Southern Ulster Times Apr. 26 2017

T IMES SOUTHERN ULSTER Vol. 14, No 17 3 APRIL 26 - MAY 2, 2017 After a lengthy debate at last week’s meeting, the Marlboro School Board unanimously approved a budget of $56,736,857 for the 2017-18 school year. This is up from the current school budget by $2.2 million. In a slide presentation Business and Finance Director Patrick Witherow highlighted key provisions in next year’s budget. The amount of the tax levy has been set at $33,948,733, which is $276,730 lower than the levy for the current budget, is at the tax cap and is the third consecutive year that residents will see a reduction in the levy. The district is set to receive an increase in state aid by $2,970,087, bringing the total that Marlboro will receive to $16,717,455, however miscellaneous revenues for next year will increase by $279,052 to $1,184,052. The district is proposing to tap the reserves and fund balance accounts by $3.7 million but Witherow expects the district will use just $1.5 million of that ONE DOLLAR Dukes top Huskies Page 36 SERVING HIGHLAND, MARLBOROUGH AND PLATTEKILL Marlboro OKs $56.7 million budget By MARK REYNOLDS [email protected] 3 amount and leave $2.2 million to pay for unexpected expenditures that may arise during the school year. Witherow pointed out that the combined costs of health insurance, benefit trust payments and dental costs are set to rise dramatically from $5,972,823 this year to $6,803,272 next year. Witherow calculated that overall salaries are up by $1,348,515, teacher retirements are down by $285,518 but Social Security payments are up by $42,913. He said $300,000 is contained Continued on page 17 H eroes for H eroes By MARK REYNOLDS [email protected] Photo provided On April 22, members of the Town of Lloyd Police Department joined members Town of New Paltz Police Department and SUNY New Paltz Police Department for “A Hero for Heroes” Special Olympic Event. Participants had an opportunity to interact with members of law enforce- ment and then close the day out with an obstacle course competition. WWW.SOUTHERNULSTERTIMES.COM Lloyd discusses conflicts of interest In February the Lloyd Town Board appointed their town Code Officer Anthony Giangrasso to work part-time for the town Highway Department to help with snow removal when needed. Two board members who voted for that seasonal appointment – Joseph Mazzetti and Mike Guerriero – had previously hired Giangrasso and his company Community Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning to do some work for them at their residences. Mazzetti said when he hired Giangrasso’s company he consulted with the Association of Towns about when to recuse himself from certain town matters because of his position as a Councilman. “I would vote on anybody that I do business with in the same manner, that it’s something respectable and something that’s above board,” he said. “I believe he’s [Giangrasso] already a town employee and for him to want to pile snow because we have a shortage, if it’s our Highway Superintendent’s recommendation, I’m going to support that.” Mazzetti said in this case he did not feel he had to recuse himself from voting on Giangrasso’s appointment. He added that Continued on page 4