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I Volume 156, Nwnber 33 I .... - \ _- - ~: - .1~: ;:\ i , \First Republican Newspaper PriAted in U.S. A.\ THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20,2011 • . . ~. Westfield, New York Price 75¢ WACS board hears how new tax bill will affect budget ~-----~----------.. ;uper majority aspect of the consequences could be dire By JENNA LOUGHLIN EDITOR WESTFIELD - If vot- ers are confused about the property tax cap bill which recently passed in New York State, they are not alone. ' increase in the tax levy for next school year, the district would only be able. to increase its revenue by around $105,988. · \The governor and state legislature would like peo- ple to think that there's tax cap now in New York State,\ Holbrook said. \There 1 s not.u bill is that while school for the school since it would budgets are subject to a have to adopt a contingent public vote and thus needs and the rules for that have · 60 percent of those who also changed with·the' voter show up to the polls, coun- approved threshold.bill. The tax cap legislation, which attorneys are sug- gesting districts call a voter approved threshold instead, ties, villages and towns are \The Contingent budget only required to have 60 impact is huge,\ Holbrook percent of the governing said. Business ma'llager AI Holbrook gave a presenta- tion to the Westfield Academy and Central School Board of Education at its last meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 11 explaining what the new bill means for ~he district. While it first appeared the tax cap bill was not going to pass, the bill was tied in to a rent control bill and thus gained enough votes to make it law. The new rules will take effect in the 2012-13 school year and the bill will sunset in 2016. does not actually restrict the Photo by Janna Loughlin amount a municipality can Westfield Academy and Central School Board of or cannot raise the tax levy. Education Vice President Tony Plsicoli, right, asks questions of the district's business manager AI What is does is create Holbrook, left, durlns the school board's meeting penalties and consequences on Tuesday, Oct. 11 during Holbrook's presenta· if a budget is not passed. tlon to the board regarding the new tax legislation This is different than the passed In New York State. body vote for a larger In the past, a contingent increase to get it to pass. budget could actually have That meall'S for a village or had a higher tax levy to go town board with five mem- along with it which could bers, i'f three of them vote have decreased the likeli- for a tax levy increase hood voters would reject it. above the voter approved Now what will happen if a threshold, it passes. budget is' defeated is a con- One of Holbrook's fears tingent budget will be with this new legislation is imposed and the tax levy that since the school budget will be set at the prior is tht; only one voted on by year's tax levy with no the public and since the adjustments. Therefore, school budget is the last of multiple years of the budget the local builgets to be being votM down could approved, voters will take really hurt a district. What this new bill will change for the school board is how it set the district's tax levy, which is different than the tax rate. A§surning a 2 percent maximum populi!:r view that the bill cent confmement. ~Pe State of New York - a will keep tax levy increases In essence, a municipality super majority of voters is to between I and 2 percent or school board can increase needed to do it. Currently a depending on the inflation the tax levy by whatever super majority is defined as factor. amount it wants, but if it is 60 percent of the voters, but any frustration they might \Now people come into have over municipalities the voting, they really do raising taxes beyond what have an ill)pact,\ Holbrook they thought could be done said. \They really do have a out on the .school budget say.