News

By Joe Moskowitz
It’s school budget season as area administrators try to figure out how to pay for ever-increasing expenses while limiting tax hikes. This year, because New York State is in better financial shape than in recent years, there is some help coming from Albany, but bridging the budget gap is still a daunting task.

By Joe Moskowitz
Budget battles in Washington that have resulted in automatic cuts to government spending, popularly known as sequestration, may soon claim young victims in Arkville.

Project Head Start, a pre-school program aimed at kids from low-income families, is facing an income problem of its own. Sequestration is resulting in a five-percent reduction in funding for Head Start, and that is forcing the people in charge of area Head Start centers to make some serious choices.

By Geoff Samuels
“We want to get everybody on the same page” said Marjorie Miller, chair of the East Branch Flood Commission as she opened last Monday’s monthly meeting.

Topics of discussion at the meeting ranged from FEMA land buy-outs, to this summer’s Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) projects, to the possibility of swapping parcels of land with New York City.

Kent Manual from the Delaware County Planning Department gave an update on the FEMA land buy-out program.

By Jay Braman Jr.
Less than six months after taking over the Belleayre Mountain Ski Center, the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) will face an audit by the state comptroller.

State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli will launch a full financial audit of ORDA after a report by his office found that financial issues persist at a time when its operations have been expanded to include the Catskills-based Belleayre Mountain Ski Center.

By Geoff Samuels
At the East Branch Flood Commission meeting on March 25, Rick Weidenbach, executive director of the Delaware County Soil & Water District expressed disappointment with how the Catskill Watershed Corporation (CWC) had “misinterpreted” a draft of a Local Flood Hazard Mitigation Analysis document (LFHMA), a text that had been presented to the CWC for review at their March 15 meeting.

By Brian Sweeney
Margaretville Central School officials have recently been notified of two grants awarded to the district.

The district will be receiving a VAP (Virtual Advanced Placement) grant through Ulster BOCES and a Replication Grant from the State Education Department.

Margaretville — Join the Heart of the Catskills Humane Society for its annual Spring Dance and Auction on Saturday, April 20, from 6 to 10 p.m. at Hanah Mountain Resort and Country Club.

Everyone’s a winner who purchases a ticket to this major fundraiser for the area’s largest animal shelter. Improve your luck all night long as the dance features the best in music, cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and a buffet dinner.

By Brian Sweeney
The Llobet Medical Group in Margaretville is continuing to expand its staff and the services it provides.

Located in the Palen Medical Building adjacent to Margaretville Hospital, the Llobet Medical Group (LMG) was established on October 1, 2010 and has rapidly grown to provide health care services to an increasingly wide coverage area.

The husband and wife physician team of Dr. Paul Llobet and Dr. Holly Llobet established the practice and they have been steadily adding specialists and extending a range of services.

By Jay Braman Jr.
An attempt by neighbors of the Phoenicia Library to stop expansion of the library building was unsuccessful in State Supreme Court, County of Ulster.

On March 4, Justice Richard Mott said in his motion that the Shandaken Zoning Board of Appeals acted according to law when it gave the library five separate variances last December.
Phoenicia Librarian Liz Potter was pleased upon hearing the news.

By Geoff Samuels
Last Thursday’s Village of Margaretville Board meeting saw the resurfacing of the somewhat infamous Binnekill bulkhead dispute.

At present, the “bulkhead” consists of a 20-foot-long culvert that runs from the East Branch of the Delaware River and carries water to the head of the Binnekill Stream. It is situated on property owned by village resident Lauren Davis, and the maintenance and development of this small but important location has been a source of contention between the village and Davis for the last decade.

Muddy mess