.


January 5, 2011 - I just took another screen shot, and the total due for 2010 increased again! The total due now is $154,480.75 - $2,155.55 more than the above screen shot from January 3rd, 2011.


That tells me that he IS delinquent, as he is still being charged penalties and interest on what he was supposed to pay in 2010.

"Payment History" at the above links to the parcels show no payments for 2010.
All amounts due for 2010 for all the parcels shows him as delinquent.

Congel didn't pay COMIDA for 2010. If he's still being charged penalties and interest for 2010 - that tells me he hasn't paid his taxes for 2010 - and I highly doubt he will for 2011 either. Yes, the SD and Town were paid - but from COMIDA - not Congel.

He signed a legal document that said he would pay the Town $500k on April 7th, 2009 - he didn't.

He signed a legal document that said demolition would start 60 days after the entitlement date of April 7th, 2009 - it didn't.

COMIDA claims he paid his taxes in 2010 (and three months late, I might add) - and according to the tax portal for Monroe County - he didn't.

Why not? The economy is bad for everyone, and I know I paid my taxes on time - and I don't have $10 million sitting in my personal bank account.

Any lawmakers out there willing to hold this guy accountable? Maybe take a look at how PILOT deals are hammered out....possibly making uniform standards so there is less abuse?

Anyone?

Hello?

January 6, 2011 - D&C reports that Passero is suing Congel for the over $400k he owes them. Link.:

Link to 2nd story about lawsuit.

I heard a commercial on the radio the other day, about Irondequoit Suzuki & Ideal Nissan moving to Greece....they needed a bigger building or something. I wonder if they thought the grand ideas at Medley would bring in some much needed business - like everyone along that strip thought - and since absolutely ZERO is happening at Medley....they decided to go where there was a little more traffic? I wonder if they're getting a PILOT deal or some sort of tax break for moving to Greece?

That's another thing I don't like about PILOT deals or IDA's.....they don't create many "new" jobs.....they just shift them around to the surrounding areas in the county....which hurts the places they leave. So, now, Greece's gain is Irondequoit's loss - and Irondequoit is hurting as it is. That's less revenue for Irondequoit.

Hopefully, another business will commit to moving there and actually do something with the property, unlike what is happening across the street.....hopefully a business that generates some tax revenue instead of a not-for-profit or something like that.

*sigh* Happy New Year!

12:31 pm. - I just read that Damelio resigned from his position as Airport Director. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the recent revelations that David Andreatta wrote about in his article on expenditures of the Budget Authority for the Airport - that Damelio spent about $21k over 3 years on cigars...that happens to be a passion of his. ;)

Shout out to David Andreatta! Investigative reports like his can root out some questionable behavior, and while I don't think a $50,000 budget for the director of the MCAA is unreasonable - the sheer number of cigar purchases over that time period is - and if not for that report to educate the people on what certain authorities are up to - we wouldn't know about it and call them on it.

Like, when he reported on the Rochester Housing Authority, and the investigation into their practices. Two key executives were dismissed because of the report from the D&C in March.

From the article:
"Compounding the pressure is Mayor Robert Duffy, who has pledged greater involvement in the authority and has asked the state attorney general to investigate the relationship between the authority and the nonprofit North Star Housing and Development Corp. that led to the departure of Executive Director Anthony DiBiase and Development Director Scott Shaw."

"Both had drawn salaries from North Star in addition to their authority pay, unbeknown to authority commissioners until it was reported by the Democrat and Chronicle in March."

When that report was done, it spurred people into action to remedy the situation. Duffy (the Mayor oversees the RHA and appoints 5 of the 7 commissioners on the board) sent a letter to the Attorney General for an investigation, and two people were "dismissed".

Same thing with this - when Brooks found out about it, she promptly called for an investigation into the matter, and I'm sure influenced Damelio's decision to resign in order to "pursue new professional opportunities".

Both Duffy and Brooks acted "after the fact" - and for all of those people who thought Brooks should have known BEFORE and called for her head on a platter - I challenge you to use that same logic on Duffy and the RHA.

As much as we expect our elected leaders to know everything that is going on and be involved - we also expect them to appoint people who they can depend on to act in a responsible manner when in charge of Authorities/commissions/committees of any kind.....or Mayoral Control School Committees etc., but it doesn't always work out that way.

That is why I appreciate the reporting of David Andreatta - he shines that bright light and reveals things about local government we might never have known!

Thank you Mr. Andreatta, for your investigative reports. I know sloshing through pages of FOIL requests can be tedious and not the most fun thing to do - but it is well worth it when the readers and taxpayers can see where their money is going, and how our government works (or doesn't, depending on the perspective). Great job again!!!