ELLENVILLE – Illustrating a stark contrast from the mob scene at last week's public hearing on Walmart, only 11 people made their way to the first floor court room in the Government Center this Monday, where the village board held a public hearing to discuss a May 1 referendum to draw down from the $4.5 million "Mountain Money" fund to pay off the government's $1.1 million deficit.

The deficit's origins have been pinned mostly on a questionable budgeting practice the village employed, wherein unsold properties — such as the former village hall, the Hunt Memorial building, and various parking lots around the village — were included as anticipated revenues leading to the village unavoidably overspending its budget. If the referendum were approved by village voters, the funding to pay off the deficit would come from the $4.5 million fund gained from the 1997 sale of the Sam's Point Dwarf Pine Ridge Preserve to the Open Space Institute, hence the name "Mountain Money."   > MORE

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