TRR photo by Tom Kane Farmer Neal Fitzgerald worries that this bridge, which connects to an adjoining field, may wash out in the next storm. The bridge was damaged as a result of flooding on September 18.

Ivan and FEMA—bad news for farmers

By TOM KANE

RIVER VALLEY—Local farmers who suffered big storm losses have gotten no real help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

“All FEMA will give me is a low-interest loan and I don’t need another loan,” said dairy farmer Jack Diehl of Kenoza Lake. “I’ve got enough loans already.

“It’s a long process and you only get 50 cents on the dollar that’s reimbursable,” Diehl said.

Organic farmers Neal Fitzgerald and John Gorzynski, both of Cochecton, NY, and dairyman Andy Weist of Honesdale, PA, all said about the same thing.

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Highland taxes to rise 14.5 percent

By DAVID HULSE

ELDRED, NY—In the largest single-year tax increase in recent memory, the Highland Town Board on November 9 approved a $1.57 million appropriations budget for 2005. The budget will require a 14.5-percent increase in town property taxes.

Supervisor Allen Schadt said the increase would raise the rate per $1,000 of assessed valuation from $4.42 last year to $4.95, which remains lower than it was in the three years prior to 2004.

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Kenoza Lake development passes hurdle

By TOM KANE

HORTONVILLE, NY—The Town of Delaware Planning Board approved the environmental assessment review, called SEQRA, of the proposed Kenoza Lake Development.

Marc Dubrovsky, a developer from Pond Eddy, has purchased 390 acres around the lake and would build the development in two phases. The first would see 25 lots of five acres each around the lake. The second phase, to begin at an undetermined date, would see another 25 homes. The lake takes up 80 acres of the property.

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Other stories in this issue:

• Township pursues two scofflaws
• Lumberland taxes go up 12.1 percent
• Tusten planners address Main Street building delays
• Pike signs off on data link plan
• Child injured in home accident
• County okays drug discount card
• Shohola to see a 16-percent tax increase
• Veterans Day remembrances

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S