MAYVILLE – Taxpayers in Mayville, Westfield, Ripley and Brocton could save as much as $3,700,000 a year if a centralized school was created between those communities. That’s according to Roy McMaster, the municipal financial adviser and vice president of Capital Markets Advisors LLC, who spoke during the Chautauqua Lake School board’s workshop meeting last night.

According to today’s Jamestown Post-Journal, McMaster presented the board with enrollment, staffing and financial factors – along with incentive possibilities in creating a regional high school. The information is based on several broad assumptions, and officials were quick to point out that many steps still have to be taken.

State Senator Cathy Young recently proposed legislation for a regional high school – which was unanimously passed in the state Senate. A similar bill has not yet been voted on by the state Assembly.

YOUNG URGES GOVERNOR TO INCREASE FUNDING FOR RURAL SCHOOLS

ALBANY – Senator Young is continuing her effort to provide assistance to rural schools. The Olean republican is helping to spearhead an effort with other Senators who represent upstate districts, asking Governor Andrew Cuomo to give rural schools extra consideration in the upcoming state budget. Senator Young joined 14 of her colleagues in signing a formal letter, requesting a significant boost to rural school aid. Governor Cuomo will release his 2012-13 Executive Budget proposal on January 17.

In December, legislation supported by Senator Young and area Assemblymen Andrew Goodell and Joseph Giglio was passed and signed by the Governor, ensuring a four percent — or $800 million — education increase in the upcoming budget that will be distributed to school districts across the state based on an existing formula that gives poorer districts more dollars per student.

SENATE REPUBLICANS CRITICIZED FOR ADDING EXTRA UPSTATE SENATE SEAT IN REAPPORTIONMENT PROPOSAL

ALBANY – A Democratic member of the state task force charged with drawing new political lines for Senate and Assembly seats in Albany is calling the process “A farce and a waste of money.”

According to an article in Yesterday’s Albany Times Union, Sen. Martin Malave Dilan, D-Brooklyn, is claiming that state Senate Republicans acted quietly and unilaterally to add a seat in the chamber during a recent reapportionment meeting.  Dilan is accusing the GOP of doing its math “working backwards” to manufacture another seat in upstate New York where a Republican would have a chance at winning.

In addition, Dilan says that dispite 14 weeks of public hearings, not once did a member of the public request an additional seat be added to Senate, yet that is what the task force has set out to do.

Dilan and other senate democrats are now urging Gov. Cuomo to veto the lines that are presented by the task force. Cuomo has joined good-government groups in criticizing the reapportionment process, and vowed to veto “lines that are not drawn by an independent commission that are partisan.”

The task force is controlled by the Democrats who dominate the Assembly and Republicans who hold a slim majority in the Senate.

CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF WNY ANNOUNCES 2012 CAMPAIGN GOAL

BUFFALO – Catholic Charities of Buffalo, one of Western New York’s largest human services agencies, will try to raise $10.6 million through its 2012 appeal. The announcement came yesterday from Bishop Edward U. Kmiec of the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo.

The goal is about the same amount raised in 2011, when Catholic Charities was able to reverse a four-year slide in giving.

McKNIGHT TICKETS NOW ON SALE

JAMESTOWN – Tickets are now on sale for next month’s show in Jamestown featuring a multi-platinum selling R&B Singer.

“An Evening with Brian McKnight” will take place Thursday, Feb. 23 at the Jamestown Savings Bank Ice Arena. McKnight has completed 13 albums with over 20 million albums sold throughout his career.  Born in Buffalo, he has played host to his own talk show: “The Brian McKnight Show” and was a major contestant in Donald Trump and NBC’s  “Celebrity Apprentice” television show.

Tickets start at $30. For more information, visit jamestownarena.com, or call the box office at 716.484.2624.

JCC HOSTS ADVISEMENT AND REGISTRATION SESSIONS THURSDAY, FRIDAY

JAMESTOWN – Advisement and registration for individuals who plan to enroll for the spring semester at Jamestown Community College’s Jamestown Campus will be held from 1 to 7 p.m. on January 12 and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on January 13.

Advisement and registration at the Cattaraugus County Campus will be held from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on January 12 and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on January 13.