NORWICH – Chenango County will be out of debt next spring.
After 15 years of annual payments, the last $225,000 installment for the $3 million cell development project at the Pharsalia Landfill will be made on May 1.
The landfill has been open since 1994 and has three waste cells. Chenango County Department of Public Waste officials estimate another six years before a fourth cell must be built. Though garbage taken in each year varies, the landfill currently has the capacity for seven total cells.
The $27 million Chenango County Public Safety Facility and tower system was bought and paid for in late summer. The loan was paid off in eight, $1 million installments. The new Sheriff’s Office and Jail on Upper Ravine Road in Norwich opened in 2007 paid for, in part, with a special 1 percent sale tax collection.
Today, approximately $5 million taken in from the jail tax annually helps pay for the public safety facility’s operations and workers. Boarding in fees and reimbursement from the Chenango County Area Agency on Aging for food and kitchen operations makes up all but about $1 million of the remaining $7 million total cost to operate the jail.
Lawmakers have agreed to impose the tax through November 2013. Chenango County Treasurer and Budget Officer William C. Craine estimated that property taxes would increase by about 22 to 23 percent if the special sales tax for the jail were to end.
“I wasn’t here at the time when it was imposed, but I imagine that spreading it over to people traveling through the county, buying meals and perhaps not owning property, was preferable,” he said.

2012 Budget Adopted
On Wednesday, lawmakers set next year’s tax levy to raise $22.88 million for the county’s share of an $84 million government spending plan. For the past four years, the compounded increase in Chenango County’s levy is less than 1.2 percent (the 2007 levy was $22.535 million.) Although the budget called for a reduction in 4.25 full time staffers, programs were maintained and services will continue next year at a very modest increase, just 6/10ths of 1 percent over 2011 levels.
Moreover, the adopted budget plan adheres to and complies with the recently adopted property tax cap legislation.
“Meeting the tax cap and controlling spending is nothing new for us,” said Craine at a public hearing on the proposed plan Tuesday. Craine, board Chairman Richard B. Decker and Finance Committee Chairman Lawrence Wilcox thanked their staffs, department heads and fellow supervisors for their dedication in assembling the plan.
But the county treasurer warned much work remains to be done. “Without doubt, our budgeting for 2013 will be challenging,” he said.
Also at the board meeting, a public hearing was set for comments on a local law that would apportion weighted votes for Chenango County’s 21 towns and two districts in the City of Norwich. The public is invited to the hearing at 11 a.m. Dec. 12 in the Supervisors’ Chambers in the County office Building, Norwich.
Weighted votes are based on the latest official population census. The total number of votes are distributed so as to equalize the voting power of each supervisor to the percent of the population which that supervisor represents. The three most powerful supervisors in descending order are: Jack Cook, R-Greene; Charles Mastro, R-Sherburne; and David C. Law, R-Norwich.
No one commented during a public hearing on a local law fixing annual salaries of certain county officers for the year 2012. Those salaries were as follows:
Commissioner of Social Services - $69,992
Director of Public Works - $69,000
Personnel Officer - $57,890
Commissioner of elections (2) each - $31,010
County Sheriff - $74,569
County Clerk - $58,804
County Treasurer - $66,724
In addition, the board appointed Karen E. Osborn to the position of probation director effective Dec. 30 at a salary of $57,688.