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The Daily Mail Copyright 2019, Columbia-Greene Media Volume 227, No. 226
All Rights Reserved
Aces high Verlander, deGrom named Cy Young winners Inside, B1
The nation’s fourth-oldest newspaper • Serving Greene County since 1792
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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2019
nFORECAST WEATHER FOR HUDSON/CA TODAY TONIGHT
SAT
Partly sunny
A snow shower early
Sunny, but colder
HIGH 49
LOW 18
33 16
Complete weather, A2
n SPORTS
Revenue up 1.4% in town budget
Greener lunches for Catskill students
By Sarah Trafton Columbia-Greene Media
Michael Wetherbee said the district contracts out its food services, so the district has not had a conversation “inhouse” about tray material. Former EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck had mixed feelings about the
CATSKILL — It’s crunch time for local municipalities in terms of getting budgets passed. The Catskill Town Board unanimously adopted its 2020 budget after a series of three budget workshops and a public hearing. The budget is set at $6.98 million, a 2.8% increase over last year. “The town began the budget process in September, asking each department head to put forward a budget based on their analysis of department needs,” Town Supervisor Doreen Davis said. “The board then reviewed those plans with the department heads at a series of three budget workshops held throughout the month of October.” Davis described the initial tentative budget, presented in October, was a compilation of “wish lists” from departments. The tentative budget called for a 3.9% increase. The town board was then tasked with getting the budget down to within the state tax cap. The tax cap is set at 2% or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. With the exception of last year, the board has delivered the budget below the tax cap levy for three of the last four years, Davis said, citing sewer costs for the increased budget in 2019. “The final budget was $9,189 under the tax cap levy,” Davis said. On the revenue side, the town has seen an increase in building permits, Davis said. “Revenues increased by 1.4% to a total of $2,698,070, a result of increased business permit activity related to economic development realized throughout the community,” Davis said. “This left $3,908,023 to be raised by taxes.” Building permits specifically increased from $32,698 in September 2018 to $82,591
See GREENER A4
See BUDGET A4
Graham headed to Adelphi Ichabod Crane’s Madie Graham has signed a letter of intent to attend Adelphi University PAGE B1
By Sarah Trafton Columbia-Greene Media
n COLLEGE FB
No chance at the Big Ten Rutgers and Maryland are playing so poorly that they will have no chance in the Big Ten PAGE B2
n OPINION Legislature’s track record Greene County has a chance to break its jail spending streak with temporary sheriff’s office PAGE A4
n INDEX State/Nation Obituaries Opinion Sports Classified Comics/Advice
File photo
Catskill school district switched to biodegradable lunch trays on Tuesday.
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CATSKILL — As the era of single-use plastic bags comes to an end in New York, the Catskill Central School District is looking for a greener future. The district switched Tuesday from using polystyrene, or styrofoam, lunch trays to biodegradable trays made of molded fiber. Catskill provides 260,000 plates a year, Food Services and Transportation Director William Muirhead said. “We ditched the polystyrene trays in favor of the more environmentally friendly compostable fiber ones,” Muirhead said. “I’m very excited that we are in a position financially to move from polystyrene to paper trays. All in all we will be teaching our children good environmental stewardship” The compostable trays cost the district three cents more per tray, Muirhead said. “The additional cost per school year is $7,800,” Muirhead said. “This cost will not affect the general budget as the breakfast and lunch program maintains a positive fund balance. No taxpayer
Photo courtesy of The Washington Post News Service
The Catskill Central School District on Tuesday switched from styrofoam lunch trays like the one pictured above in favor of dishes made of molded fiber.
funds are required to support the school nutrition program each year.” Muirhead learned of the opportunity through the state Office of General Services, which had been awarded a piggyback contract off of the state Department of Education for October through
April for the trays. The trays will be supplied by Imperial Bag & Paper Co, LLC, of Jersey City, New Jersey. Coxsackie-Athens serves lunch on reusable plastic trays, District Superintendant Randall Squier said. Cairo-Durham Superintendent
Environmentalists applaud Cuomo on National Grid By Massarah Mikati Johnson Newspapers
ALBANY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo has sent National Grid a formal notice to revoke its license to operate in New York, a move that was applauded by environmentalists during a press conference Thursday at the Capitol building. Cuomo’s letter is the latest development in a monthslong battle between the gas and electricity company and the governor, which developed when New York regulators blocked in May the construction of the Williams Pipeline, a $1 billion natural gas pipeline that would have run from Pennsylvania to New Jersey and New York. National Grid later imposed a moratorium
on downstate areas, which affected more than 1,100 customers, claiming that without the pipeline, they were not able to meet increasing energy demands in the area. Cuomo has classified the move as an extortion of the state. “Either National Grid was grossly negligent in relying exclusively on the speculative construction of a private pipeline to meet the demands that it was statutorily required to provide,” Cuomo wrote in a letter to the utility company’s CEO and president, “or, National Grid deliberately defrauded the people of the state by not developing or pursuing See GRID A4
Massarah Mikati/Columbia-Greene Media
Protesters against National Grid’s proposed Williams Pipeline gathered at a news conference Thursday.
December 7
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