Congressmen urged to help with stream damage

HARRISBURG, PA — The Northeast Democratic Delegation in the state House of Representatives has urged Pennsylvania’s members of Congress to secure federal money and authority that is currently lacking to repair millions of dollars in stream damage from last June’s flooding.

In a letter Monday to U.S. Senators Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum and Pennsylvania’s 19 U.S. representatives, the delegation urged the federal legislators to secure added funding for the National Resources Conservation Service, which could do the work but lacks the money to do so. The state legislators said it is also their understanding that federal law needs to be amended so that the Federal Emergency Management Agency can be involved.

Hinchey pushes bill to prevent election boondoggles

WASHINGTON, DC — Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ) have introduced a bill that would help ensure paper ballots are on hand at polling places for any voter who prefers such a ballot over electronic voting machines. The Confidence In Voting Act of 2006 would encourage all voting jurisdictions to have paper ballots on hand by covering the expense associated with using them.

“Many states and counties rushed to purchase electronic touch screen voting machines in order to prevent the confusion and disenfranchisement that occurred in November 2000. Since then, many of these machines have proven to be susceptible to malfunctions. In order to eliminate these problems, voting machines must have paper verification systems. In the meantime, it is essential that we pass The Confidence in Voting Act so that paper ballots can be made available across the country to anyone who wants one in lieu of using an electronic voting machine, or if technical problems arise with electronic voting machines on Election Day,” said Hinchey.

New York State will be using its old machines this year, but Pennsylvania districts have already updated to newer technologies.

No real estate tax hike for Thompson residents

THOMPSON, NY — At the town board meeting conducted on October 3, Thompson supervisor Tony Cellini and comptroller Brenda Galligan announced that their tentative budget contains no real property tax increase for the town in 2007.

There will be no layoffs and no cuts in services, due to the fact that the assessment rolls were increased by one percent for a total budget of $11,675,000. This was enough to offset such projected cost increases as a 12 percent rise in health insurance expenses and a 40 percent increase in the cost of petroleum products.

“We did not include approximately $680,000 in projected revenues from the Racino at Monticello Raceway,” said Cellini. “When these monies, promised from New York State, are received in the summer of 2007, we will add funding to the town’s highway department for additional road improvements.”

The 2007 tentative budget is available for review at the Thompson Town Clerk’s Office.

NYC lowers reservoir levels to help ease Delaware flooding

NEW YORK, NY — New York City has begun making regular releases of water from its three Delaware River reservoirs in an attempt to lessen the impact of future floods of the Delaware River. The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) voted at its September 27 meeting to approve a temporary spill-mitigation program that will be in effect through May 2007, when the DRBC expects to implement a basin-wide river management plan that has been in the works for three years.

The Cannonsville reservoir had been full and spilling over the top, but water releases at 1,000 cubic feet per second had brought the water level down by Friday, said Rupert.

Under the spill-mitigation plan, water releases from the reservoirs will be increased when rainfall is normal between the start of July and the end of March in order to provide a void to hold some of the excess rain of the sort that led to the recent floods.

Siptroth to host hearing on rapid school growth

SHAWNEE-ON-DELAWARE, PA — State Rep. John Siptroth, D-Monroe/Pike, will host a public hearing by the House Democratic Policy Committee on the challenges of managing rapid growth in local school districts on Thursday, October 12. The hearing will be held at 1:00 p.m. in the Delaware Room at the Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort, 1 River Road.

Siptroth, a member of the policy committee, said the existing method used to calculate state funding for growing school districts is flawed.

“I was shocked to discover that Pennsylvania does not have comprehensive and accurate data on the actual cost to educate a student. Without this data, the degree of inequity in our current system for growing districts is not clear,” Siptroth said. “Act 114 of 2006, which was part of the state budget, includes a provision for a costing-out study to provide us with an accurate way to determine the equitability of school funding.

Bush: FEMA head doesn’t need disaster experience

WASHINGTON, DC — In a signing statement appended to recent legislation reforming federal disaster management, President Bush has stated that he reserves the right to disobey the law’s requirement that future heads of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have “a demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management” and “not less than five years of executive leadership.”

Bush’s signing statement claims the law is unconstitutional because it “purports to limit the qualifications of the pool of persons from whom the president may select the appointee in a manner that rules out a large portion of those persons best qualified by experience and knowledge to fill the office.”

Michael Brown, the Bush appointee in charge of FEMA at the time of Hurricane Katrina, worked during the ‘90s as commissioner for the Arabian Horse Association before being appointed as FEMA’s general counsel in 2001 and as director in 2003.