T IMES
SOUTHERN
ULSTER
Vol. 14, No 21
3
MAY 24 - 30, 2017
3
ONE DOLLAR
Special
Olympics Golfers win
again
Page 19 Page 38
SERVING HIGHLAND, MARLBOROUGH AND PLATTEKILL
School budgets overwhelmingly approved Plattekill to
Southern
Ulster
voters
gave
resounding votes of confidence to
local school administrations last week,
resoundingly approving school budget
propositions and re-electing incumbent
school board members.
Highland
Highland residents approved the
district’s proposed budget of $42,866,930
for the 2017-18 school year by a vote of 636
yes to 293 no.
The $42.8 million budget has an
accompanying tax levy of $26,807,253. The
district is set to receive $14,045,326 in state
aid; $6,621 from Payments in Lieu of Taxes
and $507,730 in miscellaneous revenues.
The district also applied $1.5 million from
their Fund Balance and Reserves to lower
the tax burden upon residents.
Two school board members were
re-elected to their seats - Alan Barone
received 673 votes and Heather Welch
received 694 votes.
A school bus proposition to purchase
five 65 passenger buses and three 29
passenger vans at a cost of $750,000 was
approved by a vote of 589 yes to 338 no.
Superintendent Deborah Haab said
she was pleased with the vote.
“We can now move into our 2017-18
school year with an approved budget that
Continued on page 4
Little Flower Shop
Photo provided
The new owner of the Little Flower Shop in the hamlet of Highland held a ribbon cutting ceremony at Springfest. Pictured L-R Charles Glasner,
Chairman of the Economic Development Committee, Trevor Scott, Supervisor Paul Hansut, owner Kim Bezzaro-Scott, Kim’s mom, Kim’s hus-
band George Scott, Kate Jonietz, Scott McCord of the Highland Business Association [HBA], Logan Scott, and Kristyn Knudtson, secretary for
HBA.
WWW.SOUTHERNULSTERTIMES.COM
pay tribute
to war dead
By NICHOLAS TANTILLO
The town will host its annual Memorial
Day Parade on May 27. The parade will
begin in the town hall parking lot, pause
at the veteran’s memorial and continue
into Thomas Felten Park. Town board
member Dean DePew called the parade
a “great cause” and noted the event’s
growing attendance.
Town supervisor Joe Croce said the
new “warrior wagon” will join the regular
fleet of parade floats. The new float
will pay homage to military veterans.
Entertainment at the parade will be
provided by a float that plays music, a bag
pipe musician and a live band. The town
will serve refreshments at the town park.
Starting on May 22, the town of Plattekill
will participate in “Buckle Up New York,”
a state-run program that encourages
motorists to wear seatbelts. Croce said the
town will receive money from the state
for participating. He added that motorists
should put in an extra effort to wear their
seatbelts during the month-long event,
because the town police “will be focusing
on that.”
The town highway superintendent
has requested a funds transfer to cover
landscaping improvements. The funds are
estimated to near $3,000 and will purchase
over one hundred yards of mulch. The
transfer will move funds to the park
contractual line from the park equipment
line.
The deadline is approaching for the
town to pass its newest draft of the solar
law. On June 21 the moratorium on large
scale solar arrays will expire. The town
Continued on page 25