Bee Editorial
Tax bills questioned as town levy increases
      You open your mailbox and there it is, the 2007 tax bill from the Town of Amherst. With a grunt you open the paper, and your eyes dart to the general town tax line - an increase of approximately 13 percent. But you remember reading in November that the 2007 tax rate was decreasing 3 percent - ex...
More ...

Spindle items
JESSICA FINCH Associate Editor
      + DID THAT JUST HAPPEN? - There is only one reason I am glad that Monday's Amherst Town Board meeting lasted five hours - the students were gone after the first hour and weren't present to see how some of the board members act during their drawn out sessions. One of the council members act...
More ...

Out of the Past
      125 Years Ago Feb. 9, 1882 During the past week, the Rough and Ready Fire Co. of this village presented Mrs. Mittie Hartman with $25 as a token of esteem for her late husband, Henry, who was a member of the company. Mr. Henry Moll, aged seventy-four years, died Monday, Feb. 6, 1882, at his lat...
More ...

Judicial system towers over Western New York
BRIAN ACKLEY Political Columnist
      One of the nice things about being out of the area recently, besides missing last week's weather, was also missing all the coverage and hype of Super Bowl XLI. One of the bad things about coming home, besides experiencing this week's weather, is being back in the midst of one of the things you've ...
More ...

Increased STAR tax cuts top 2007 state budget priorities
JAMES P. HAYES New York State Assembly
      New Yorkers continue to pay some of the highest property taxes in the nation. Property taxes in New York have gone up more than 60 percent in the past 10 years and are 28 percent higher than the national average. Our "highest-in-the-nation" property tax status is the main reason why Western New Yo...
More ...