If the town’s proposed FY22 budget gets a green light at the Annual Town Meeting, town property will see the lowest property tax increase since 2014.
The meeting is set for Monday, Jun. 7 and, if necessary, Jun. 10, at 6 p.m. both nights, at Monument Mountain Regional High School. This is a drive-in, socially distanced meeting similar to last year’s outdoor event. If voters come to the meeting well prepared and familiar with the town meeting warrant, as they have in the past, we could complete our business meeting in one night, said Selectboard Chair Stephen Bannon. We had good public participation this year in budget hearings and look forward to an efficient town meeting.
The Napa Valley College Upper Valley Campus will become St. Helena s City Hall for up to seven years, according to lease terms authorized Tuesday by the City Council.
A new bill filed in the N.C. House of Representatives would allocate more than $750 million to connect Craven and other counties throughout the state to broadband internet access. The move comes as officials from New Bern and other cities have urged lawmakers to step up efforts to bring updated broadband service to eastern North Carolina.
Under House Bill 947, money allocated by the federal government under the American Rescue Plan would be used to increase broadband access throughout North Carolina. Under the newly established Completing Access to Broadband (CAB) program, the bill allocates $400 million in grants that would be made available to every county in the state to help close “broadband gaps.”
The town will narrow Railroad Street every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening on holiday weekends, and on Fridays and Saturdays on non-holiday weekends to create an outdoor café experience for residents and visitors. The plan is subject to weather. The town s outdoor dining setup will remain in place on weekends through the summer, with an expanded live entertainment program beginning in July. Main Street eateries will continue to have outdoor sidewalk seating as they have during the past year. Expanded outdoor dining in 2020 went a long way to helping our local eateries survive the pandemic, said Town Manager Mark Pruhenski. We hope to keep this going this summer and beyond, since it brings such a lively and relaxed atmosphere to downtown.