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GOWANDA PRESS
The preferred local newspaper of the Gowanda Area Chamber of Commerce
Walking the ‘Way of the Cross’
April 21-27, 2017
Gowanda school board approves $30M budget Spending plan to be voted on May 16 By Rich Place
Managing Editor
Press photo by Rich Place
Wally Samick, a member of St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, leads a group down Walnut Street on Good Friday as part of the Way of the Cross walk throughout downtown Gowanda. Participants in the procession made 14 stops along a 1.5-mile route and took turns carrying the cross. The event was organized by the Gowanda Ministerial Association.
Gowanda VFD to host open house
By Rich Place
Managing Editor
GOWANDA — When Nick Crassi joined the Gowanda Volunteer Fire Department in 1977, he had to wait three months to get in because the department was filled to capacity at 125 members. Unfortunately, times are different now and Crassi, who is now fire chief, is hoping
GOWANDA — It may have involved an extra meeting a few days before its deadline, but the Gowanda School Board of Education on Tuesday officially approved its proposed 2017-18 school budget that practically held the line on spending. The $30 million spending plan includes a 1.39 percent increase in the tax levy but reflects only 0.29 percent in additional spending compared to the current school year. The proposed budget will be voted on by district taxpayers during the
annual budget vote on Tuesday, May 16. The budget includes a variety of staffing changes — most notably the addition of a middle school principal — and anticipates new programming next school year, such as a rifle team, an elementary intramural and educational after-school program and a new automated system to call substitute teachers. The board had originally budgeted $120,364 for a new middle school position but recently added $16,032 to that figure because of the amount of experience the hired candidate, Todd Miklas.
the department’s hosting of the statewide RecruitNY weekend on April 29 and 30 will lead to a few new volunteers signing up. “We are going full blast on this,” said Crassi about the evening. “We are going to have examples of what firefighters do, between working hoselines and working the aerials and high angle rescue. We are going See Fire, Page 24
See Budget, Page 24