Ulster town's plowing policy draws scrutiny

St. Francis De Sales parishioners leave the church in Phoenicia after Sunday Mass. The Shandaken Highway Department plows the parking lots of local firehouses and four churches, including St. Francis De Sales. The highway department uses St. Francis De Sales' lot to dump snow into the Esopus Creek. Kelly Marsh/For the Times Herald-Record


The Town of Shandaken's decades-old practice of plowing snow from the parking lots of local firehouses and churches is under fire. Shandaken resident Lance Hoffman asked the town board Feb. 10 not to continue the practice. "I told them that municipal plowing of churches was unconstitutional, because it's a violation of church and state," Hoffman said last week. "It's a frivolous municipal largess; they're just throwing away taxpayer money, and the town could be held responsible for any damage." The board approved it anyway. Unanimously.

CPOA in Winter

Village of Red Hook to boost its fund balance

Followup to story on Red Hook, from Poughkeepsie Journal.

For Village of Red Hook officials, the threat of fiscal stress isn’t news, Mayor Ed Blundell said. Red Hook is one of 15 villages in the state undergoing some fiscal stress, according to state Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. DiNapoli used financial indicators such as year-end fund balance, cash position and patterns of operating deficits for an overall fiscal stress score. Red Hook landed on the lowest level — “susceptible to stress” — with a score of 49.2 percent. A score of 45 to 55 percent would get a village on the list. Red Hook is on the list largely because of a low fund balance — about $168,000, Blundell said. Raising the fiscal reserves is something village officials have been addressing.

Village of Red Hook ‘susceptible to fiscal stress,’ NY Comptroller’s Office says

Story in The Kingston Daily Freeman.

Fifteen villages in New York state, including Red Hook in Northern Dutchess, are under some level of fiscal stress, according to the state Comptroller’s Office. The 15 villages were separated into three categories — “significant stress,” “moderate stress” and “susceptible to fiscal stress.” Red Hook is in the “susceptible” group, the least serious of the three, as is the Orange County village of Goshen.

The four “significant stress” villages were given scores ranging from 65.4 to 86.7 percent, with the higher numbers being worse; the “moderate stress” villages were scored from 57.5 to 64.2 percent; and the “susceptible to fiscal stress” villages had scores ranging from 47.9 to 53.3 percent. Red Hook scored 49.2 percent. Among other villages in the Mid-Hudson, Tivoli scored 36.3 percent. Ellenville scored 24.2, Saugerties scored 15.8, New Paltz scored 14.6, Hunter scored 11.3 and Rhinebeck scored 8.3. None had a score high enough to be included in any of the stress categories.

Online resources:
• The list of New York villages designated as being under some level of fiscal stress can be found at bit.ly/1f1tPVe.

• A complete list of village scores can be viewed at bit.ly/1jkj0Vq.

• A copy of the comptroller’s report on fiscally stressed villages is at bit.ly/1bCLvJd.

• To search for as specific local government’s fiscal stress score, go to bit.ly/1mbt6aM.


• For an overview of DiNapoli’s Fiscal Monitoring System, go to bit.ly/1dtGkMc.