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Tompkins County Administrator Joe Mareane has delivered to the County Legislature a 2010 Tentative County Budget that calls for reductions in both spending and workforce, while meeting the Legislature’s goal of increasing the tax levy by no more than 3 percent.

The recommended budget totals $73.1 million in local spending.  The budget reduces spending by $1 million (1.3%) and the County’s workforce by 26 full-time equivalent positions (3.4%), while striving to maintain a scope of services responsive to community needs.  It calls for the 3% increase in the tax levy (the total amount of property tax revenue that must be collected to balance the budget) and increases the tax rate (the amount property owners pay per thousand dollars assessed value) by one cent, to $5.94.

In a budget message accompanying the budget document, Administrator Mareane stresses that  “daunting” economic forces have shaped this budget, not County excess.  “Our problems are not a reflection of a government that has been living beyond its means, is wasteful or inefficient, or has chosen to provide services that are nice to do, but not essential,” the administrator states.  “In fact, we are the opposite of that.  This government is lean, productive, and focused on services that respond to the real needs of our community.  Therefore, the decisions that will be made as a part of the 2010 budget process will be extraordinarily difficult—made not to “trim the fat”, but with the recognition that we must adapt to an environment that has been profoundly impacted by a global recession that is broad and deep.”    

Economic pressures on the 2010 budget include a projected million-dollar drop in sales tax revenue from what was budgeted in 2009, a million-dollar increase in the cost of mandated programs, and a $1.2 million increase in mandated employee pension expense—reflecting the first installment in rapidly rising employer contributions to offset significant losses in the State pension fund.

The recommended budget maintains a “balanced response” to the County’s fiscal challenges, filling the County’s projected $4.8 million budget gap through both increased revenue and reduced spending.  On the revenue side, the 3% tax levy increase would generate $1.1 million, and two new revenue sources—a recommended 65-cent increase in the monthly emergency communications land line telephone surcharge and quarter-percent increase in the mortgage recording tax—would produce nearly $1.3 million in additional recurring revenue.  By meeting their budget targets, county departments reduced spending by $2.3 million, a more than 9% reduction in non-mandated department spending (excluding fringe benefits), which affects nearly every area of County operations.  While departments had asked that many cuts be restored through  the Over Target Request process, very few restorations are included in the budget.  Most of the workforce reduction was accomplished through attrition management and reducing several employees’ workweeks; the budget, however, recommends six layoffs.

The administrator thanked county department heads for responding seriously and carefully to the difficult directive to cut spending and the Legislature for its active engagement in aligning the County’s finances with rapidly changing times, to produce a budget that will provide “affordable, responsive, efficient, and compassionate services to our community.”

Legislators will review the recommended budget in detail at the first meeting of the County’s Expanded Budget Committee (any legislator may participate) on Wednesday, September 9, beginning at 5:00 p.m. in Legislature Chambers at the Tompkins County Courthouse, 320 N. Tioga Street, Ithaca—the first in a series of meetings that will continue through September and October.  At these meetings, departments and agencies will have the opportunity to explain their budget requests and how programs would be affected by the recommended budget.  The Expanded Budget Committee will accept or alter the Tentative Budget, and will present to the Legislature the Tentative Budget with its recommended changes.  The Legislature then will vote on whether to accept the changes, and the amended Tentative Budget will be presented to the public for comment.


Among initiatives to inform the public about the budget and gather input while the Expanded Budget Committee’s deliberations are in process, the County will sponsor a public information meeting on the Tentative Budget on Monday, September 21, beginning at 7:00 p.m., at the Tompkins County Public Library, Borg Warner Room, 101 E. Green Street, Ithaca.  The formal public hearing to accept comment on the amended Tentative Budget is scheduled for November 4, with a vote on the final budget November 17.

Public copies of the 2010 Tentative Budget are available at the County Administration office, 125 East Court Street, and at the Office of the County Legislature, 320 North Tioga Street.  As of Wednesday, September 2, the document also will be posted on the County website at www.tompkins-co.org, where the public also is invited to comment on the budget.

2009 – 2010 County Budget Comparison

 

LOCAL SPENDING

2009 Adopted                            2010 Requested                                 2010 Tentative                      Percent change

$74,099,865                               $74,942,234                               $73,123,424                   -1.3%

PROPERTY TAX LEVY

2009 Adopted                            2010 Requested                                 2010 Tentative                      Percent change

$36,837 ,645                              $40,004,938                               $37,941,328                   3.0%

PROPERTY TAX RATE

2009 Adopted                            2010 Requested                                 2010 Tentative                      Percent change

$5.93                                        $6.26                                        $5.94                            0.1%

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