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A draft report on the effects of dissolving Lake Placid’s village government has received criticism from Mayor Robert Peacock and North Elba Supervisor Matthew Clark.

The report, using 1981 figures, notes that village taxes would have decreased about 45% while town taxes would have increased nearly 46% if the village had been dissolved in 1981.

“There are a lot of things wrong with the study,” Peacock said. “There are things that should be in it and aren’t. And there are some things in there that are not at all realistic.”

Both Mr. Peacock and Mr. Clark criticized the assumptions that the report was based on, especially the creation of a townwide police district.

Currently the village has a police department and the town doesn’t. If the village was dissolved, either a special village police district could be formed, which would be supported by those in the district; the police could patrol the whole town; or the police department could be dissolved.

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Athlete housing

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Lake Placid’s Marcy Hotel was chosen last week as the housing site for athletes training at the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Lake Placid training center.

Officials from the USOC and the Robert Case Bennett Corp. — the Pennsylvania firm that owns the hotel — met here last week to finalize contracts for the housing of athletes.

Officials predict that 200 to 250 athletes could be living in Lake Placid at some point during the winter.

In addition, a sports training center may also be located in the basement of the hotel. In the meantime, the committee has some weight equipment in stock to bring to Lake Placid’s training room.

The Marcy will also be the site for a USOC administrative office in Lake Placid.

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Blackfly spraying

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A representative from an environmental group trying to halt blackfly spraying in the Adirondacks told the Lake Placid Chamber of Commerce last week that the chemical used in three years of local insect control is unsafe.

Gary Randorf, executive director of the Adirondack Council in Elizabethtown, said the council objects to Dibrom 14 — the substance used to kill adult populations of blackfly and mosquitoes.

Mr. Randorf spoke at last Tuesday’s chamber meeting, nearly six weeks after a representative from the chemical firm which sprays locally asked for chamber support in keeping his program alive.

The council does not object in theory to spraying, but only to the use of Dibrom 14.

“We’ve talked to biologists and entomologists, and from what they’ve told us, they feel that the chemical is unsafe,” he said.

In addition to its stance that Dibrom 14 is dangerous, the Adirondack Council says the chemical is also ineffective.

Adirondack Council members advocate the use of Bti — a bacteria added to water containing the blackfly larvae. They believe Bti kills the larvae without damaging most other forms of life.

However, there was recent data that showed it could also harm some supplies of food for fish living in the streams treated with Bti.

“When you look at the situation, there are pluses and minuses to the program,” Mr. Randorf said.