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In Our Opinion

President’s Two Takes On Nation’s Tax Policy

The story of Republican tax policy in the Trump era is the contest between pro-growth ideas and anti-growth income redistribution. An example of both was on display in President Trump’s recent speech to Congress. The good idea was Trump’s proposal to let companies deduct the full cost of capital expenditures in the year they are made. Trump’s 2017 tax reform provided such “bonus depreciation,” which began to phase out in 2023 and is set to expire at the end of next year. Trump on Tuesday pitched extending full expensing retroactively to this January. “It was one of the ...

Another Thread Between Prison Strikes, Local Policing

There are very real threads between the recently ended strike of state corrections officers and local policing that we’re seeing on our streets every day. We noted recently that one thread that local mayors, county executives and town supervisors have to be watching carefully is what the wildcat strikes in prisons around the state mean for the state’s Taylor Act, which is supposed to prevent strikes by public employees like the wildcat actions that spread like wildfire in late February. The state’s unwillingness to simply invoke the Taylor Law quickly could, in our opinion, ...

Mayor Has Another Key Hiring Decision

Mayor Kim Ecklund faces another key hiring decision early in her second year as mayor. In a Facebook post late last week the city said it is looking to hire a new city planner. In our opinion, it’s a major opportunity for Ecklund to really begin to set a direction for the city’s direction. Planning, as we noted yesterday in this space, is often a Spaceballs-esque farce at the local level. We’re often working very hard in local planning departments preparing to possibly at some point do … something, we guess. The rub is that we employ planning departments but then contract ...

Larson’s Focus Is In The Right Place – Jobs

County Legislator Fred Larson asked a good question last week - what exactly is the county Planning Department planning if it isn’t worried about dealing with two of the most pressing issues facing Chautauqua County? We’re talking, of course, about job creation and boosting the county economy. Larson took issue with a 40-minute presentation by county Planning Department officials that was long on what the department did in 2024. The list is fairly long - completion of four plans and studies; administration of 12 mandatory projects, boards, and committees; and 13 community outreach ...

We Fought The Free Market, And The Free Market Won

We hope this is the last we have to hear about a road salt shortage as temperatures stay largely above freezing into mid-March according to most forecasts. It’s a nice respite from what has been a cold, slick winter. At the same time we hope state policy makers have learned a lesson from the mess that was the Great Road Salt Shortage of 2024-25. The main producer of rock salt in New York state, American Rock Salt, struggled to keep up with demand despite its best efforts. The company had crews working weekends and holidays trying to fill orders as best it could. What happened ...

BPU Board Faces An Important Hiring Decision

The Jamestown Board of Public Utilities has found itself in the capable hands of David Leathers for 20 years. Amid all the uncertainty of New York’s energy policy Leathers has found a way to minimize the impacts on BPU ratepayers as much as possible, including his leadership this winter when the New York Power Authority proposed a massive rate hike for hydropower that helps power Jamestown. There have been major changes in the recycling markets that Leathers has largely managed with minor impacts to BPU customers. News that Leathers is retiring next January means the BPU board ...