Greetings! Due to some scheduling issues, My report is a little early this time. In this week’s report I want to write about a resolution that I brought up at the Essex County Board of Supervisors Department of Public Works committee meeting this past week. The resolution, approved by all Town Supervisors in attendance, deals with the soaring gasoline prices and gives relief to the working folks in our region.
The resolution specifically calls upon the New York State and Federal Government to impose a 90 day moratorium of all fuel and sales tax on gasoline. Most people do not realize that the following added “charges” are built into your price at the pump. They are, State Excise Tax, Federal Excise Tax, NYS Petroleum Business Tax, Petroleum Testing Tax and of course sales tax. The total added taxes can be upwards of over .70 cents per gallon of gas.
Will this resolution make a difference? Honestly I do not know. What I do know is that the cost of gasoline has increased dramatically over the last year. I know according to NYSERDA, from their own website, that heating oil is up 43.7 % over the last year. Kerosene is up 26.3 % and propane is up 20.1%. The North Country was even higher percentage wise. However, it would take someone smarter than me to figure it out.
In a time where we are seeing record inflation and significant increases in sales tax generating, all levels of government could take a small hit without the 90 day moratorium affecting the bottom line of budgets. The assistance this could extend to working people commuting to work every day would be noticeable in their wallets. Even people on fixed incomes would benefit from a little relief.
If the Essex County Board of Supervisors approve the resolution at our Full Board meeting, it will be sent to our Area State and Federal leaders. At the very least, they will be aware of our position.
In other Essex County matters, please help your area by participating in a broadband survey. The survey could assist our community with better internet and obtaining grants to make connecting to the outside world much easier. The link for the survey is empirestatebroadband.com I personally completed the survey and it took me less than five minutes. Essex County is very fortunate to have leaders like Lewis Town Supervisor Jim Monty and Essex Supervisor Ken Hughes that have countless hours of work into this project. Almost daily I get an email from them on broadband. Thank You gentlemen.
Bicentennial Trivia this week includes a little information on the formation of the Fire Department. The Wilmington Fire Company was organized on February 4, 1921 with Gordon Marshall as President and Bert Cooper as Treasurer. Receiving town board approval in 1923, benefits were held in order to fund what was then called the Wilmington Hose Company. One such benefit was a home talent 4-act comedy show held at Cooper’s Hall entitled, “Down in Maine.”
That’s all for this report. I know I used this week’s report to talk about a couple of issues that I normally do not cover in my weekly update. I like to keep my report more “all things Wilmington.” However, both topics are very, very important to our little community.
Stay safe my friends and see you around town. – Roy Holzer
