Everyone has their favorite bone to pick with our elected officials when it comes to both time and treasure. For some, it’s the $30 million military parade. For others, it’s the elected officials in Texas delaying a vote by hiding out in other states. You may believe that funds allocated to expand ICE operations is not money well spent; I may call samesies on the multiple visits by elected officials to visit Kilmar Ábrego Garcia.…
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Editorial ‘Yes’ on budget votes New York State annually reserves the third Tuesday of May for voters to cast their ballots on local school district budgets and board of education seats. It’s an important opportunity for the community to participate in shaping local education policy, and we urge all eligible voters to take a few minutes and do so on May 17. We urge readers to visit the website of their local school district — each has a good description…
DiNapoli: Sales tax revenue had huge jump for second quarter of 2021 Sales tax revenue for local governments in New York state rose by 49.2% in the second quarter (April to June 2021) compared to the same period last year, a dramatic increase from last year’s weak collections during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. Sales tax collections during this period grew by just over $1.6 billion and even surpassed collections reported…
Unatego Prepares Project, But Won’t Rush Consolidation By GREG KLEIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com Unatego Central School’s proposed $27.6 million capital improvement plan comes at the perfect time to keep the needed school upgrades from raising taxes on district voters, according to Superintendent Dave Richards. “We have an opportunity with our debt where we have some debt falling off, so we can replace it with new debt without any increase of the tax levy,” Richards said. State building aid funding…
Editorial for November 30, 2018. Ruffles Takes First Step Against Whack-A-Mole For years now, Otsego County’s annual auction of foreclosed-on tax-delinquent properties has eaten up a lot of oxygen at the county Board of Representatives’ monthly meetings. It’s the Whack-A-Mole of county government, which suggests: There are unresolved issues. So a take-charge presentation by the new county treasurer, Allen Ruffles, at the November meeting was welcome, if partial. First, he declared, having studied the issue, giving delinquent taxpayers four years…
Column by Tom Morgan for November 9, 2018 Downstate Controls, Doesn’t Care About Upstate Yawn. Upstate’s recovery from the Great Recession is the weakeast of any U.S. region. According to a recent study. You can examine all the nooks of Upstate’s economy. Most every one is daubed with lackluster. Papered with anemic. Writ large with blah. Yawn. Upstaters grew accustomed to this long ago. Our motto should be “We’re Number One at being Number Fifty!” Most of us know what…
