WAWARSING – If you had a quarter of a million dollars, what would you do with it? For the Town of Wawarsing, this isn't a mere rhetorical question. The town currently has available $254,000 it has collected over the past decade from what are known as cable "franchise fees." These fees, which amount to a few dollars each month, are paid by local residents as part of their cable bill.

Now, the town is contemplating spending a significant part of this money — $155,000, to be exact — to provide broadband cable service to residents in some of the more rural sections of town. The roads the town is currently considering are four roads in the Ulster Heights-Napanoch area (Spook Hole Road, Camp Road, Irish Cape Road, Bennett Road, and Geiger Road) and one road in Cragsmoor (Laurel Mountain Road). If the project were to go forward, it would provide cable access to approximately 50 Wawarsing homes that currently cannot receive the service.  > MORE