By Brian Rubin Monday night's village board meeting kept people guessing regarding the future of the area's youth services programs this year, as the board approved a pledge of $100,000, falling short of the previously proposed $120,000 even split to fund the $238,000 program with the Town of Wawarsing. The decision to pledge less funds comes on the heels of recently reported financial woes the village is experiencing, causing Mayor Jeff Kaplan and village trustees to cut the costs of programs and services across the board.

The setback comes after a breakthrough pledge on the part of the town board of Wawarsing at last Thursday's meeting, during which the board unanimously decided to pledge $180,000, which would have doubled the amount of money devoted to the proposed summer program. The board did so in the hopes that the village would be able to match its contribution, a hope dashed after Monday's meeting. The village's lowered pledge will presumably cause the town to reduce its own commitment at the next town board meeting.

Sam Bugna, Director of Youth Services for the Ellenville/Wawarsing Youth Commission, expressed her disappointment at the setbacks her programs are experiencing.

"As a village resident, I'm shocked and dismayed," she says of the probable reduction in the proposed program's services. "As a mom, I'm fearful that because of the current situation, parents like myself, who are working parents, may have to miss out on a great opportunity for the summer. As an employee, I completely understand that the town and the village need to do what they need to do, and that they need to figure out where they're at and what is feasible. But I am a little frustrated that the process has taken so long."

However, Bugna wants to ensure that nothing stands between Ellenville and Wawarsing's kids and the proposed youth services program.

"I will work on this budget myself," says Bugna of her willingness to commit to the project to safeguard its implementation. "I will be happy to sit down with the budget, and I will find a way to trim $40,000."

Some of the proposed cuts to the summer program to help make the YMCA's proposal more affordable included reducing the program from 9 weeks to 7 weeks, a prospect that Bugna feels will eliminate one of the program's most beneficial features.

"A lot of people have jobs where maybe they're in a financial position where they're not planning on going away for vacation," says Bugna. "But they save their days all year just so they can take that last week of June and that last week of August off from work because they have no place to put their kids."

As the program was proposed, the average cost for families who would enroll their kids in the summer camp program would balance out to about 50 cents an hour, a figure Bugna mentioned at Monday's village board meeting.

Monday's meeting also featured a heated exchange between Mayor Jeff Kaplan and town councilman John Gavaris. When Kaplan began to talk about cutting the amount of money from $118,000 to $100,000, Gavaris commented about how "he knew this would happen." Kaplan shot back, reiterating his claims that the town should be responsible for funding the entirety of the youth programs, much like some other towns throughout the region that fund youth services without separate contributions from the village budgets. Later, Kaplan apologized to Gavaris for the exchange.

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