All of the local supervisors voted for the 2009 budget at the county level yesterday, with the exception of budget officer Gayle Hall out of Fort Ann.

The beach at Hulett's will be partially funded with $14,500 restored, which Bob Banks said was step one in a process that mayend up at step four.

Posted by Keith Lobdell at 02:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Washington County board of supervisors will be meeting tomorrow at 1 p.m. to continue their budget process. The day will start out with a 10 a.m. finance committee meeting, but the main event will start at 1 p.m.

Dresden supervisor Robert Banks told me that he believes there will be a conclusion reached on the budget tomorrow, which shows an average 4-percent increase to the tax levy. For the towns of Whitehall and Hampton, previous numbers had the tax rate actually declining by one cent per assessed $1,000 of property value, while going up for Dresden.

And while not using the exact word, Banks said everything short of giving a guarantee that the Hulett's park would be open next summer no matter what happened at the county level. He also held out hope that at some point, funding would be put back into the budget. He also said that the town would find the money to run the park if that did not happen.

Posted by Keith Lobdell at 08:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Went to the bowling and wrestling last night. The bowling team is improving their scores over the first three games of the season, but were just overpowered last night by Hoosick.

As for wrestling, the team looked dominating at times in their win over South Glens Falls, which coach Bob Diekel said was an excelent way to start th season. Two of the three state fnalist looked at the top of their game, with Curt Thompson and Zach Diekel each picking up a win. Ty White didn't get a chance to wreslte, with the Bulldogs forfieting that wieght division. Final score: 38-27 Whitehall.

Posted by Keith Lobdell at 01:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You could say that it was revenge for the night before.

The Whitehall girls basketball team dominated Salem in a similar way the Salem boys team dominated Whitehall, with Britt St. Clair, Mackenzie Trevellyan and Maria McKee all scoring in double figures.

One thing I noticed last night was the ease at which St. Clair and Trevellyan play together. They know where each is on the court and make good passes that lead to good shots. It was almost Stockton-to-Malone-ian.

Also, Katie Paddock pulled down 16 rebounds last night. It doesn't atter if you're playing a team that could lose all their games or win all their games, 16 rebounds against anyone is very impressive.

Posted by Keith Lobdell at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The meeting last night between the town and village boards was very well attended, with all of the board members and about 20 others on hand for the meeting.

The main issue that was talked about was if the two should conduct a feasibility study to find areas where the two municipalities could save money by sharing or consolidating services. The two boards set up a committee of Pat Norton, Dave Hollister and Carol Greenough to look into the funding for a study, and the board will also include one taxpayer.

The issue of the OTB Garden Time property was also discussed, with a new player in the where should the town move game. Skenesborough Fire Department has made an intiital offer to let the town use part of their building, but no formal offer has been made as of yet.

Posted by Keith Lobdell at 12:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)