Despite the budget for the Labor Day Fireworks exploding into thin air, full time residents, second home owners and day trippers won’t notice anything radically different in Schroon, says Town Supervisor Mike Marnell of the Town's 2013 Budget.

The Town Ski Tow, First Night, the July 4^th Fireworks, Summer Lifeguards at the Beach and the Library were among events and services not impacted.

In fact Marnell says even with the budget cuts, he is doing his best to maintain the quality of life in Schroon and the various programs and services the town offers. One major accomplishment Marnell is proud of is finding funds to help resurface the decaying surface of the town tennis courts, which many tennis players say are dangerous and unplayable.

Photo: Cracks in the Town Tennis Courts

“What we did do was put in $15,000 for improvements

to the town tennis courts, so for the people who enjoy playing tennis, they will have a better playing surface,” Marnell said.

“We will be able to do a lot with that. Two courts will be perfect and the other two will be done the next year, but we will get to them.”

Councilman Roger Friedman said of all of the cuts, he will miss the Labor Day Fireworks the most.

“It was a great event for locals. I always saw faces there that I didn’t see all summer. But there was no money for them.”

Friedman said making the cuts to the Schroon North Hudson Historical Society, the Chamber of Commerce and Schroon lake Arts Council were also painful.

“The Historical Society is solvent and the Arts Council will have to find funds from advertisers to make up the difference.”

Friedman didn’t know how the Chamber would make up for its budget cuts.

“I can honestly say that the Chamber is extremely well run and have always managed their funds.”

Right now, what both Marnell and Friedman and many businesses in town want would be a nice dump of snow. Snow brings snowmobilers and the snow shoe crowd, and this year hundreds for the first ever Sled Dog Races to be held in Schroon. All those events put bums in seats in bars and restaurants and folks in the town’s Bed and Breakfast inns and motels.

And when the snow does fall – Marnell hopes to have ready a slightly used generator for the Town’s Ski Tow, which he recently picked up at an auction in Fort Dix in New Jersey for $250. What’s the big deal, you may ask?.

“It’s 60,000 watts. It’s valued at around $27,000. We need to make around $2,000 repairs to it and it’s ours. We used to rent the generator for the Ski Tow at a cost of around $1,900 per month.”