Several stories in this morning's Ithaca Journal touch on Dryden, so I'll start with a mention I didn't expect to see, given the article's setting up Cayuga Lake in Aurora. The Journal's contact among students protesting Wells College trustees decision to go co-ed is Railey Jane Savage, who graduated from Dryden High School last year. Nearly half the students are camping in or near the administration building to protest the decision.
The county legislature voted to add a sheriff's deputy to the budget for next year, after a vote to add three deputies was defeated and a vote to add two failed on a tie. County Legislator Mike Lane argued for additional deputies, saying:
"The Sheriff's Office is the prime law enforcement agency in my district. I have a real question about the safety of the people in the rural part of this county. I think we need more deputies."
Our formerly locally headquartered utility company, NYSEG, will be raising electrical rates by 15% in January for the 90% of New York residential customers on a fixed-rate plan. The fixed rate will go from 10.3 to 11.79 cents per kilowatt hour. NYSEG customers will have the option of changing electrical suppliers and plans before that increase, to plans where the price floats with the market.
Finally, the Journal's editorial looks at the difficult balancing act local governments face in budgeting.
Posted by simon at October 5, 2004 8:37 AM in Ithaca Journal , politics (local) , public finance , schools (Dryden)
Interesting that Dryden doesn't seem to face the same kind of balancing act - the Town apparently has a surplus of money to spend on buying golf courses, additions to the town highway barn, etc.