Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Not to Be Missed

Sam Pratt has a response to the perennial suggestion that the City of Hudson and the Town of Greenport--separated 124 years ago because the  landowners in what is now Greenport no longer wanted to be taxed to support the services required in the city--should be reunited: "Merger Mania." 

5 comments:

  1. Carole,

    Really think your idea of Greenport breaking away from Hudson with their own zip and post office is brilliant !

    How do we start that process?

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  2. Vince--Greenport has to want this for itself, but it seems recently to have adopted the tag line "The Forgotten Town," and there are plans to celebrate the 125th anniversary (in 2011) of its founding, so this may be the moment for Greenport to declare its own identity. I would suggest that an ad hoc committee of Hudsonians organize to suggest to Ed Nabozny, Greenport Town Supervisor, that the time has come for Greenport to liberate itself from Hudson and give its residents their own address.

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  3. Won't our Greenport have to change its name, to get its own Zip and PO? It's my understanding that only one town is allowed per name, and the Greenport on Long Island is it, for New York State.

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  4. Debby--You missed a conversation that started in another place. You're absolutely right. I had suggested elsewhere that the Town of Greenport modify its name to New Greenport or North Greenport so that it could have its own zip code. Vince's comment was following up on that.

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  5. A back-of-the-envelope calculation, based on County tax data, suggest to me that in the very rosiest scenario, after ten years of wrenching consolidation and pink slips, a taxpayer in a combined Hudson-Greenport would be lucky to save $100-$200 on their tax bill. At least 75% of that bill (e.g. County, School, Fire, Sewer taxes) would be untouched by a merger.

    Meanwhile, while others fiddle over this merger parlor game, the School District can hike the local portion of their budget up 12-15% in one year. This just emphasizes for me that merger talk mainly serves to distract from real problems.

    --Sam P.

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