Jim Brennan

In response to David Paterson’s call for billions of dollars in new budget cuts, Republican State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos put out a statement opposing the reduction of aid to local governments because, he says, it might force a rise in local property taxes.

Which the State Senate just voted to cap.

Skelos said in a public statement, “While we are working cooperatively to get a head start on the 2009-10 State Budget, it’s important that the Governor and Legislature not take any actions that would force local governments to raise their local taxes to make up for a shortfall from Albany. We are concerned that reducing local government assistance funding may have such an effect.”

The shared district office of Assembly members Jim Brennan and Rhoda Jacobs may not be open on Saturdays, but somebody is doing brisk business there.

The co-chairs for Adolfo Carrion’s comptroller campaign will be former state comptroller H. Carl McCall and business executive Leo Hindrey Jr. of InterMedia Partners, the campaign announced this morning.

Hindrey, the former C.E.O. of the YES Network (which broadcasts Yankees games) also helped raise money for another Bronx politician seeking citywide office: Fernando Ferrer, who ran for mayor in 2005.  read more »

Just as it did last year, Eliot Spitzer's state budget proposes raising revenue partially by closing corporate tax loopholes. But Assemblyman Jim Brennan of Brooklyn, who is also running for city comptroller, isn't confident in the governor's approach, because last year's loophole closures didn't accomplish the stated goals.

“I expressed some misgivings on relying on these loophole closures,” Brennan told me. “Not because I’m against it. But as a practical matter, corporations minimize their taxes to the maximum extent possible. And it appears that the yield from these law changes has been minimal...they did not raise the $400 million expected. And the governor has another $400 million in corporate tax loophole closures in the budget beginning April 1.

Brennan added, "Philosophically, I’m not against it. I may vote for it. I’m concerned about the reliability of revenue expectations.”

He went on to suggest a different approach. “I think we’re better off with a small increase--a few tenths of one percent--on personal income taxes on people making over $250,000, where not only is it equitable, but we are sure to get the money," Brennan said.  read more »

I just ran into Councilman Simcha Felder on the City Hall steps and asked him about his possible bid for city comptroller.

He said he's eyeing that seat first because, as a certified public accountant and tax auditor for a number of years, "I have a better understanding of numbers than most of the people" who are considering that race.

That would be a reference to the Chairman of the council's finance committee David Weprin, Brooklyn Assemblyman Jim Brennan and possibly Queens Councilman John Liu.

And being known as a jester in the Council doesn't hurt either, he said.

"People tend to relate to someone they like," he said, "We've seen that over and over again in elections. Personalities certainly come into play."

-- Azi Paybarah

Hakeem Jeffries, the state Assembly member-elect for the 57th district, which is ground zero for Atlantic Yards, did not sign on to his future colleagues' demands to scale down the Forest City Ratner project, but he is speaking to Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver about it.

Jeffries told The Real Estate on Tuesday that he had a conversation about a week to 10 days ago to express many of the same concerns as Assembly members Jim Brennan, Joan Millman and Annette Robinson did. In the order Jeffries mentioned them, his concerns are: building more affordable housing early on as part of the project, the lack of transparency regarding the project's financing, the lack of public involvement, and, upon prompting, its density. Jeffries said that he would speak with Silver again soon.

Jeffries is known to be hard to read (some would say slippery) on Atlantic Yards, and he refused to compare his position with that of Brennan's camp.

"I have always felt that eminent domain is one of government's most exceptional powers. I don't believe that a private developer should be able to use it to build a basketball arena." But he also said that the courts should be allowed to decide the issue.

That, of course, is axiomatic: you don't need a first-term assemblyman saying that one should obey a court order. He clarified: "If they decide it is constitutional, then we have to find out other ways to make it tenable to the community."

Jeffries, like his colleagues, does favor slowing the approval process down, starting with the Empire State Development Corporation. "I'm not particularly clear they have done all they were supposed to do to make sure they included all the public comments."

- Matthew Schuerman