Sam Pratt has been very busy of late, researching and then publicizing one of the greatest journalistic tools to come around in some time, and open for anyone's use - a Property Tax Tracker on the Times-Union’s website which allows you to track what people are paying for property taxes throughout the state. He has also been checking out records of property sales in the City of Hudson, finding plenty of interesting tidbits, surprise cases of incorporation, and transfers of ownership here and there with a few key lawyer's names duly noted. In terms of the taxes paid, each county's site lists the top 50 taxpayers, but without noting which entities are nonprofit and hence NOT actually paying the listed tax amounts. Of real interest... schools and county buildings top the list, such entities as Hunter Mountain Ski Center are lower on the list than expected, and one of the top Columbia County taxpayers is former Governor Eliot Spitzer, who owns property in Gallatin near the Dutchess County border. For added measure, Pratt also lets the cat out of the bag with a mention that Hudson Democrats seem to have endorsed independent Nick Haddad for Mayor and Democrat Sarah Sterling for Council President in a meeting earlier this week. Way to get to the core, Sam! Catch his blog here...