Supervisors to finalize 2013 county budget today
NORWICH – The 2013 Chenango County government spending plan should be in place today as members of the board of supervisors convened to cast their votes at a special budget meeting held this morning at press time. The plan calls for a slight average tax rate increase of about 30 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.
A large group consisting mainly of town and City of Norwich supervisors and department directors filled the supervisors’ chambers in the Chenango County Office Building in Norwich Tuesday night for a public hearing on the draft budget. After comments from the board chairman and county treasurer, and an invitation to anyone in the audience to speak – no one did – the hearing was declared closed.
Chairman of the Board of Supervisors Lawrence Wilcox, R-Oxford, thanked department directors for their “outstanding work” and for delivering their respective budgets “on time and with very few increases.” He also acknowledged the “hard work” completed by committee members, the supervisors who make up the finance committee and the county treasurer.
“It’s a budget all of us can be proud of,” he said.
Although there will be a slight reduction of staff under the new budget (2.5 jobs), programs will be maintained and even accelerated. The highway department’s budget for repaving will increase by 15 percent next year. This is possible, Treasurer William Craine said, despite a modest 2.5 percent increase in spending ($86.7 million in 2013, compared to $84.6 million in 2012).
Since 2007, the compounded expense increase in the tax levy is 1.35 percent. The 2007 levy was $22.535 million, with 2013 projected at $24.328 million. Most significantly, Chenango County paid off its remaining debt this year, making it one of only four debt-free counties in New York. And, for the second year in a row, budget makers reduced the spending plan’s dependence on prior year carry-over funds. The amount of reserves used is down from $3.7 million in 2011 to $2.9 million in 2013.
“So while many counties have sharply reduced or exhausted their emergency reserves in recent years, the trend in Chenango County is to avoid this short-term fix. We have been responsible in maintaining our reserves when others haven’t,” said Craine.
Craine emphasized that the two most expensive state mandates, pension plans and community college chargebacks, show no signs of relief from Albany and will continue to put increasing pressure on local taxpayers. The New York State and Local Retirement pension burden for 2013 will rise to $4.4 million from $1.3 million 2009, an increase of more than 220 percent above the state’s tax cap. Community college costs are rising much faster than the county’s tax cap. For example, Broome Community college rates are up by about 67 percent, or $200,000 since 2001.
A large group consisting mainly of town and City of Norwich supervisors and department directors filled the supervisors’ chambers in the Chenango County Office Building in Norwich Tuesday night for a public hearing on the draft budget. After comments from the board chairman and county treasurer, and an invitation to anyone in the audience to speak – no one did – the hearing was declared closed.
Chairman of the Board of Supervisors Lawrence Wilcox, R-Oxford, thanked department directors for their “outstanding work” and for delivering their respective budgets “on time and with very few increases.” He also acknowledged the “hard work” completed by committee members, the supervisors who make up the finance committee and the county treasurer.
“It’s a budget all of us can be proud of,” he said.
Although there will be a slight reduction of staff under the new budget (2.5 jobs), programs will be maintained and even accelerated. The highway department’s budget for repaving will increase by 15 percent next year. This is possible, Treasurer William Craine said, despite a modest 2.5 percent increase in spending ($86.7 million in 2013, compared to $84.6 million in 2012).
Since 2007, the compounded expense increase in the tax levy is 1.35 percent. The 2007 levy was $22.535 million, with 2013 projected at $24.328 million. Most significantly, Chenango County paid off its remaining debt this year, making it one of only four debt-free counties in New York. And, for the second year in a row, budget makers reduced the spending plan’s dependence on prior year carry-over funds. The amount of reserves used is down from $3.7 million in 2011 to $2.9 million in 2013.
“So while many counties have sharply reduced or exhausted their emergency reserves in recent years, the trend in Chenango County is to avoid this short-term fix. We have been responsible in maintaining our reserves when others haven’t,” said Craine.
Craine emphasized that the two most expensive state mandates, pension plans and community college chargebacks, show no signs of relief from Albany and will continue to put increasing pressure on local taxpayers. The New York State and Local Retirement pension burden for 2013 will rise to $4.4 million from $1.3 million 2009, an increase of more than 220 percent above the state’s tax cap. Community college costs are rising much faster than the county’s tax cap. For example, Broome Community college rates are up by about 67 percent, or $200,000 since 2001.
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