{"id":4924,"date":"2011-10-09T07:36:42","date_gmt":"2011-10-09T11:36:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=4924"},"modified":"2011-10-17T09:54:20","modified_gmt":"2011-10-17T13:54:20","slug":"sunday-opinion-bagging-orda-and-squeezing-in-under-the-cap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2011\/10\/09\/sunday-opinion-bagging-orda-and-squeezing-in-under-the-cap\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday Opinion: Bagging ORDA and squeezing in under the cap"},"content":{"rendered":"

Morning, folks.\u00a0 My hope is that you’re reading this Sunday evening, after a day spent out in the paradise that is a perfect North Country autumn day.\u00a0 (Or at least reading this with a great cup of coffee in hand.)<\/p>\n

Now to the goods….<\/p>\n

The Glens Falls Post Star<\/a> questions whether it’s time to cut loose Olympic Regional Development Authority subsidies, that funnel taxpayer dollars to Whiteface, Gore, and other Olympic venues.<\/p>\n

State tax revenue is foundering, legislative support for the public authority that operates the facilities has been waning, and local communities that traditionally provide support are struggling just to balance their budgets.<\/p>\n

Rather than have the facilities limp along with declining public income and risk having them degrade for lack of funding for maintenance, upgrades or expansion, it’s time for state officials to rethink the financial and ownership model that has sustained them for the past 30 years.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Plattsburgh Press Republican<\/a> sends a caution note to local governments across the North Country that are flirting with the idea of busting the 2% property tax cap.<\/div>\n
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Municipal and school officials who are thinking of taking a vote to exceed the state’s new property-tax cap should tread carefully. That was not the intent of the law, which had overwhelming support from taxpayers across New York.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The P-R predicts that the public reaction in towns where the cap is overridden “won’t be pretty.”<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The Watertown Daily Times<\/a>, meanwhile, notes that cutting government isn’t always pretty either.\u00a0 They point to St. Lawrencde County, which whittled its budget hike down from 28% to just under the 2% cap.<\/div>\n
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Although 48 positions will be eliminated, none will require layoffs. However, programs for pregnant women, physically handicapped children and rural bus services are expected to be eliminated with reductions in highway spending and cuts to outside agencies.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The Adirondack Daily Enterprise<\/a> revels in news from last week that the North Country has actually endured the national recession in far better shape than other parts of the US.<\/div>\n
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That’s something to celebrate. Heck, maybe we should even put it in marketing campaigns: “Gritty, prudent locals know how to survive long winters, blackflies and recessions.” Then again, do we really want to mention blackflies and winters?<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
So there it is.\u00a0 As always, your comments welcome.<\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Morning, folks.\u00a0 My hope is that you’re reading this Sunday evening, after a day spent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[5687],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4924"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4924"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4925,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4924\/revisions\/4925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}