Island Dispatch, 2001-04-13

              Island DISPATCH — Founded 1944 • Complete Community Coverage 56 Years As the Voice of Grand Island Award Winning Newspapers i The Official Newspaper of the Town of Grand Island and the Grand Island School District APRIL 17,2001 20 pages 65C V01.56 No. 48 (716) 773-7676 Dinner page 20 Hoops Stars page 13 Graduates page 8 Erie County approves Inter-Municipal Agreement with Grand Island Story by Paul Lane and Cassandra Fallacaro Photo by Paul Lane Grand Island Supervisor Peter McMahon went before the Erie County Legislature to address the issue of assessment consolidation during the legislature's, meeting Thursday, April 5 at the county building in Buffalo. The legislature unanimously approved Grand Island's part-time - hiring of the Town of Tonawanda's assessor, David Unmack. as an Inter- Municipal contract between Grand Island and Erie County for one year. Unmack has been hired to work for ten hours a week for Grand Island at a flat rate of $25,000 per year to be paid to the county. This represents a significant savings from the estimated $51,000 it would cost the town to replace the full time position after salary, benefits and car allowance were factored in, said McMahon. After the one-year agreement, any of the involved parties can chose to withdrawal from the pact. "We have never done anything like this in the county of Erie," said Erie County Legislature Chairman Charles Swanick. "This (consolidating services) is what we should be doing much more of. The decision from Erie County came after the Grand Island Town Board approved the agreement during their, Town Board meeting on Monday, April 2. The Board approved the venture 4-1, with Councilman Kevin Rustowicz voting no on the issue. Rustowitcz said that he was not completely satisfied with the agreement's accountability and was unsure how it would affect G.I.H.S. wind ensemble to perform at Dixie Classic Invitational The Grand Island Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Martin T. Allen, will be performing at the Dixie Classic Grand National Invitational at Chattanooga, Tennessee April 20 and 21. This is a very elite invitation, sent to groups who received Superior ratings at last year's National Invitational in Atlanta, Georgia. The Wind Ensemble is an auditioned group of 50 Grand Island Brass, Woodwind and Percussion 1 musicians. These students rehearse daily at 7:30 a.m. Besides putting in daily practice on their instruments, they attend several sectional rehearsals at 6:30 a.m. to prepare for this honor. This trip is financed by the students, who have been Fundraising since early October. The Grand Island Teacher's Center has also provided the Music Department with a grant to help defray costs. The following Grand Island students will be performing this year: Alexandra Heaney, Kristin Ungaro, Nicole Kalisz, Nikki Zito, Sigrid Maerz, Jolie Dahistrom, Rachel Pierce, Cara O'Donnell, Nicole Tourot, Sarah Rott, Rachel Lazelle, Laura Delong, Allison Siehnel, Christina Knight, Mike Amato, Stephanie Brown, Ashley Darin, Hoyt secures funds for Grand Island Assemblyman Sam Hoyt recently announced that he has secured $50,000 in transportation funding for the Town of Grand Island from the state Multi-Modal fund. Every year, the legislature and the Governor«designate a set amount of funds to legislators through the Multi-Modal Program that may be used to finance projects for. construction, reconstruction, improvement reconditioning or preservation of roads, highways, parkways and bridges. The funds will be dedicated to the Town of Grand Island Highway Department's budget for paving projects. Securing this $50,000 will enable the Highway Department to free up money in its budget to purchase a much needed piece of snow removal equipment. "Adequate snow removal has been an issue in Grand Island for some time," Hoyt said. "It was a top School board finalizes budget by Paul Lane The Grand Island School Board finalized a $34,964,063 budget at their meeting Monday night in the district office conference room. The last addition to the budget was a request from Grand Island High School Principal Dr. James Dempsey for funds to, among other things, bring on teaching assistants in the learning center. The new assistants, which were approved by the board, will be for math, science and English. ~. The-total figure for the budget represents a 2.28 percent increase from last year's figure, but is a reduction from the initial proposal of $37 million.The board voted on a final figure, but the actual figures they will have to work with are not yet calculated. They had to approve their budget without knowing the amount of funds they will receive from New York State, as the state budget could be delayed until October, They also had to estimate the assessment figures for Grand Island, as the town just hired a parttime assessor from the Town of Tonawanda last week who has yet to calculate those figures. . "This is the most difficult budget I've ever known in terms of movement," said Superintendent Dr. Paul Fields. "Ldon't think we can get any information that would change anything," added School Board President Dr. Richard McCOwan. The board moved their regular April meeting to Tuesday, April 24 at 7 p.m. in the Middle School Little Theater. There will be a budget hearing Tuesday, May 1 at 7 p.m. at the Middle School, and the public vote will occur Wednesday, May 15 in the high school gym. Fun for all at Easter egg hunt Many fun-seeking Island residents braved the elements and took part in the Tops Easter egg hunt last Saturday morning in the Tops parking lot. Children in five age groups made their way through a light rain and piles of damp hay to search for the prize-winning eggs. Every child that participated received a small prize from Tops. The Easter Bunny also made an appearance at the event, greeting children and providing hugs for all. continued on page 2 DW continued on page 2 US' continued an page 2 csp I d at a Glance ! ! . ! i ElimS- I GRAND ISLAND MEMORIAL LIBRARY CLOSED Good Friday Saturday MEN'S BREAKFAST Bible Presbyterian Church. 1650 Love Rd. 9 a.m. Sunday DYNGUS DAY CELEBRATION HOMEMADE PEROGIE SALE V.F.W. Post #9249, 2121 Grand Island Blvd. noon to 7 p.m.