\ \It doesn't work out that. outside of the voter that percentage is one of the way, but that's what the approved threshold - that parts of the bill to which general public believes to I to 2 percent, depending changes are still being dis- be in place,\ Holbrook said the inflation factor and a cussed. , and vote it down. of the between l and 2 per- complicated formula set by The tricky part of this Should that happen, the See WACS, Page 4 Running for the cure By JULIE MARIE BUSH WESTFIELD - It is not easy for any parent to find out that their child will have lifelong health complications. Westfield resident Amanda Roets is not letting this chal- lenge knock her off her feet - she's fighting back. Roets, along with fellow runners and friends Scott Gorski and Liz Keicher representing Team \Take That,\ will be running in the New York City Marathon to raise money for the Spina Bifida Association on Sunday, Nov. 6. All three parents and their spouses know the struggles of raising a child with Spina Bifida firsthand. Photo by Elakle G. Cole Photo by ElUte G. Cole Roets is a mother of 1- year-old son Max who was diagnosed with Spina Bifida and a cleft lip and palate about 20 weeks into her pregnancy. Her and her hus- band Tim found out through a blood test and a sonogram during her pregnancy that her son wasn't healthy.\The news from the doctors was \shocking unexpected and something you never want to happen,\ Roets said. Sherman Central School agriculture teacher Kelly Sherman Central School third grade teacher Maleski's presented the topic of grapes as part of Kristin Goldberg tells her students all about the the Farm to School profam, ancr her horticulture history of grapes In the southwest corner of class gained ftrst han experience of skinning Chautauqa,a County and many other facts abo\t grapes which were used make grape meringue raising grapes while eacb ~tU.<lo{lt enjoye<l a (»~~ for the Sherman co~ Harvest sup{)er bunc:h of the fruit as part Cit' fi fQnn to Sl!llovl . \\! lpt Tuesday In the fire hair. . program. ·:Farm to School pilot program held in Sherman By ELAINE G. COLE of raising and harvesting grapes. Some CORRESPONDENT of them became grape farmers and SHERMAN - The main topic in Welch built a factory to process the Sherman Central School last week was fruit into juice and eventually also grapes. making grape jelly and jam. The busi- Tuesday, Oct. 11 through Thursday, ness grew and Welch hired numerous Oct. 13, every student learned about local people to work in his factory raising and harvesting grapes thanks to which eventually was comprised of a Farm to School pilot program. several buildings. Goldberg gave other Teachers, teat:her aides and the school facts and also played a CD that demon- nurse, Deanie Thorsell, were the strated the kind of work that must be instructors and between them they visit- done in a vineyard so a good crop will ed each classroom and shared the infor- be produced. · mation using a variety -of props. Each ThorseU explained some \grapes of one prepared and presented a certain math\ facts to Joel Fisher's fifth and aspect about raising and harvesting the sixth graders. They each bad a sample fruit. of grapes to eat and also had a cookie Third grade teacher Kristin with grape juice on it. She said the crop Goldberg talked about how the indus- needs sunshine, but too much sun can try of grapes fiTSt began in Westfield. make the grapes rot. There are 38 vari- Tbe kids learned that grapes were eties of grapes, but the only ones grown ' inttoduced there by Dr. Charles Welch. in our area are Concord, Catopra and He had lived previously in Watkins Niagara. The state of Washington is the Glen and it was there be started raising number one producer of the product, grapes in 1896. After one year of sue-· New York State is second and third cess there he moved to Westfield and Michigan. There are numerous prod- inttoduced the people to the occupation ucts that are made with grapes such as jelly, jam, pies and juice. They are also \His lesion is pretty high. used in some cereals and a host of other it's an L2L3, so he doesn't items, Thorsell said. move his legs a whole lot,\ Being a grape farmer is not the easi- she explained. \It's a ques- est task. It takes a lot of work and much tion of will he be able to Photo by Julie Marte Bush of the success is determined by the walk. He probably won't be Amanda Roets~ pictured weather. The grape season is a short able to walk without the wHh her 