budget

Congress Passes Farm Bill, Overriding Bush Veto

The Associated Press — Thu, 22 May 2008 20:41:27 -0400

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress enacted a massive farm bill Thursday with new and bigger subsidies for farmers, plus more food stamps for the poor.

But first Democrats had to eat a little crow that dimmed the election-year victory of overriding President Bush's veto for only the second time during his seven years in office.

Omitted from the $290 billion, five-year law because of a printing mistake was a small amount of money to address a growing global hunger crisis. Democrats only realized the mistake on Wednesday, just before the House voted 316-108 to override Bush's veto.

The Senate joined the override Thursday with a 82-13 vote. Eager to begin a Memorial Day vacation, the issue of helping starving countries was left for another day.

Tompkins County Faces Budget Cuts

Scott Rosenthal — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

The slowing economy is affecting the outlook for the 2008 Tompkins County budget, which will have to accommodate a significant cut in expenditures. Nathan Shinagawa ’05 (D-4th Ward), the Tompkins County Legislature Budget and Capital Committee chairman, described the situation as “tough” and said that his colleagues in other counties are facing similar cuts.

“When the state is in a budget crunch, it’s [an] easy temptation to push costs over to the county,” Shinagawa said.

State Budget Proposal Forces County to Reassess Policies

Willimina Bromer — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

The Tompkins County Budget and Capital Committee met with Tompkins County Administrator Steve Whicher yesterday to discuss the possible effects of New York State Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s proposed 2009 budget.

The changes in the state budget could have a potentially negative impact on the county’s budget — ranging from $500,000 to $1 million — unless the county legislature makes some policy changes to offset the state’s changes. In order to help make up for the cut in state funding, the state’s proposal also gives the state legislature the authority to increase fees.

Shutdown Ends in Michigan

The Associated Press — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 10:07:23 -0400

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The state Legislature agreed early Monday to raise the income tax and expand the sales tax to services in a deal with the governor that quickly ended a partial state government shutdown.

For a little more than four hours, fewer state police patrolled Michigan highways, campgrounds were closed and road construction projects and lottery sales were stopped.

Applause broke out in Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm's office when the final vote was announced at 4:18 a.m.

News Brief: Mayor Proposes 2007 Budget at Nearly $52 Million

Vanessa Hoffman — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 01:52:23 -0400

Article body:

Ithaca Mayor Carolyn K. Peterson proposed a budget for 2007 of nearly $52 million. The new budget includes a 2.26 percent tax rate increase and 6.1 percent tax levy increase, the lowest levy increase since 2002, according to City Controller Steve Thayer.