York Town News
Purchase of Strawberry Island on schedule
By Larry Favinger
YORK - The Harbor Board's purchase of Strawberry Island is moving along smoothly.Steve Roberts, the board's chairman, told the Board of Selectmen Monday night that $150,000 of the $250,000 purchase price that was previously negotiated with Strawberry Island owner Sarah Newick has been paid, with additional $50,000 payments due in January of 2007 and 2008 to complete the sale.
"We are fully funding that project," he told the board.
That was the agreement when the purchase was originally approved and, Roberts said, no direct taxpayers funds have been or will be included.
He said the money is coming from the fees for using the harbor and grants are being actively and aggressively pursued. The board has already received a $50,000 grant from state conservation.
At the present time, he said, Harbor Board has $132,000 in the bank without additional revenues that are produced.
In a related project, Roberts said the upgrading of Town Dock 1 is also moving forward with a grant in hand to cover the engineering costs and come up with a plan to improve that area.
Also at the meeting, Town Manager Robert Yandow told the selectmen the tax bills were to be sent out Tuesday, July 25, and the tax rate has been established at $8.14, a decrease of 32 cents.
The board also heard a report from Yandow that York's beaches have fared well in testing this summer. There will be a meeting of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Healthy Beaches Program on Aug. 3 at the bathhouse on Long Sands Beach at a time still to be determined.
In other business, the selectmen approved taking $49.92 from the contingency account to cover an overdraft in the local Circuit Breaker program. The contingency balance is $10,451.
