To the Editor:

All we hear and read about today is the short falls in budgets, starting with Federal government, state, counties, towns and schools, that they can’t balance their budgets without more increases in taxes. This has all of them baffled!

You’ll be surprised why and what could be done to rectify this ongoing problem.

Let’s start with the Federal government, stop the waste of taxpayer’s dollars in “Federal Mandates.” The State of New York keeps purchasing more land for “Forever Wild” and the state is facing bankruptcy. We’re all suffering from these land purchases. Our NY State employees, counties, towns and schools are being blamed for budget shortfalls when everyone knows “Forever Wild” is the reason. Do you have any clue how much money has been spent on these land purchases?

Hello! New York State won’t accept the blame for not being able to balance their budget, forcing counties, towns and schools to hold the taxpayers at gunpoint, in making up the losses through more taxes.

Who’s being asked to take the biggest cuts? New York State employees, Prison Guards, DEC personnel, NY State Police and our Conservation Funds for Fish and Wildlife. Our fish hatcheries are being forced to close along with pheasant farms. What ever happened to tourism in New York State? “A great place to come to hunt and fish while enjoying the outdoors.” “I LOVE NY”.

Let’s not give in to the state of New York, we must force the state to sell back all the land they purchased in these grabs, putting this money back into the state budget! This would put our economy back to where it once was. We would also be able to afford to reinstate the many lost jobs and would restore much needed money for repairing our crumbling roads and in balancing school budgets.

We as taxpayers are doing exactly as the Governors of New York State want us to do! Pointing our fingers at each other, while blaming one another for the huge budget increases and blaming each other for the loss of jobs and forcing huge tax increases on us.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a tree hugger, or a sportsman; be it hunting, fishing, skiing, hiking, snowmobile, ride your ATVs, or just a bird watcher, its time to wake up and smell the coffee!

Let’s make the State of New York return the money from all these land grabs back into the programs that we once had, and that create the much-needed jobs while lowering taxes.

We, the taxpayers, can share the great land in New York State without the state owning all of it. Without your support we’ll only sink deeper into debt, look at the roads, and then look at your car or truck, soon they’ll look like the roads, full of holes.

Let’s make it very clear to Albany, the land needs to be sold in putting the wasted money from land grabs back into the state budget, where it was meant to be used in the first place!

DEC also needs to be overhauled! Law enforcement should not be part of Fish & Wildlife programs. DEC law enforcement should take care of environment clean-ups and polluters, they should be able to fund themselves through these fines. Conservation officers need to be put back a field not on the roads, we have our State Police, Sheriffs and Border Patrol for road patrols we don’t need DEC too!

Bonnie Paige

Potsdam