Jury rules against Shandaken property owners in assessment fight

Story from The Daily Freeman:  A seven-year tax squabble between 18 landowners and the town of Shandaken has ended with a jury’s finding that the town had a “rational basis” for raising the assessments of properties with more than 20 acres of undeveloped land.

City that Drinks the Mountain Sky

Story from PostStarNews.com:

On Saturday July 14, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County’s Ashokan Watershed Stream Management Program (AWSMP) hosted a production of the Arm-of-the-Sea theatrical troupe’s production of “City that Drinks the Mountain Sky.” This play uses masks and puppets to tell the story of the Catskill Mountains and the development of the NYC Watershed.

Fodor’s likes Phoenicia

Violet Snow's article appears in the Woodstock Times, and begins:

“Arts and the Great Outdoors” is the first of several suheadings in the July 3 blog post entitled “Long Weekend in Phoenicia, New York” on the Fodor’s Travel Intelligence website at www.fodors.com. With commercial development in the Town of Shandaken limited by watershed regulations protecting New York City’s drinking water, and many citizens committed to maintaining the rural character of the region by fighting big projects like the proposed megaresort at Belleayre, the arts have become a means of attracting people to Shandaken.

That blog post is one of many to be found on the Fodor's website.

More space for Woodstock Library

Story from MidHudson News

The crowded and busy Woodstock Library has some room for more activities. A vacant laundromat across Library Lane will serve as a Library Annex. Ulster County acquired the building for nonpayment of taxes.

We're back, or The bonfire that wasn't

On the weekend of June 30-July 1, a few intrepid and industrious Chichesterites/Silver Hollowites trekked down to the CPOA grounds, volunteering their services to clean up the community house and grounds. Much sweat was rendered as the clubhouse floor was mopped over and over and over, weeds whacked, and the grounds groomed. The remaining detritus was collected, in order to become a bonfire the following weekend. We were to sing, eat 'Chi-made' smores, and while the evening away beside our very own bonfire. Alas, due to the very-dry conditions and lack of rain, it was decided we should be prudent and safe.

It woulda been somethin' Yet a good time was had by all who did attend.

Lawmakers call for trash monopoly

A story in the TimesHerald Record:

Two Ulster legislators have recommended establishing a disposal monopoly for all trash and recyclables generated within the county. The 16-page proposal presented Thursday by Ken Wishnick, D-New Paltz, and Carl Belfiglio, R-Port Ewen, would also transfer garbage oversight to the county executive.

The county's trash agency has needed a $1.4 million annual subsidy since 2010. Ballooning payments on $21.7 million of debt will send the subsidy to $2.5 million starting in 2013. But "flow control" — a requirement that all waste generated in the county cross the public agency's scales — would enable the agency to operate without a subsidy by 2015. That's because monopoly power enables the agency to set disposal fees as high as necessary to meet yearly expenses.

Tipping fees are expected to rise from an average of $87 per ton to $102 per ton, the proposal said, meaning a typical household would pay $16.83 more annually for garbage disposal.

"Flow control is a must," Wishnick said. "There's no other way to guarantee a profit."

The proposal would also ask the state for permission to enact flow control for recyclables. This would ensure Ulster has sufficient revenue to invest in equipment for "single stream," where all recyclable materials are collected together.

Most committee members wanted additional financial information before rendering a verdict on the proposal, but John Parete, D-Boiceville, was adamantly opposed. "The more the government sticks their hand in the pie, the worse it gets," Parete said. "You don't raise your prices to bring more businesses in." He wanted the county to sell its assets and get out of the trash disposal business.