Even smaller entities are facing troubling times when it comes to costs. Last week, Silver Creek Village Board presented its budget proposal for 2025-26. Its tentative plan showed an increase of approximately 65 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. That exceeds the tax cap of $1,145,000 by ...

Pomfret’s purchase of a former church on Chestnut Road is not something we would normally praise. Government — already too encompassing in our county and region — needs to get smaller, not bigger. But Pomfret has a vision for the location: a potential to share it with the town of ...

For the second time in two weeks, Chautauqua County officials have announced a program that will help deal with the county’s homelessness problems. The county Social Services Department last week announced the Public Assistance Shelter Supplement initiative in an attempt to bridge the gap ...

At least one city of Dunkirk resident opposes the abolishment of the treasurer position in city government. During a council meeting this month, Thomas Taylor defended Mark Woods — who currently holds the post — noting he is “probably one of the most honest people I’ve ever met, and ...

As time passes, the excesses of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act become more and more clear. Recent analysis by the Competitive Enterprise Institute confirms that the cost projections for the law when it was passed were woefully — perhaps even deliberately — inadequate. The ...

Chautauqua County legislators have finally taken a firm position on the state’s Freshwater Wetlands Regulations. Let’s be clear from the outset that legislative resolutions carry no weight and, for the most part, do absolutely nothing. We hold no illusion that the state would have ...