Tuesday, January 04, 2005

Think globally, act locally - New York State / Saugerties

I went to our Saugerties, New York, Village Board meeting last night as a participant. Normally I'm there to take notes which I send to a concerned citizen mail list I maintain (send me your email to be on it) and which is also published in the local newspaper, but last night I wanted to try and impress the board with the need to consolidate services with our Town. I presented a one page plan detailing a step-by-step way to analyse the various costs and revenues to see which departments could be combined. New York State is the highest taxed state in the US. It seems that no one can fix that dysfunctional government, but I hoped the local elected officials would at least hear my constructive comments about reducing costs - and thereby taxes. Well . . . they "heard" them, but I don't think they were impressed! Now to go to the Town Board meeting and tell them. I'll let you know how it works out.