TAXES GOING UP

Wed Sep 03, 12:43:27 PM
Have you seen the plan? You know... THE PLAN! The plan where the Cortland legislators screwed us out of tax money. They started it the easy way, just told us it was going to be much worse so we would be happy when it turned out to be less. Still more than before though. Do they think we are stupid? Apparently so. It's always that way. They said last year the tax increase would be higher than the 20% it ended up being, as if they think we didn't know all along that it was going to be 20%. Same for this year. They started by floating the plan that would give the county a larger share of the sales tax and then 'compromised' by going for a smaller but still more than before share of the gold. They must think we are stupid. And they did this in an election year. Every Democrat voted for it and all but one Republican voted against it. Our John Steger voted against it. Now you know. I'll ask Betty Pitman how much of an increase we will have on our taxes and report back.

LINDA HARTSOCK AND PAUL SLOWEY OF THE BCD/IDA

Did you know that they get their money as part of the sales tax revenue? 2% of the sales tax collected goes to them for their budget. I knew this before but it was in the paper as part of the tax story and that reminded me of it. It helps to know this when you understand what the BCD/IDA does. In short they give away our property tax money in order to get the sales tax. That's what they did with Song Mountain and that's what they probably would have done with Flying J. Just so they would have a bigger budget. All that ends after this year because the officials in Cortland finally discovered it was illegal to do it. Now they will be funded directly from the legislature which 'may' mean they won't be so eager to give away our property taxes anymore. Don't count on that though. After all, they measure their success by how much of our money they give away, just like almost every other government agency. All in the name of keeping business in Cortland. As if Song Mountain could move away. Oh well, no sense in going over that again, just makes me angry.

I'm on a roll today, wonder what's next.

FALL

Wed Sep 03, 10:54:58 AM
The precision of it is amazing, as if nature followed our calendar. I've noticed that every September the weather takes a dramatic change as if by clockwork. Gone are the hot sunny days, now we have 60 degree rainy days. Amazing. I like it. It seems that as I get older I become more susceptible to bug bites, poison ivy, allergies and what not., But with the coming of fall all that goes away. Now if only we could get that first freeze that would kill all the bugs I would be in heaven, at least until the snow starts. Oh for an endless autumn or an endless spring. I could do well without the hot summer and the cold cold winter. Guess I'll have to admit it, I'm getting old. Oh well, at least I can still dream.

SONG MOUNTAIN

Future excitement will be when Song Mountain wants to play with their well again. They have set it up so they can get it running with a minimum of work. My guess is they plan to wait till the very last minute and until they actually need it and then tell the town that they just HAVE to have it or they will go out of business. They will insist that the town bypass all the requirements previously required and just let them use it. I'm sure the present town officials will let them do that which is why we are prepared to stop them. Let's face it, Song Mountain doesn't pay any taxes to speak of, they have only one employee that lives in Preble and that guy doesn't like we "Lake People" as we are called. Preble gets little if any benefit from having Song Mountain here so why not just let them go out of business. For that matter why not help them go out of business. And that my friends is what we will have to do if the above scenario takes place. Lucky for us we have the power and the will to do that. Maybe Song Mountain's silent partners will get the message and force their not so silent partner to do the right thing. If not then don't blame us for what happens. Remember all we have to do is reduce their business to the point where they don't make a profit and that, it turns out, is easy to do. Are you listening, silent partners?