NORWICH – Facing increasing expenses burdened by local taxpayers, Chenango County officials are joining a fight against New York State for the provision of mandate relief.
In June, Chenango County government embedded a link on its homepage website (www.co.chenango.ny.us) encouraging local residents to petition against New York State’s increasing number of obligatory but unfunded programs and services. According to county leaders, local laws authorized by the state, but not paid for by the state, are restricting local governments. And with a likely state mandated tax cap of approximately 1.44 percent in 2015, they say something has to give.
“These unfunded mandates are still a growing figure for us,” said Lawrence Wilcox, Chairman of the Chenango County Board of Supervisors. “They push against us on a regular basis, and they take up a big share of the annual budget.”
Topping the list of unfunded mandates is Medicaid, which the county is budgeted for $10 million (nearly $200,000 per week) in 2014 after state reimbursements. Other mandates plaguing the county include day care assistance and special education services, probation programs, indigent defense, youth detention, and employee pensions.
While the county does receive some state aid to help offset high costs such as Medicaid, and sales tax collected in the county further helps reduce costs of multiple other unfunded mandates, the issue of mandate relief remains a priority as it takes away from other publically funded programs including the Chenango Arts Council, the Chenango Soil and Water Conservation District, and the Cornell Cooperative Extension explained Deputy County Treasurer Ardean Young.
“Most of these mandates are for social programs we obviously can’t give up, but they can be run differently,” Young said, noting property taxes and sales taxes as the county’s primary sources of revenue. The broader tax base of New York State, which collects income taxes, would go a long way in helping fund such programs, he said.
“I think if the state passes a mandate, they should be obligated to fund it,” Young added.
Young said that approximately 12 unfunded mandates costing $19 million (78 percent of the county budget) currently fall on the shoulders of local taxpayers. “The state creates these programs as a one size fits all model to counties,” he said. “But if you look at Chenango County, we raise a lot less in property taxes than many other surrounding counties.”
Chenango County is working in conjunction with the New York State Association of Counties to reduce the number of unfunded mandates. NYSAC argues that counties statewide are reducing or eliminating long-term local services and programs, including nursing homes, community health care centers, Meals on Wheels, local law enforcement, veterans services programs and community-based programs due to unfunded state mandates.
According to NYSAC, 90 cents of every county property tax dollar goes to Albany to fund state mandates, and there’s a need for state legislators to enact mandate relief to stabilize local property tax dollars.
Although state legislators have shied away from passing additional unfunded mandates over the last two years, there has been little in the way of relieving existing mandates.
“We believe we have a road map for the next year or two to stay under the state tax cap, but the ability to do so becomes eroded as we go along,” Wilcox said. “We have a lot of people in our society who are dependent on social programs, but those programs come at a cost ... If New York State wants us to stay under the tax cap, I think they have to start looking at relief.”