I didn't think this day would come so soon, but life is full of surprises, some wonderful, some tolerable and some downright ugly.
This is a good one. My fiancee recently took a job in Hartford, and I'll be heading out there with her later this month. The downside is that I'll be saying goodbye to the Poughkeepsie Journal on Thursday, and the short, happy life of Straw Poll shall come to an end.
This blog has developed a small but devoted following in the past few months. I suspect that most of you are folks on the inside of government keeping tabs on the folks around you, though I'm sure other readers are average people on the outside looking in. (Like spectators at the zoo, perhaps?)
At any rate, I'm sure this won't be the last, nor the best, local politics blog to be launched by the Poughkeepsie Journal, so stay tuned. And in the meantime, I hope you all do your part to keep government officials in check.
Monday, July 9, 2007
Thursday, July 5, 2007
The joy of committees
Back from vacation, I have updates to pass along on two committees formed by the Dutchess Legislature.
The first is the county tax policy committee, which formed in January to figure out what to do if revenues fall short of expenses and how to distribute taxes fairly. This committee was supposed to submit a report by June 1, but several factors led to delays, including a mistakenly long public comment period and committee members' vacations, Chairman Joe Davis said.
Davis said this morning that a final report would be submitted soon. He never said he meant today. Sure enough, later today, a quick call to the county Legislature revealed that Davis had sped up the process and dropped off a copy of the report.
Its conclusions: Taxes raised by county government appear to be adequate and “as fair as can be expected given the complexity of and limitations on county tax policy."
That's more than has been produced yet by the county's 11-member WiFi committee, which is supposed to consider how the county might create a county-wide wireless Internet network.
The Legislature asked for a final report by Oct. 15 and a progress report by today. A quick call to the county Legislature revealed that the committee hasn't even met yet.
The first is the county tax policy committee, which formed in January to figure out what to do if revenues fall short of expenses and how to distribute taxes fairly. This committee was supposed to submit a report by June 1, but several factors led to delays, including a mistakenly long public comment period and committee members' vacations, Chairman Joe Davis said.
Davis said this morning that a final report would be submitted soon. He never said he meant today. Sure enough, later today, a quick call to the county Legislature revealed that Davis had sped up the process and dropped off a copy of the report.
Its conclusions: Taxes raised by county government appear to be adequate and “as fair as can be expected given the complexity of and limitations on county tax policy."
That's more than has been produced yet by the county's 11-member WiFi committee, which is supposed to consider how the county might create a county-wide wireless Internet network.
The Legislature asked for a final report by Oct. 15 and a progress report by today. A quick call to the county Legislature revealed that the committee hasn't even met yet.
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