SALES-TAX EXTENSION TO ADD $45-MILLION TO COUNTY COFFERS THIS YEAR by Ken Mahoney

SALES-TAX EXTENSION TO ADD $45-MILLION TO COUNTY COFFERS THIS YEAR by Ken Mahoney

Life goes on in the counties now that the State Senate stalemate is over. Among the scores of bills passed in the aftermath was legislation allowing counties to continue collecting sales tax. Rockland County Executive Scott Vanderhoef says that will amount to some $45-million Rockland can count toward the 2010 budget. Across the river, police in Yonkers are happy the senate impasse is over. The sales-tax extension means Yonkers won’t run out of funds in the next week or so, as had been feared – and the police won’t have to work without pay.

ROCKLAND ”TEA PARTIES” DRAW SCORES OF ANTI-TAX PROTESTERS by Ken Mahoney

ROCKLAND ”TEA PARTIES” DRAW SCORES OF ANTI-TAX PROTESTERS by Ken Mahoney

Anti-tax protesters were out Saturday -- for July-Fourth “tea parties” in New City and Nanuet. A hundred or more demonstrators marched outside the County Court House and at the Rt. 59-Middletown Road intersection. Their target: Obama administration policies -- from the economic stimulus plan and big-business bailouts to the proposed “cap-and-trade” energy bill – all of which the protesters say will bleed taxpayers dry.

MORAHAN PLEDGES STATE SENATE ACTION SOON by Ken Mahnoney

MORAHAN PLEDGES STATE SENATE ACTION SOON by Ken Mahnoney

State Senator Thomas Morahan says the senate will get its work done this year despite the deadlock that’s brought business to a virtual halt for more than three weeks. The Rockland Republican told WRCR listeners this morning that work actually began yesterday with the passage of scores of pending bills. The votes came after a Republican senator, Frank Padavan of Queens, walked into the Senate chamber while the Democrats were holding their own, separate session. As Morahan explained, Padavan’s presence inadvertently created the quorum needed to pass legislation. Morahan also predicted that a bi-partisan agreement would come soon on a leadership plan that would break the current deadlock.