New Year's Resolutions?

[Seaplane Pilot]

Mine is 50% complete - get rid of the hacks in Concord. (Are you listening Ms. Martha "FULL-OF-IT" Clark?) The other 50% is to repeal the speed limit law that these hacks rammed through like cockroaches running in the dark.

Your resolutions may vary.

[VitaBene]

I would like to work on seeing the MP budget funded at a higher level and pegged to the number of registered boats.

If the economy is off a year or two because of a bad economy, their budget will decrease and vice versa. The money on heavier use years should be directly spent on enforcement (patrol officers) because the command structure and facilities/vessels are already there.

[VtSteve]

Originally Posted by VitaBene

I would like to work on seeing the MP budget funded at a higher level and pegged to the number of registered boats.

If the economy is off a year or two because of a bad economy, their budget will decrease and vice versa. The money on heavier use years should be directly spent on enforcement (patrol officers) because the command structure and facilities/vessels are already there.

I'm all for that VB. They have a lot to do statewide for sure. It would be nice if there was a way to prevent their budget from being raided, as it was this year. I would think that it would be easier to plan ahead and manage the department if they had a stable budget.

I view the Marine Patrol as I would Fire and Police. You don't need lavish spending and overkill, but give them stable resources to do the job right. Reading the Director's comments earlier this year about budgeting was quite an eye opener. Not an easy task he has.