Belleayre Ski Center lays off 59
Published: Wednesday, February 24, 2010
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By JAY BRAMAN JR. Correspondent
HIGHMOUNT — Fifty-nine employees of the Belleayre Mountain Ski Center were laid off this past weekend, according to the state-owned recreation facility.
Belleayre Superintendent Tony Lanza downplayed the layoffs as an annual necessity, but he conceded the action came sooner than in previous years and was more severe.
“We might have done it a little earlier and we might have done a few more, but we do this every year,” he said.
Lanza said the people who were let go on Sunday were seasonal employees. Typically, seasonal workers are let go beginning in mid-March, and the layoffs continue through the end of the ski season, which usually is in mid-April.
“In eight weeks, we’re going to lay off 400 more,” Lanza said.
During the off-season, Belleayre — which is in the Highmount section of the Ulster County town of Shandaken — is staffed by a skeleton crew of full-time workers.
The earlier and more severe layoffs than usual came around the same time the state announced plans to close or reduce operations at many state-owned parks and historic sites. Belleayre, which is run by the state Department of Environmental Conservation, is not part of the state park system, which is operated by the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
Asked what is in store for Belleayre after the ski season ends, Lanza said nothing has been decided.
Still unknown is whether the Department of Environmental Conservation will open the popular Belleayre Beach, a warm weather attraction at the base of the mountain, or host Belleayre’s popular fall festival, which two years ago was hit by the budget ax and had to be moved to Arkville.
