Local Motel Owners Hurting

The Warbler feels for the local motel owners. When you ride around town and see "Vacation House Rental" signs all over the place, whats a motel owner to do? These "Vactaion Houses" are not subject to the same regulations and taxes that motels are. Why is that? If someone rents out a vacation house, they should be subject to the same regulations and taxes that motel owners are. It's just sick.

In addition, these "Vacation Rentals" can be problems for local residents as well. The city folk come up here, rent these houses, and have big shin-digs, loud music and extra traffic on local roads - not to mention parking issues.

Does the town have code enforcements to try and protect our local motels - the same motels that support and donate to many town events?

The Warbler knows that we even have a town board member who built a house for the sole purpose of a vacation rental!

Smokey's Shiny New Truck

The Warbler came across an older copy of the Wilmington newsletter that contained a blurb about the new fire truck, a brand new 2008 International Horton Rescue/Air Truck. The Warbler fell off his perch (a metaphor for a chair) when Smokey said that the new truck "was at no additional expense to the District taxpayers." The article goes on to say that Capital Reserve Funds, a short-term loan and the sale of our 2003 Ford Rescue Truck paid it for [sic]. Very nice. So, are we to believe that this short-term loan is not being paid back by tax dollars? Are we also to believe that we can trade in a 5 year old used truck, and get a brand new shiny fully-loaded truck in return? Unless ALL the money for the new truck (and the old one) came from donations, then we, the taxpayers, paid for it, or will pay for it in some way, shape or form.

I think we should know how much this loan is for, what the terms are, and how much trade-in value we got for the old truck (which, by the way, was only 5 years old!).

Preliminary Assessments

Most residents probably received their preliminary tax assessments this week. Looks like the
Fonz keep the assessments pretty much the same as last year. Now, the big question is will Smokey and the board hold the tax rate a bay? We all know the Fonz will not lower assessments - he's like an old tightwad and wants to get every penny's worth of assessment value.

It's a damn good thing the older life-time residents have Father Time looking out and helping them, or they would be in real trouble down there.

Wilmington Stimulus Plan

Well, it seems that Wilmington is ahead of the curve when it comes to economic stimulus plans. Wilmington continues to spend and spend and spend our money. We now have a new work truck, and brand new shiny fire engine Smokey bought last year (it's not like we don't have a bunch of them already). But, fear not, we were told our taxes weren't going up to support these expenditures, however, it seems the fire tax did increase this year - imagine that.

Economic stimulus is one thing, but for Christ's sake guys, how about cutting some of the frivolous spending!

Property Taxes

With the new 4 month tax payment plan, I wonder if the Bear is getting his beak wet like he does with the fishing licenses? It's no big secret the Bear pockets the money NY pays the town for each license...