As taxpayers and the people who control the purse strings debate how public money should be spent, and as the state hopes to dig its way out of a financial hole by letting your neighbor grow taxable marijuana in his backyard, there is some very good news about our money and what it’s being used for.
The Peconic Estuary Partnership, which works for environmental protection and programming, has received more than double its normal funding under the final New York State budget. The package includes $450,000 for PEP, which last year received $200,000 from the state.
The funding will allow PEP to expand its partnership with Stony Brook University on a critical water quality study and on efforts to restore bay scallop populations and eelgrass in the Peconics.