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The Lansing Town Board passed the 2011 $5,480,544.05 budget Wednesday.  $1,829,976.60 will be raised by taxes at a tax rate drop of 5.32%.  While the overall budget is $1,157,149.25 higher than this year, the levy is $384,793.36, $384792.61 less than last year's levy.  The board approved the budget unanimously after a public hearing.  They also approved a special districts budget of $1,526,390, which is paid by residents of those districts only.  Special districts include water, lighting, drainage, and sewer districts.

$192,340 from an existing fund balance is is being used to pay down debt.  $186,840 will be used to pay off the debt on the Town Hall.  A 2008 equipment loan for the highway department will also be paid off.

About a dozen people attended the budget hearing, most of them students fulfilling government class requirements.  But a few issues were raised.  Mayor Donald Hartill asked whether the board had considered a letter he sent them a few weeks ago, claiming that Village residents should be taxed less by the Town because they pay taxes for some services that they also pay the Village for.  Town Supervisor Scott Pinney told him that the 2011 budget does not reflect any action on that request, but that Councilman Robert Cree and Councilwoman Kathy Miller will be researching the issue.  He said they would try to verify some of Hartill's numbers and make recommendations to the full board.

Miller proposed adding $4,500 to the $27,000 the Town has budgeted for Lansing youth Services to make up half of the shortfall that will result from drastic County cuts to Youth Services that affect all the municipalities.  Last week she proposed the Town make up the entire $9,000, but that proposal was voted down.  She also noted that Lansing is the only municipality that has not raised the amount they are giving to Youth Services in the face of the county cuts.

"It is just to tide them over this year while they're trying to figure out where to come up with the extra money so they don't have to reduce the efficacy of the program," she said.  "It would be just for this year with the idea that we also help them come up with ideas about how to raise money.  There was no warning to them, and they obviously don't want the program to not be as good as it has been in the past."

But the other four board members were against raising youth services funds above last year's levels.  Pinney noted that with cuts in every piece of the Town budget, including job reductions from full to half time positions in the Codes Office and highway Department, that he could not support raising this amount.

"Youth services came to us when they thought all of the money was going to be cut by the County," he noted.  "They said as long as we funded them at the same rate as we have been they would be able to make this program work somehow.  This town has really done a good job of holding the line on everything.  We've made a lot of cuts, not only to personnel, but to programs, too.  I don't think it's realistic to add to one of these programs.  I'm in favor of youth services and of funding it at the same level as (last year)."

"At first I thought we could do that," said Deputy Supervisor Connie Wilcox.  "But I don't feel I'm in a position to do that right now.  The other thing that really distressed me today is that they're going to be laying off 12 people at AES Cayuga (a power plant that is Lansing's largest taxpayer, and is currently in negotiations with the County to continue to reduce their tax valuation).  I'm not sure how much longer they're going to be there.  I'm having a hard time adding money for anything until I know where they're going to be."

Wilcox and Lansing Community Council President Ed LaVigne both said that they can help Lansing Youth Services find ways to raise private donations to make up the shortfall from the county.  When asked whether fundraising was being planned for next year, Lansing Youth Services Commission member Barbara Barry said that it is.

"We're not talking $100,000 here," Wilcox noted.  'We're talking $9,000.  If they are willing to put forth the effort to work for it they can raise that money.  If they ask some of these organizations for help, I think they are willing to give it to them."

Both Pinney and Wilcox noted that the Town has stepped up to the plate on numerous occasions, continuing to fund Youth Services without cuts, and providing extra money at times.  A few years ago Youth Services hired more than they were budgeted for, and the Town pitched in with three or four thousand additional dollars on that occasion. 

Over the course of budget meetings that were held weekly for two months, the Town Board struggled with the issue.  Some board members felt that giving money to fill the county gap would send a message to the County that they can cut services and the towns will pick up the slack.  Miller stated her concern that Lansing is gaining a bad reputation in the rest of the county because it is the only town that did not do so.  Wilcox and Councilman Marty Christopher expressed concern about laid off AES Cayuga employees and other residents who are suffering in the economic recession not being able to afford higher taxes.

In the end Miller's move to provide funds above last year's level failed to get a second, and the budget was passed as-is.  The budget reflected the board's economic concerns in many other ways, including salary freezes, and the two job reductions, among others.  Donations of $1,500 to Lansing Senior Citizens and $5,000 to LOAP were cut to zero, while donations to Gadabout and Nutrition for the Elderly were held at last year's levels of $4,500 for each.

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