Policy Wonk
Let’s talk about where we’re headed…
Dec 11

Kent GardnerEarly this year I wrote about the high deductible health plan (HDHP) and health savings account (HSA) being offered to CGR by Excellus. A look-back seems timely.

Five of us at CGR signed up for the HDHP and HSA combination. With our experience as background, nearly the entire staff selected this option for the coming year. Why?

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Dec 10

Charles ZettekThe December 8 election for fire district commissioners is a date to remember for taxpayers who are interested in reducing local property taxes.  By state law, fire districts are separate and independent units of local government, typically governed by five to seven commissioners who are elected by voters within each fire district.  Terms are staggered so that changing a board requires several elections.  From the perspective of taxpayers, the key point is this – fire commissioners develop and approve the budget for their district and determine the property taxes needed to support their budget.  Thus, if taxpayers want to reduce their fire district property tax, taxpayers need to convince their fire commissioners to reduce the district budget, or elect different commissioners at the next election.

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