It's the last week in July. We are now more or less midway between the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox. In this last week of July, there aren't too many meetings scheduled, but here is what's happening.
- On Monday, July 27, the Public Works Board meets at 5:30 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at the City Hall and on Teams. Click here to join the meeting remotely.
- On Tuesday, July 28, the Common Council Finance Committee meets at 5:15 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Teams. Click here to join the meeting remotely.
- Also on Tuesday, July 28, the Common Council holds its regular monthly meeting at 6:00 p.m. Among other things that might happen at this meeting, it is expected that representatives of Friends of the Public Square (FOPS) will present an update on the restoration of Seventh Street Park. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.
- On Wednesday, July 29, Waterfront Wednesdays features Ruckus, the early music band known to Hudson from R. B. Schlather's productions of Rodelinda and Giulio Cesare at Hudson Hall. At the Waterfront Wednesdays event, they will be performing an Edinburgh Rollick, beginning at 6:00 p.m.
Thoughts and prayers for the Common Council Finance Committee and the Board of Estimate and Apportionment (Mayor, CC President and Treasurer) later this year.
ReplyDeleteKeeping Hudson’s 2027 budget below $20m will require actual trade-offs.
Hudson already has an unusually large municipal budget for a New York city of fewer than 6,000 residents...
And the increase has been remarkably fast: ~ $10m in 2019, ~$15m in 2020 and $19.7m by 2025.
Hudson is approaching a doubling of its nominal budget in less than a decade, while our population has declined.
- Will this trend continue?
- Will the Mayor and BEA make structural changes now to get onto a new trajectory?
- Will we kick the can down the road, eventually get a taxpayer revolt, install a City Manager, and then basic fiscal discipline will be very painful and sudden.
Maybe someday someone at City Hall will explain (how about the MIA City Assessor!) why Galvan's large and well-kept house at 59 (?) north 5th (across Rope Alley from the library/Armory) is still 100 percent tax exempt. As of a few months ago no one lives there, and PRIVATE PROPERTY NO TRESPASSING signs were recently posted on the property. By Galvan. The million dollar property is as vacant and inactive as the city's bank account might soon be.
ReplyDelete