Wednesday, November 16, 2011
But the vote retains—at least for a year—a popular, decade-old land-acquisition program and bankrolls it with money on-hand, not tax collections.
Bedford will continue to fund an open-space acquisition program but at no immediate cost to taxpayers and with only a third of today’s spending, the town board voted Tuesday. The board also agreed to ask residents next November whether the program, overwhelmingly approved in a 2000 referendum, should continue in leaner economic times. In a concession to fiscal challenges already threatening to scuttle the decade-old program, the town’s open-space contribution will drop next year from about $500,000 to well under $200,000. And the money, previously generated by a 3 percent taxpayer surcharge on the general fund and highway budget, will come in this instance from the fund balance, a budget-reserve kitty. The board’s unanimous vote followed a…
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
In no mood for halfway measures, a public hearing—to be continued in two weeks—adopts only take-it-or-leave-it stances. Take the poll below and tell us where you stand.
Rejecting incremental reductions, a succession of Bedford residents urged the town Tuesday either to fund in full or halt, at least for now, a decade-old land-acquisition program. While the loudest applause at a packed public hearing greeted calls to suspend funding, most speakers asked the town board to keep on bankrolling the program, which has already spent more than $4 million over 10 years to buy open-space acreage. After an hour’s debate, 17 speakers and a couple of written comments, the board still had no official position. It agreed instead to continue the public hearing at 7 p.m. Nov. 15. At issue is roughly a half-million dollars the town raises through a 3 percent taxpayer surcharge on the general fund and highway budget. A …
Thursday, August 5, 2010
The extension will be put to voters this fall through a permissive referendum.
The town board voted unanimously this week to continue an annual 3 percent taxpayer surcharge included in the general fund and highway budget in order to fund Bedford's open space land acqusition program. The measure will be put to voters this fall through a permissive referendum, meaning it will pass unless a resident requests it be put on the ballot via a petition, which must have the signatures of 5 percent of Bedford residents who voted in the last gubernatorial election. The open space tax funds a 10-year-old program that acquires selective acreage in town and preserves it as open space. First created through a voter referendum in 2000 and renewed by the town board in 2005, the open space fund has acquired over $4 million in land …
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Pound Ridge Museum
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Joe Doakes
11:22 am on Wednesday, November 16, 2011
(Continued from above) One citizen was quoted as saying this is about economics. I agree. The more open space we lock up, the less tax revenue that will come in and the less opportunity for job growth that will occur. More importantly than this is all of those business that line our beautiful streets will have less customers coming through the doors. Pardon me, but that sucks. Why would one want … more ›