HARLEM VALLEY — While the New York state budget passed on Thursday, March 31, didn’t cut as much state aid to local school districts as was outlined in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s original proposal, interviews with area school superintendents revealed that while any relief was welcome, there were still very hard decisions left to be made.Because of how infrequently the state passes timely budgets, school districts are often left to budget for their year without definitive information regarding how much state aid they will be receiving. For many schools, state aid constitutes a significant portion of their budgets, and many schools begin drafting their own budgets based on the governor’s budget proposal, which generally features more drastic cuts than the actual budget.Of the three school districts in this area, the Millbrook Central School District relies the least on state aid to fund its operating budget. Millbrook Superintendent Lloyd Jaeger said that roughly $10,000 less would be cut from the school’s state aid than anticipated.“It’s not a restoration,” he clarified, referring to many media reports that referred to the difference in state aid between the governor’s proposal and actual adopted budget as restorations. “It’s diminishing the cuts, and we’ll still have a 1 to a 1.5 percent cut in state aid compared to last year.”Webutuck Superintendent Steven Schoonmaker said that the difference between the governor’s proposal and the actual budget for his district was about $98,000.“It’s less than we would like to have,” he said. “But it’s certainly helpful to the degree that it can be.”Schoonmaker noted that the board was in ongoing discussions with the local school unions (the district is seeking concessions to help restore some of the programs and staff initially slated to be cut) and that the final cuts needed would depend on both the state aid reduction and the result of the union discussions.“Obviously we’ve had preliminary discussions and talks about prioritizing returns based on what we might get, but until we have all the information they are just that — preliminary discussions,” Schoonmaker said.In the Pine Plains Central School District, Superintendent Linda Kaumeyer said the difference between the governor’s proposal and the adopted budget was between $300,000 and $400,000. She pointed out that it was hard to calculate an exact figure, because funding comes from a variety of places, including the Federal Jobs Fund allocation that will be used for the 2011-12 budget and the state aid for capital projects.“Pine Plains has learned to adjust to reduced state aid on an annual basis, going back five years,” Kaumeyer said. “We’re grateful for the fact that the reduction is less than what would have been the case under the governor’s budget.”Neither Webutuck nor Pine Plains had held a board meeting since the state budget was passed or in time for this paper’s press deadline (Webutuck’s was scheduled for April 4 and Pine Plains was held on April 6; coverage of both meetings will be included in the April 14 issue of The Millerton News). Both superintendents said that their boards and administrations would be discussing how the additional funds would be used starting at those meetings.“We will make a complete budget presentation [at the April 6 meeting],” Kaumeyer said, “as is tradition for the first meeting in April. I am sure there will be discussion about the additional funds, and I’m sure the discussion will center on many aspects. We’ll be deciding or talking about the budget-to-budget increase and what kind of impact various budget scenarios will have on the tax levy. We’ll continue to show a three-year projection outward, and since the possibility of a 2 percent tax cap is still in the picture, that will be factored into the analysis as well.”“By April 18 the board has to adopt the budget,” Schoonmaker said. “Certainly by then all the decisions will be made and we’ll go from there. It would please me to meet with folks and say that our worst fears haven’t come to fruition.”Schoonmaker spoke with a number of staff members whose positions or the classes they taught were in possibly jeopardy due to budget restrictions (see story Page A1). It is expected that the reduction in state aid cuts will reduce the number of cuts to staff and programming that Webutuck will need to make.“Those are bubble positions at this point,” Schoonmaker said of the decision to meet with teachers early, “and it’s not fair to have [possible cuts] hanging out there and not make teachers aware of what the potential is.”
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
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Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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