NORWICH – Paying out $40 each time a Chenango County Code Enforcement officer is asked to conduct fire and building inspections or enforce codes is proving to be too much for municipal governments.
Public Health Director Marcas Flindt told members of the Safety & Rules Committee last week that he will be forced to cut staff if more towns don’t start utilizing the county’s codes department. Chargeback revenues for the year are so far only 1 percent, or $300, of the $30,000 in revenues that were budgeted.
Permit fees, not taxes, have traditionally covered the department’s personnel and operating expenses since 2000, mostly with hefty fees paid out by the construction of the Wal-Mart Superstore and Lowe’s, both in the Town of Norwich. However, lacking any big development projects in the foreseeable future and finding the department in the red by $100,000 last year, lawmakers voted to make codes part of the general levy. After considerable debate, they also instituted a chargeback policy for towns.
All but four municipalities in Chenango County had relied on the county for inspections, permitting and enforcement.
Public Health Administrative Services Officer Eric Depperman said the Town of Norwich’s decision last month to hire its own codes officer had further weakened the department’s profitability. While the town won’t officially abandon the county’s codes department until June 2, Depperman said it had already lost $9,000 that was budgeted for Norwich for the year.
“These are the two cavities in our budget that need discussing,” Depperman said. “I’m not sure where we are going to get anywhere close to the chargebacks now.”
Town of McDonough Supervisor Arrington J. Canor admitted that the price was too high for his town to pay for enforcement.
However, Town of Columbus Supervisor George G. Coates said he appreciated the county’s services and had successfully cleaned up some properties as a result.
“What’s needed in this county in order to respond to property maintenance issues, are strong local justices to enforce the codes. If we are spending $40 to get county guy out there, we need back up of local justices,” Coates said.
Janice O’Shea, R-Coventry, said she would like to see the department reduce a backlog of about 1,800 permits before cutting staff.
Flindt said, “It’s always a struggle between the work to be done and the money and staff to do it.”
There are three full-time and two part-time building inspectors and one code enforcement officer in the department.
Committee Chairman Alton B. Doyle, R-Guiford, asked Flindt and Depperman to report back to the committee in July, and directed them to close out the backlog of building and fire inspections.
“This is a very difficult problem,” Doyle said. “It’s a yo yo when it comes to staff in this department and meeting code mandates and budgets. We’ve paid for six weeks of training for these people. We are going to get unqualified people when things get better. They are not going to come back five months from now if you drop them.”