NORWICH – The Chenango County Finance Committee tackled a number of 2008 budgets at a work session Friday, passing through increases for information technology, the Public Defender’s Office and the amount set aside annually for community college chargebacks.
Increase requests made by the Planning and Economic Development Department and the Chenango County Council on the Arts were tabled.
Many of the higher costs that will be passed onto taxpayers are for computer-related equipment. The IT department is requesting a new $12,000 server, for example. Copiers are in high demand, with no less than five departments requesting permission to purchase new equipment next year.
“Computers have ended up costing us rather than saving us,” Town of Pharsalia Supervisor Dennis Brown said during a recent budget work session.
Community College charge backs are projected to go up 26.6 percent next year, costing local taxpayers $200,000 on the levy. New York’s community colleges have varied negotiated rates for full-time equivalent students, but all are subsidized – in equal thirds – by the enrolled student, by the county where that student resides and by the state.
The Public Defender’s Office requested an 11.5 percent increase, or $44,675 on the levy, in order to cover costs for expert witnesses and other expenses related to the upcoming Wlasiuk trial.
“This (trial’s) cost could get pretty high,” Chenango County Public Defender Alan Gordon said.
The Department of Planning and Development wants 17 percent more next year, or about $21,000 in order to hire a grant writer. Lawmakers tabled the budget request pending consultation with Cornell Cooperative Extension officials. The Extension has a grant writer that, officials say, any county department can use at no charge.
“We don’t need to have a grant writer in both places,” Wayne C. Outwater, R-Lincklaen said.
Planning Director Donna M. Jones said she would cancel the county’s membership in the Southern Tier East Association and apply the annual $11,000 dues to athe new consultant’s line. “But we would still need the remaining amount,” she said, adding that the Extension told her its grant writer was available for a fee.
“It’s county money paying for the Extension’s grant writer,” Town of German Supervisor Richard Schlag said. “All 23 towns would love to have a grant writer. He can’t handle all of them, but I can’t see charging up front costs. Maybe a commission within the grants that are awarded.”
Finance Committee Chairman Lawrence Wilcox, R-Oxford, said any budget passed in Finance thus far was “only temporary.”
“We could go back and find out about the use of this grant writer and re-examine his (Cooperative Extension’s) budget,” he said.
Planning’s budget also includes an increase for supplies and materials related to writing a comprehensive plan for the county, a document that hasn’t been updated since 1975. Jones said the plan will help the county to obtain grants.
The Arts Council budget was tabled after committee members said they had not reviewed the minutes from a previous committee that approved a 10 percent increase earlier in the week.