| 
TRIATHLON VIGOR... Belleayre
Mountain Ski Area hosted yet another of its vigorous triathlon
events, with teams of three competing in skiing, biking and running
in and around the slopes, Pine Hill, and in-between. We'll
get you more on the results in our next edition.
Is It Time For A Reval?
With Large Parcel Windfall Looking Moot, The Time Is Ripe After
20 Years
By Paul Smart
Over in Olive, the shock of what has become known as Large Parcel
legislation, which would force the town to pay a much larger
portion of the school and county taxes it shares for the relatively
low-valued Ashokan Reservoir largely within its borders, has
moved the town to action over the last year.
For one, Olive Supervisor Berndt Leifeld and town-hired attorneys
have been meeting with officials at the state Office of Real
Property Services on an increasingly regular basis, trying to
take advantage of a New York City pledge to drop its appeals
against attempts to revalue its reservoir property from $119
million to $360 million. And their case appears to be on the
verge of being accepted, which would make the underlying reasons
for Large Parcel reapportionment - which could hike Olive taxes
60 percent if enacted - basically moot.
Continue>>>
Pushing Through ...
Planners, Zoners Struggle With Higley's Market &
Its Various Past Problems
By Phoenicia Times Staff
At this month's Shandaken Planning Board meeting on March
10, planners said they wished an applicant for a roadside
fruit and vegetable stand in Mt. Tremper would show up and
tell them what he plans, and who he is. Planners noted, at
the meeting and afterwards, that they were in the dark on
many issues surrounding a request by Michael Higley, who is
said to be the applicant for the stand on property alongside
Route 28.
Yet at a subsequent Zoning Board meeting held on March 17,
as well as in advertisements placed into this week's editions
of local newspapers, that question is seeming to get question-
at the same time that it grows ever-more obscure.
Continue>>>
|
NEW!
Proposed Belleayre Resort Information Page
Written comments about the proposed Belleayre
Resort should be addressed to Alexander Ciesluk, Jr. NYS DEC,
21 South Putt Corners Road, New Paltz, NY 12561-1620 The DEC
will be accepting written comments until April 23, 2004.
Email: afcieslu@gw.dec.state.NY.us
School Budget Time
Figures Start Gelling At Onteora As Rowe Presents His Last
Numbers...
By Violet Snow
Onteora superintendent of schools Hal Rowe presented his budget
recommendation for 2004-2005, which entails a six percent
increase to $42,718,852, a probable nine percent average tax
hike, and numerous staff and program cuts, including the closing
of the West Hurley Elementary School. The only alternative
he proposed was a $42,037,769 budget with a 4.3 percent increase,
a 6.77 percent tax hike, and still deeper cuts, to offer to
the voters should they defeat the six percent budget. The
school board has until April 19 to finalize a budget they
will put before the voters in May.
Interim assistant superintendent Jeff Hanna outlined the cuts
as well as the effects of a contingency budget, limited by
law to a 2.76 percent increase, or $41,413,106, with a 4.72
percent tax increase, which would result if the voters defeat
the budget proposal twice. For comparison purposes, business
administrator Chuck Snyder provided figures on a rollover
budget of $43,700,124, the cost of providing programs and
services at their current level, with the required increases
in retirement fund contributions, health insurance, and contracted
staff salaries. The rollover budget, with West Hurley intact,
would come to 8.43 percent over the current budget and bring
the tax levy into double digits.
Continue>>>
After 9/11
Resettling For The Kids Takes Some True Gumption...
By Paul Smart
Alma Rodriguez and James Kopp moved to the Catskills last
April 15- as auspicious day as could be hoped summoned
for such a major lifestyle shift. They started inching towards
the move -- which has involved the couple starting their own
fundraising and consulting firm, Kopp, Rodriguez and Associates,
and then moving it upstate with the help of a strong web and
e-mail presence - the morning they watched the twin towers
of World Trade Center disappear from their rooftop view in
Jersey City and decided a paradigm shift was in store for
them, as it has been for the entire world.
Continue>>>
|
Play View From Space for BIG SAVINGS!
