Even though the high school boys’ hockey team punched their ticket into the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association tournament this week with an impressive shutout win over Bourne on Saturday, coach Matt Mincone still feels his team has yet to play its best hockey this season.
Just about every game this season for the boys’ high school basketball team has gone right down to the wire, which has provided last-minute thrills for some fans but conversely has caused something like an ulcer for coach Mike Joyce.
“All these games seemingly are decided by a single shot in the final seconds,” Mr. Joyce said following the Vineyarders’ 86-85 loss to Wareham on Tuesday. “It may be great for the fans, but it’s not easy on the coach. I think they’re trying to give me a heart attack.”
Oak Bluffs selectmen on Tuesday said goodbye to a pair of longtime business owners with a combined 70 years of experience as they approved the transfer of licenses for the Ritz Café on Circuit avenue and King’s Rentals on Circuit avenue extension to new owners.
In a busy meeting, selectmen also heard plans for the dredging of a new channel in Sengekontacket Pond that could vastly improve that waterway’s tidal flow and approved a contract for town administrator Michael Dutton a full 18 months after he was hired.
Although it sounds more like a brand of malt liquor or a famous title from F. Scott Fitzgerald, a new government accounting standard called GASB 45 could force Island towns to open their books and set aside tens of millions of dollars in the coming years for post-retirement benefits for employees.
With little fanfare, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission on Jan. 17 unanimously approved a $1.3 million operating budget for the fiscal year starting July 1.
The budget represents a 4.3 per cent increase in spending over last year; town assessments will go up 3.5 per cent overall.
A majority of the commission’s income comes from the assessments, which are calculated using a formula based on equalized valuations.
Faced with rising operating costs, nearly no growth in the residential and commercial sectors and sharply reduced revenues, Oak Bluffs officials will have to cut spending even more this year as they begin to draft the town’s next operating budget.
Town administrator Michael Dutton on Tuesday told selectmen the town faces a $1 million deficit at the start of this budget season. Although it is early in the process, he noted, and that figure is expected to shrink, the early shortfall is a telling indicator of the tough economy facing the Island.