1-year-old son, one and it doesn't start until certain assistance of braces, walker Max, will be running lo rut h \ the New York City conditions concerning the fruit are met. or c c es. Marathon to raise The Farm to Scbool idea is a pilot Her son spent the first money for the Spina program that originated with the three months of his life in Biflda Association. Chautauqua County .Agricultural th~ hospit_al, restricted to . Center with Cornel Cooperative ly~ng on his st~rnach. Max has bad seven surgenes and Extension and the school carried it out: ~il~ face more _m the. future. ~e bas several therapy. ses- Its purpose is to create a healthy place stons a week, mcludmg phystcal therapy, occu~a~tonal to live, work and play with locl.lJ poople therapy and speech therapy. ~e has .regular vts.tts ~o working toward improving nutrition in Buffa~o W ~men. and Children s Hospll~l and Shm~r s the h l b · prod ts fro 1 al Hospital lll Ene to see a neurologiSt, urologtst, sc oo y usmg uc m oc rth edi 1 · d d 1 tal 'al f .o opa st, p ashe surgeon an eve opmen spec1 - armers. . The trial program concluded with a tsts. . C · 1 H 1 d\ 1 1 Max's therapy and bard work are paymg off; he can ommum y arves mner as . · d d d ull hi lf .. d' \ Tuesday at the fixe ball. The food was roll, Sit m _epen ently. an P. rose .orw~ .a .ew ·ded b 1 al the barv ts f 1 al mches on his belly. He 1s startmg to get around m his new prov1 Y oc es 0 oc pediatric wheel chair. farmers. To help manage Max's care and many appointments, Send comments on this article to Roets went from working full-time as a physical therapist editorial@westfteldrepublican.com. See RUNNING, Page 4 Everyone safe and sound after a ftre on a windy night By JENNA I.OUGHUN The house belongs to an elderly EDROR J.a4y who lives alone. but was able to WESTFIELD - Second story cur- make it out of the house uninjured tains and police tape flapped freely in and call911. There was no loss of life the breeze at 17 West Pearl Street in due to the blaze -humans or pets - W estfi.eld only a few days after the and no one was injuxed. lwuse caught fue_ The house. direcdy across the Tempoiary housing. clothing and meals were item& pwvided to ensure the emergency needs of the home- owner. The Red Cross will continue to assist the homeowne.r with addi- tional services and referrals, if need- ed. !he fll'e broke out around 11:30 street from the railroad tracks. was p.p1, on Saturday. Oct. 15. and tbree deemed unlivable by the Westfield fire <:9mpanies responded to the call. Village Board on Monday. Oct. 17 It took Portland. Ripley and and will probably be condemned. Westfield fuefigb.teiS to put out the . The American Red Cross Disaster flames. spraying the house from all Action . Team volunteers David sides. Bven with the windy condi- Brown and Sue Shearer of Westfield tiom;. the house was not consumed from the Chautauqua Count;y Dislflct and, DOne of the sUIIoWlding hbuses of the Southwestern New York suffered any damage thanks to the Chaptet were dispatched to provide bard work and fast respome of the disaster relief assistance to meet the All Red Cross disaster assistance is an outright gift. It is only made possi- ble through the generous contribu- tions of the Ameru:an people and the tesidents of Chautauqua County. The United Ways of Chautauqua Count.)( ptovide financial support to the Chapter·s l0eall disastei 1elief pru~ A ftre SaturdaJ ~ at 17 West \'Pa:.\S;:f: gram. Westlleld was quidd.J put out by ftreftgbters from three local departments and no fatalities or Send comments on this article to injuries were reported, other than the house fue c;lepaitments- emergency needs of the homeowner. editorial@westfieldrepublican.com. itself. · Look For Us Online At www.wesljieldrepublkan.tom And Oa Facebook In This Week's Republican ... nme to rak0 uv th0:se teave~ I. • ,Leaf pick up in the ViUage of Weslfield begins on Mond~~ Oct. 24 at 7 a.m. iD Area 1 and' wiJfll continue tluiough the Village until Frida3r~ No.-v. urap¢ b~ It book • Ao.dy Dufresne · publishes · .. guide . book to tb.e Grape : Belt region. 7 7 ts. Page6 PagelS 1 I I f•• ....... • ' •• ' \' ·~~ ~~~~~':\!! ' ~ - - - • • • • - • ~ .t - ' - ~ ~- -~~ ~ '\\\' ~ ,~ .... _ \ ·- .. - I
