Wow!
I'd known that the Town was working on an annual report, but I was still surprised and pleased to see it arrive in my mailbox this week. There's all kinds of stuff in, stuff that I once felt I had to dig to get when I first started this site.
In the finance report, we can see that the Town collected just over $1 million in property taxes, which is the number we all think of when local taxes come up. They also received $1.97 million in sales taxes, Dryden's share of sales tax collected in Tompkins County but outside of the City of Ithaca. The Town isn't counting on that again in 2008 - probably wisely, given the economy - forecasting only $1.685 million. They've also budgeted for a deficit for a second year in a row, but last year, despite budgeting a deficit of $1.3 million, they had a surplus of $563,924. We'll see where this year's budget ends up. (The big budget increase is in public works.)
There's much much more though - a telling of the new Town Hall's contruction, a report from the Town Clerk, a report on tax receipts, a list of the projects that the highway department and public works department was planning for 2008, a report on what's going on in Building, Planning, and Zoning, a list of Recreation Department programs,memberships, and projects, information on the Town court, including a breakdown of cases, an update from the Town Historian, a report from the Environmental Planner, and reports from the Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals, Conservation Board, Youth Commission, and Recreation Commission. There's also a brief report on Dryden's emergency services and a list of local laws passed in 2007.
If you've been wondering what exactly Town government does, this is a great way to get started!
Posted by simon at September 27, 2008 4:54 PM in politics (local) , public finance