|
Mar
31
2006
|
by Dan Veaner
|
|
Friday, 31 March 2006 |
Last week Superintendent Mark Lewis and Interim Business Administrator Larry Driscoll presented a first draft of the school budget to the Lansing Board of Education (BOE). The Board had charged them with keeping 2006-2007 budget to 6% above this year's budget. "The board instructed us to reduce the budget-to-budget increase to 6 percent," says Lewis. That meant cutting $922,000 from the original budget."
The cuts included two elementary school classroom teaching positions and one special education teaching position, several staff positions and 2 modified sports teams among them. A fourth teaching position, being vacated by a retiring teacher, will not be filled. School Board President says, "There was a lot of discussion on the budget but few final decisions." The BOE sent them back to the drawing board to redraft the budget so it will not impact classroom teaching as directly. "In preparation for the next meeting we asked Mark and Larry to develop a list of actual items that contribute to the budget to budget increase from '05 to '06," Lindbergh says.
|
|
|
Mar
31
2006
|
by Dan Veaner
|
|
Friday, 31 March 2006 |
Lansing's School District Starts From Scratch
to Build a New Capital Improvement Project
If all had gone well, voters would be approving the Lansing School District's Capital Project Phase II this Tuesday. The original referendum would have been April 4th, but the Board of Education chose not to bring the proposal before the public because the chances of the $32-plus million dollar project passing were bleak. The missing ingredient in the last go-around was the taxpayers, so the District is starting there as they go back to the drawing board.
Last Wednesday (03/29) the first meeting of a dual-committee, citizen-based group gathered at the High School Library to learn about the process that will be used to revive the project with the goal of bringing it before the taxpayers in December of this year. Facilities and Community Awareness committees will meet and interact between now and mid-summer to bring a new proposal before the Board of Education (BOE) by July.
|
|
|
|
Mar
24
2006
|
by Dan Veaner
|
|
Friday, 24 March 2006 |
Village of Lansing officials took another swipe at the budget in their Monday meeting in an effort to finalize it before a public hearing on April 3. With $351,425,899 taxable assessed value the Village hopes to lower the tax rate this year, even though the tax levy will go up.
Village taxes have historically approximated the rise in the cost of living. This year will be no exception with about a 3% rise. But Mayor Don Hartill told Trustees last Monday that he intends to lower the tax rate. Last year's tax rate was $1.65 pet $1,000 of assessed value. That rate could be diminished by as much as ten cents if all the figures work out. Hartill says that a tax rate of $1.58 would achieve the 3% cost of living rise.
|
|
|
|
Mar
24
2006
|
by Tony Nekut
|
|
Friday, 24 March 2006 |
A few weeks ago (3/03), I wrote a letter here expressing concern and raising questions regarding the ongoing planning for a sewer system to serve parts of the Town. Today (3/22), I attended a meeting of the Sewer Committee at the Town Hall. In addition to the committee members, a representative from the Syracuse DEC office, Steve Eidt, was present. He was invited to clarify DEC policy regarding project funding under the 1996 Bond Act. He made it clear that it was essential for the project to move forward quickly (work contracts signed) or State funding would be jeopardized.
Unfortunately, none of the committee members asked the essential question: why is the DEC insisting on a "regional solution" which is fundamentally flawed? Not only is the current plan far more expensive than a plan which utilizes a Town owned wastewater plant near Portland Point, it also leaves many downhill lakefront areas unserved.
|
|
|
|
Mar
24
2006
|
by Dan Veaner
|
|
Friday, 24 March 2006 |
Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Regional Water Engineer Steve Eidt told Lansing Town and Village officials Wednesday that the DEC strongly supports their regional approach to sewer treatment. Eidt was invited to Wednesday's Town Sewer Committee meeting to clarify the DEC's stand on Lansing sewer issues and Cayuga Lake conservation. "We're 100% behind the project," he told the committee. "We fought very hard to get the funding you received from the bond act. We still strongly support the proposal for a regionalized approach."
 Engineer Jim blum (left) and DEC Regional Water Engineer Steve Eidt (right)
As the Town of Lansing moves closer to building its sewer, residents and local officials have raised questions about the particular way it is being planned. Questions have been raised about the wisdom of pumping effluent through the Village to the Southern part of Cayuga Lake where the Cayuga Heights Treatment Plant is located. Residents are concerned, because the current runs from south to north along the eastern shore that includes 14 miles of Lansing lakefront. Some residents have called for another look at a stand-alone treatment plant in the Town, located as far north as possible.
|
|
|
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Next > End >>
|
| Results 433 - 441 of 548 |
Archive News 
