NORWICH – Despite a last minute motion by Columbus Supervisor Tom Grace to amend the 2015 Chenango County budget, county representatives unanimously passed the financial plan as written on Tuesday.
The $86.9 million budget comes in under a stringent 1.9 percent property tax cap this year, making this the fourth consecutive year the county has adhered the state mandated cap. Even so, Grace reasoned that county taxpayers could save tens of thousands of dollars by eliminating one of the three fraud investigator positions at the Department of Social Services.
Board members, however, turned down Grace’s motion, citing responsibilities of the position that extend beyond fraud investigation.
A public hearing and presentation for the 2015 budget was called at the Chenango County Office Building Tuesday night, giving county residents a chance to weigh in on the plan which calls for an approximate 1.78 percent tax increase, or about $12 per year for the average taxpayer. Town of Guilford resident Gilda Ward was one of two county residents who spoke.
“There are many people who are struggling in this county who can barely pay the taxes on their property,” Ward said to Board members. “What you spend and what you vote on here can make the difference between them being able to afford their property and not. It’s very crucial that you keep that in mind.”
In a budget overview, Chenango County Treasurer William Craine explained that the county’s financial planning adheres to six precepts which include:
• Having a balanced budget using reasonable revenue and expenses
• Staying within the state mandated tax cap
• Maintaining a State Comptroller’s rating of “not in fiscal stress”
• Remaining debt free
• Keeping at least $15 million in the general fund surplus (which currently stands at $17 million)
• Over the course of five years, reducing application of the general fund surplus applied to the following year’s budget to $1.5 million.
While the county is calling for a $81,418, or .09 percent increase in spending over the 2014 budget, it still falls marginally short of the state mandated tax cap by about $15,000, said Craine.
“We’re proud to say that all four years the cap legislation has been in place, we have adhered to it,” he added. “We’re also just a handful of counties in the state that are debt free and it’s our objective to remain debt free.”
The latest budget also lessens application of the 2014 general fund surplus toward reducing the 2015 budget by $210,000 to $2.67 million. This is this the fourth consecutive reduction from the $3.68 million that was applied to balance the budget in 2011.
Furthermore, the budget eliminates seven full-time positions across five county-run programs, including the Area on Aging, the Department of Social Services, Public Health, Facilities, and Mental Health. It also continues a development project for cell four at the county landfill in Pharsalia (currently the county’s biggest capital project), maintains the equipment replacement program for the county road system, and finalizes the court facility move to the Eaton Center.
Nevertheless, Craine pointed to a number of state mandated expenses that will continue to have a significant impact on the local budget in the future. The local share for Medicaid alone accounts for 42.5 percent of the 2015 tax levy, he said. Other mandates include safety net programs, child welfare, indigent defense, preschool education and early intervention services, probation, the county correctional facility, community college chargebacks, and the local share of state retirement for county employees.
The complete 2015 budget and overview presentation are available on the Chenango County Treasurer website at www.co.chenango.ny.us/treasurer/.