17512 Columbia

today’s news … Tuesday, January 6, 2015

today’s news and information gleanings from here and there!

Quote for today … “Probably 66% of your budget reserve was earned by the police department.” – Columbia’s mayor made this statement at the December council meeting-of-the-whole as he claimed that the police department had “returned” more than $158,000 a year to the borough’s general fund over the last 12 years. Try to find documentation for that claim here,

Another quote for today … “A poster needs to be on display at each gas station in the state. A picture of each legislator who voted for this tax with their name. At the top of the poster, a picture of Tom Corbett with his ‘no new taxes pledge.’ Every time someone fills up at a gas station in the state, they can see who voted for this and hold them accountable for this.” – a commenter to this 2013 PennLive.com article

  • Too bad there’s nothing like this in Lancaster County: White Rose Community Television – “WRCT provides an opportunity for a local voice in the creation of content by organizations and individuals throughout York County. WRCT broadcasts municipal and school board meetings, student productions and is a unique and valuable resource to communicate effectively to residents, which allows a greater participation in the process of governing.”
  • Also too bad that WRCT is having financial difficulty because it’s operated by the City of York which is having financial difficulty itself. An article in The York Dispatch related some of the difficulties. The City of York did issue a Request for Bids to have another operator manage the signal in November.
  • Too bad not all municipalities issue RFBs and RFPs transparently by posting this kind of information online.

LCTV

  • You say there is: Channel 66! Nope – Channel 66 is “the local television highway to arts, culture, education, entertainment, ideas, information and local sports programming.” And it’s even part of Comcast’s basic programming … in addition to multiple offerings of NBC signals! Gee, wonder who owns NBC?

penny parking

  • A penny to park! Click here or on the above graphic to watch the video report. In case you did not catch this short news clip on NBC Nightly News, you might find it interesting that this Illinois small town (population, 17,500) has parking meters that accept only pennies, nickles and dimes. And the town generates around $70,000 a year – enough to pay expenses. Columbia’s 2014 budget claims to expect to receive $50,000 from parking receipts; that’s up from the $43,300 the borough claimed to expect in the 2013 budget.
  • You never really know, of course, about actual revenues or expenses for that matter, because the borough never posts the real “actual” budget. So whether the actual revenues in 2013 were $43,300 or greater or less remains an unknown to the taxpayers and citizens. Contrast the financial information posted at the Lancaster County Website at which interested citizens can see monthly budget reports and more.

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