Ulster County executive Pat Ryan signed his first-ever budget on December 12 at Esopus’ town hall. The budget includes a quarter-of-one-percent tax-levy decrease, and totals $342.28 million, an increase of four percent over 2019’s $329.26-million budget.
A proposed policy currently under consideration by the Saugerties Town Board is an attempt to more clearly define what town officials can and can’t say when speaking on the town’s behalf.
On Thursday, Dec. 12 a fast-approaching Mack truck cut through the early-morning hush of Route 212 in the Town of Saugerties, just a few minutes away from depositing another load of construction and demolition debris at Joe Karolys’ dump. But after 10 months of court-ordered inaction in enforcing the numerous stop-work orders issued to Karolys, this morning there was action.
The Saugerties Town Board has approved a budget for 2020 that will increase spending by 3.06 percent, a total of $393,322, from this year’s $13.2 million dollar plan.
The Ulster County Legislature passed a measure forbidding county appointees from holding elected office 12-11. But County Executive Pat Ryan said this week that he will veto the measure, which has — intentionally or not — been taken as an attack on Deputy County Executive Dan Torres, who’s also a New Paltz town councilman.
For the first time in its history, the Ulster County Legislature voted to condemn one of its own, New Paltz Democrat Hector Rodriguez, for sexual harassment and predatory behavior. Rodriguez’s expressionless face loomed over the room, projected onto a wall by a too-close webcam that he used to Skype into the meeting, while legislators voted 17-5 for his censure. His screen went black during the voting; Rodriguez abstained from the vote and made no comment.
A potential conflict of interest for Saugerties Town Justice Chris Kraft in the matter of accused illegal dumpsite owner Joe Karolys caused the trial on misdemeanor charges that Karolys accepted dumping of construction and demolition debris on his three Saugerties properties outside of a court-mandated 7 a.m.-3 p.m. window to be moved to Woodstock Town Court. Now, it seems another conflict of interest may result in the trial having to be moved again.
In a 10-page ruling, Judge Richard Mott annulled the Ulster County Ethics Board’s finding that by voting twice on matters connected to the county’s contract with the CSEA — which affected his wife, a county employee — County Legislator Joe Maloney violated ethics laws.
The county’s proposed campaign finance reform law, which would allow candidates for countywide office or county legislature to tap into a $75,000 fund per year in county money for their campaigns prompted more than a dozen speakers, over half of whom were in opposition and emphatic about their positions, and about 50 onlookers at the county legislature’s public hearing on the proposed law on Tuesday, Nov. 12.
Shivering and chanting on a cold and snowy Tuesday morning, a group of about 30 protestors confronted oncoming trucks laden with construction and demolition debris depositing their loads at 1446 Route 212, the home of Saugerties resident Joe Karolys.