[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Tax levy increases by district, from Unmuffled blog."][/caption]Lynn Slonecker at the unmuffled blog, in a post titled "Context," contrasts local tax increases with job cuts in the same districts:

At the polls Tuesday, voters in the Hudson City School District will be asked to approve a 9.8 percent tax levy increase -- the highest tax levy increase among districts in Columbia County and the Hudson Valley (above). Among those same districts, Hudson ranked fifth overall -- and second countywide -- in job cuts (below). Rondout Valley finished first in the rankings, after the elimination of 49.6 positions to set the tax levy increase at 4 percent. The highest work force reduction in Columbia County was by the Ichabod Crane Central School District -- 32.5 employees were pink-slipped. The ICCSD budget calls for a 3.98 percent tax levy increase. Residents of the New Lebanon Central School District are the big winners this year -- its superintendent and Board of Education managed to cut the 2011-12 spending plan by $200,000, retained the existing work force (minus a few retirements) and spared taxpayers a higher tax bill, all while maintaining the highest per student expenditure in Columbia County.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Job cuts, by school district, from Unmuffled blog."][/caption] Read the entire post in Unmuffled.