News
Hurt by falling patient volumes, especially in the area of orthopedic surgery, the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital is on track to end its year in red ink on an operating basis for the first time in nearly a decade.
Hospital chief executive officer Tim Walsh said this week that while steps have been taken to beef up orthopedic services, he is projecting an operating deficit of about $750,000. The hospital fiscal year runs from April 1 through March 31.
Amid deep concern over the town’s economic future Edgartown town administrator Pamela Dolby announced in a letter sent yesterday that no municipal employees will receive a cost of living adjustment (COLA) to their salaries this year.
“We are struggling to fund operating budgets, fixed costs, and articles needed by various departments,” Ms. Dolby wrote in a letter to all departments, adding that anticipated state funding cuts remain one of several unknown quantities.
In another indication of the struggling economy both here and across the nation, Oak Bluffs town leaders on Tuesday reported a projected budget shortfall of $336,000 for the current fiscal year, due largely to declining revenues tied to the sharp downturn in new construction.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Good Morning! The Gazette office will be closed on Monday in observance of the national holiday. The office will reopen on Tuesday morning, Jan. 20, inauguration day for the 44th President of the United States.
Predicitify, an online feature at the inaugurally feverish Washington Post, can’t yet guess what color tie President Obama will be wearing when he drops the hyphen-elect from his job title (bets favor solid blue). But Washington lawyer and longtime seasonal Islander Cara Grayer Johnson can predict exactly what her husband and father will be wearing around their necks when they hand over tickets to attend the inauguration Tuesday: her own designs.
Funds for Grants Available
Through Edey Foundation
The Edey Foundation, founded by the late Maitland Edey of Seven Gates Farm, announces funds available for grants to Island nonprofit organizations.
The purpose of the foundation is to provide money for conservation and environmental programs on Martha’s Vineyard. Submissions that relate to ongoing conservation, energy, education, and scientific studies are welcome. The foundation does not fund construction or building projects.