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HOMES EVERY WEEK! Times of Ti

May 18, 2019

suncommunitynews.com

• EDITION •

UVM Health Network shares longterm plan Preserving rural health care with strategic connections By Kim Dedam STA FF W RITER

ELIZABETHTOWN | Strategic planning determined to address rural health-care needs relies on network services here. Key elements of their long-term plan were presented by University of Vermont Health Network President/CEO Dr. John Brumsted and Elizabethtown Community Hospital (ECH) CEO John Remillard at a breakfast meeting with civic leaders recently. With the network’s top brass was Dr. David Clauss, recently named medical director of Emergency Department services at ECH.

» ECH Cont. on pg. 2

Ticonderoga Central Schools Superintendent John McDonald Jr. answers questions about the upcoming budget at a public hearing in Hague. Photo by Tim Rowland

INSURANCE QUESTIONED Hague residents ask why school healthcare costs so high By Tim Rowland STA FF W RITER

UVM Health Network President/CEO Dr. John Brumsted provided local stakeholders with an update on the network’s growth and focus on sustainable rural health-care systems. Photo by Kim Dedam

HAGUE | Residents of Hague questioned the richness of Ticonderoga Central School system’s health-care plan last week, at a public hearing where administrators explained how its 2019-20 budget fell so far out of balance. Over the past year and a half, the school system has been rocked by a nearly 40

percent increase in health insurance for reasons that are not entirely clear. A family insurance plan now costs the system about $27,000, of which the employee pays 10 percent. Because of the spike, employees have seen their share of insurance costs rise as well. But one member of the audience noted that health insurance alone is costing schools more than the entire salary of some people who work in retail or fast food. “That’s a sin,” he said. Hague Deputy Supervisor Steve Ramant said the board should reconsider the percentage that employees pay for their health plans. Ten percent “is a walk in the park compared to the regular world,” he said.

“You put the burden back on the taxpayers, and I think that’s ridiculous.”

VOTE TUESDAY

The board is contractually bound for now to its current plan, and administrators said they have priced insurance from all different angles and found nothing cheaper. Residents will go to the polls Tuesday to vote on a $23 million budget that would break the tax cap and increase the levy by 9.57 percent. If the budget does not pass, the board has indicated it will present a new budget that stays within the cap but cuts about a dozen employees, including seven teaching positions, and will eliminate the schools’ sports programs. » Insurance Cont. on pg. 3

Assessments, not taxes, going up

Former student, prof appointed president of NCCC

Assessors say new valuations required by state By Tim Rowland STA FF W RITER

TICONDEROGA | Property owners in southern Essex County received notification last week that their assessments are increasing, but town officials were quick to point out that this, in and of itself, does not mean that taxes are going up, and in some instances the new values could even drive taxes down. Taxes are determined by government budgets. But town assessors say that never stops a wave of protest from people who receive notifications of higher assessments and assume it equates to a tax hike. “They automatically call and say, ‘you’ve raised my taxes,’” Ticonderoga assessor Patricia Osier said. “But assessors don’t raise taxes.”

MISUNDERSTANDINGS North Country Community College’s newly appointed President Joseph Keegan (second from right) poses with SUNY Chancellor Kristina M. Johnson (far left), SUNY Board of Trustees Chairman H. Carl McCall (far right) and NCCC Board of Trustees Chairman Steve Reed (second from left) on May 8, the day his appointment was approved by state officials. Photo provided by NCCC

Joseph Keegan takes helm June 16 By Kim Dedam STA FF W RITER

SARANAC LAKE | A former student and faculty member has been named president of North Country Community College (NCCC).

Big Country 22A Hardware .com

Broughton’s

Joseph Keegan, Class of 1989, will become the seventh president of the Essex and Franklin counties’ sponsored community college on June 16. In an announcement, college spokesman Chris Knight said the SUNY Board of Trustees approved the appointment last Wednesday. And the college community, he said, is thrilled. “There’s a real excitement among our faculty and staff on campus today about this appointment,” he said. » Keegan Cont. on pg. 7

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Ticonderoga officials were worried about two other potential misunderstandings — that the new valuations were in some way tied to a new water system that is in the process of coming online, or a school tax-cap override that will go to a vote next week. Neither has anything to do with the new assessments. The state requires that property be valued at 100 percent of its worth, and if those valuations fall too far below that benchmark, the towns and schools are penalized by a reduction in state revenue. Property values are based on comparable sales. Moriah assessor Paul Mazzotte said assessments were up 6 percent across the board. He said the town was notified by that state that its valuations were dropping below 95 percent and were headed even lower, toward the 80s. When that happens, the state begins to subtract revenues from utility franchises such as cable, STAR and veteran exemptions. “They don’t take it away from the veteran, they take it away from the town,” Mazzotte said. » Assessments Cont. on pg. 5


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