Volume 17, Issue 8
Serving Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall
Friday, June 4, 2010
Lightly attended Bearing witness to sacrifice “The more things change, the Middlefield town more they stay the same” could certainly be said of the meeting passes budget annual Memorial Day parade By Chuck Corley Special to the Town Times
After weeks of waiting for the school budget to pass, the town of Middlefield finally held its town budget meeting on Tuesday, June 1. As initially presented, the total budget amounted to $15,243,800, with $3,806,288 of this in town expenses, and a total mill rate of 27.39 mills. This represents an increase of 1.7 mills from the 2009-2010 budget, with .77 mills resulting from an increase in town expenses. Although these were the numbers initially presented to the town, a few changes were made to the budget before the night was through. The most significant of these were proposed by the Board of Finance, with chairman Rebecca Adams motioning for the removal of $294,033 from both the expenditures and revenue sides of the budget. This represents 14 percent of Middlefield’s portion of the Educational Cost Sharing grant that typically goes through the town before reaching the school. However, 14 percent of the ECS grant is going directly to the school from the federal government. Because of this, Adams wanted to avoid paying for a greater portion of the school budget than the town is supposed to. This was but one of the amendments Adams proposed, with three other, smaller adjustments making it into her motion. One was to increase the Board of Finance budget from $1,000 to $2,000 to cover various fees, while a $6,800 increase was also proposed in line-item 6075, Other Legal Fees, to cover anticipated legal costs relating to bond counseling. The final item in Adams’ amendment was the elimination of the Park and Recreation Director’s supplementary salary of $2,300. This supplementary salary is supposed to be generated by Park and Recreation itself, with a matching amount of money on the revenue side of the budget. Adams eliminated the salary as it is uncertain just how much revenue Park and Recreation may generate. When put up for a vote, the amendment met with substantial approval, with 35 members of the public voting in its favor, resulting in a $7,800 increase to See Middlefield budget, page 12
In this issue ... Calendar ...............................................................4 CRHS Awards ................................................35-38 Devil’s Advocate ............................................27-34 Durham Briefs & Library..................................39 Middlefield Briefs & Library ........................12-13 Obituary..............................................................43 Scouts & 4H.........................................................39 Sports..............................................................41-42
and ceremony in Durham. Always included are veterans, right, somber as a wreath is laid at the war memorial; flags in local cemeteries honoring veterans of wars as distant in time as the American Revolution, below; and young people, in this case scouts, who will no doubt someday carry on this beloved tradition as leaders. More on pages 16-17.
Photos by Sue VanDerzee