Hopefully, and I have said this before, winter is now behind us. We've had enough snow. I can only imagine you would agree.

By the way, according to the Golden Snowball website, that last storm pushed Binghamton into 3rd place with 81.8 inches, surpassing Syracuse (76 inches), and only 5 inches out of 2nd place (Rochester (87 inches), for the most snowfall amounts among the New York State cities - Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Albany. We won first place last year.

Anyway, as you know that last storm contained wet, heavy snow, and that was a recipe for disaster with power lines, trees, and limbs. We are grateful for all the work the power, cable, telephone, and other workers did to help our community get back on its feet.

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A lot of tree debris may have been left behind to deal with and residents may want to burn that debris. But according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, that is not a good idea.

There has been a ban on open burning in the State of New York that began on March 16th of this year (2022) and remains in effect until May 14th. The reason for the ban is due to the heightened chance of brush and grass fires.

You may think that it would be low due to the moist ground from all that snowfall, the NYS DEC states that brush and ground cover is low on moisture. Combine that with any high winds, and it could mean an out-of-control fire.

The NYS DEC does list a few exceptions:

“Backyard fire pits and campfires less than three feet in height and four feet in length, width, or diameter are allowed. Small cooking fires are allowed. Only charcoal or dry, clean, untreated, or unpainted wood can be burned. People should never leave these fires unattended and must extinguish them. Burning garbage or leaves is prohibited year-round.”  - NYS DEC

For more information, visit the NYS DEC's FIREWISE New York website.

via New York State Department of Environmental ConservationGolden
Snowball

New York Counties With The Highest Property Taxes

The homeowners in which New York counties pay the most in property taxes? See the answer to that as well as how our Southern Tier counties stack up (info pulled from Tax-Rates.org).

QUIZ: Where in the Southern Tier?

We want to test YOUR knowledge of the Southern Tier!

Dust off your geography skills and see if you can correctly identify which town in the Southern Tier each picture is taken from!

Where in the Southern Tier?

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