Southern Ulster Times Feb. 03 2016

TIMES SOUTHERN ULSTER Vol. 13, No 5 3 FEBRUARY 3 - 9, 2016 Scholastic art Page 20 Lloyd ZBA member resigns following outburst As the Lloyd Zoning Board of Appeals was discussing a variance for a fence at a meeting in December, board member Tim Marion spoke at length on what he sees as present and past practices of favoritism in town. Marion, who resigned from the ZBA on Tuesday said he grew up in Lloyd and has roots that go back two centuries. He summed up the way he believes business is conducted in Lloyd. “If you’re not part of the who’s who club you don’t get what you want. If you come in and you want to do something with your property you get shoved up ONE DOLLAR Baseball clinic Page 39 SERVING HIGHLAND, MARLBOROUGH AND PLATTEKILL Uproar at the Zoning Board By MARK REYNOLDS [email protected] 3 you’re a**. Its not funny.” Marion told the ZBA that he was once issued a ticket from officer Larry Fuhrmann (also Marion’s step father-inlaw) for having too many vehicles on his 50-acre property, while he (Fuhrmann) wanted to sell a car from his parcel. After Continued on page 29 Sunday stroll Last Sunday, with the temperature nearing 60 degrees, people went out to the Walkway Over the Hudson to enjoy the unseasonably warm, sunny weather. WWW.SOUTHERNULSTERTIMES.COM County seeks sales tax equity By MARK REYNOLDS [email protected] Last week, the Ulster County Legislature’s Ways and Means Committee, under the chairmanship of Richard Gerentine [R-Marlborough], met to discuss how sales taxes are divided up across the county. A new agreement is drawn up and voted upon every five years. In a power point presentation, Gerentine stated that by a 1968 resolution the county received all of the sales tax money. After negotiations in 1993 a new division was drawn up, with the county receiving 88 percent and the City of Kingston 10 percent, leaving the remaining 2 percent to be divided among 20 towns. By 2001 the division was adjusted again, to what stands today, with 85.5 percent going to the county, 11.5 percent going to the City of Kingston [an increase of 1.5 percent for Safety Net costs] and 3percent apportioned for the towns. This later agreement is set to expire at the end of February, which is what prompted the Committee to consider the matter. Gerentine said he has been involved in preliminary discussions that he expects will be ongoing with the City of Kingston; also included were Legislative Chairman Ken Ronk, Legislator Hector Rodriguez, County Executive Mike Hein and Kingston Mayor Steve Noble and members of their their respective staffs. “Hopefully we can have this resolved in the time frame that we have to have it done by,” Gerentine said. Once slide showed that in recent years the amount collected in sales taxes in the county has been steadily rising, with Continued on page 28