T IMES
SOUTHERN
ULSTER
Vol. 15, No. 13
3
MARCH 28 - APRIL 3, 2018
3
ONE DOLLAR
STEAM
project Lady Huskies
win opener
Page 26 Page 48
SERVING HIGHLAND, MARLBOROUGH AND PLATTEKILL
Highland seeks $7.5 million project Rail Trail
By MARK REYNOLDS
[email protected]
Last week The Highland School Board
unanimously approved a new $7,575,000
capital improvement project, which
will go before the voters on May 15. At
that time they will also be voting an a
$45,004,152 budget (with a tax levy of
$28,000,464) for the 2018-19 school year and
a bus proposition of $588,000.
Board President Alan Barone said
after the original $25 million Capital
Project was defeated by the voters, the
board received input from the community,
resulting in a scaled back project of $17.5
million that was approved. He said a
few of the people involved at that time
returned to offer their advice about the
new $7.5 million project.
“I think overall through our support
service meetings we’ve come to a
conclusion that the timing is right for
us to move forward with another Capital
Project,” he said.
Business Administrator Louise Lynch
said in the 2019-20 school year the district
will no longer have a debt payment of
nearly $2.1 million but will experience
some new debt for the recent $17.5 million
capital project, which is included in the
2018-19 school budget. She said overall
this will result “in a decrease in the
amount of debt and associated building
aid attributable to that and we have this
amazing opportunity where we have a
lot of work that still needs to be done.”
Continued on page 4
By MARK REYNOLDS
[email protected]
Last week officials from Ulster County,
the Town of Lloyd and various engineers,
planners, construction contractors and
several environmental and trail planning
associations announced that two
westward phases of the Hudson Valley
Rail Trail will break ground in early
April. This will extend the existing trail
by nearly 2 miles.
In Phase 3, a tunnel and paved trail
bed will be built under S. Riverside Road
beside the present basketball courts
at Tony Williams Field. This 0.7 mile
section will cost $1,587,654. There will
be $1,077,691 coming in federal money,
$100,000 from Scenic Hudson and $50,000
secured by NYS Assemblyman Frank
Skartados. This leaves $359,963 in the
town’s local share, which will be whittled
down by approximately $175,000 that the
town previously set aside in reserves.
Ulster County will construct Phase
4, a 1.25 mile section that will bring the
trail out to South Street. Eventually, the
NYS Department of Transportation will
continue the trail 1.6 miles along Route
299 and go through New Paltz via Henry
DuBois Road and finally tie into the
Wallkill Valley Rail Trail.
The cost of Phase 4 is estimated at $2
million, which is offset by $1.6 million in
federal aid money and another grant of
$50,000 from Assemblyman Skartados.
Mad dash!
Mark Reynolds
Youngsters made a mad dash for platic eggs, Saturday, at the Town of Lloyd’s annual Easter Egg Hunt. More photos on pages 24 and 25.
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