CHENANGO COUNTY – After weighing several unknown factors that could strain the county’s budget in the near future, members of the Chenango County Finance Committee decided early this month not to pay off a short-term bond for the Public Safety Facility ahead of schedule.
Treasurer William E. Evans said a positive cash flow from the 1 percent dedicated sales tax - at about $3.6 to $4 million a year - and his calculation of investment rates would make it possible to pay the note off early. “I’ve cash flowed it out and we could go either way,” he said.
This year’s interest of $105,546 on the $1.2 bond has been budgeted and is due in August. If county leaders elected to pay the remaining principal of $2.4 million, there would be $1 to $1.1 million left in the county’s set-aside account for debt service.
Committee Chairman Lawrence Wilcox, R-Oxford, said he thought there were “too many variables” to pay ahead of schedule. “If you look at the last 10 days’ situation, I have an idea there’s going to be a need,” he said, referring to the flood devastation throughout the county in late June. The Emergency Management Office has reported a preliminary estimate of $7 million in flood-related damages.
In addition, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors Richard B. Decker announced to the committee that the county’s share in the cost to hire an attorney to fight New York Regional Interconnect’s proposed power line is $50,000. “They don’t need it right now, but sooner or later they will request the money from us,” he said.
“We have enough to pay it all, but it would cut back on our cushion,” Wilcox said. “I say, ‘Stay the course.’ We did the right thing four years ago when we planned this out.”
Town of Pharsalia Supervisor Dennis Brown said knowing the Public Safety Facility’s budget for next year would be helpful in making the decision. “We need to know what we’re going to need before we budget this year - on operations and maintenance at the jail,” he said.
Evans said it is difficult to know utilities’ costs at the new facility, but he would be nailing those figures and others down with the Sheriff as soon as possible. Brown also suggested that money collected from housing out-of-county inmates could be applied to maintenance costs. Corrections officials estimated an income of $100,000 from farming-in this year, an activity Decker said is not slated to begin until early fall now.
In addition, Brown asked for verification from the county’s attorney about whether the dedicated sales tax collections could be used for operations and maintenance at the jail.
“This would become critical in ‘07, and we need ... an opinion as to how the money can be spent and have the legislation changed if we need to.”
The committee agreed to stick to the original bond payment schedule and asked that the county’s attorney provide an opinion on using the dedicated sales tax for operations and maintenance at the jail.
“We’re right up to our neck with everything,” Decker said in his update on flood recovery efforts. He said the county had been providing emergency power, temporary box culverts and working closely with supervisors in the hardest hit towns of Afton, Bainbridge, Guilford and Oxford.
The county waived landfill tipping fees, building code fees and kept the transfer station open beyond regular hours. The public works department will have to change this year’s work schedule and budgeting plan in order to accommodate for the unexpected repairs and overtime expenses, Decker pointed out.