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Town Board members were torn when Dawn Kleeschulte came to Monday's budget meeting to ask for an additional $2,000 for the Lansing Youth Services (LYS) Commission.  The commission is currently trying to hire a program director to manage its myriad of middle school programs, but due to cuts by the Tompkins County Legislature, can't afford to keep the position at full time status.  The board was torn between funding a good cause at a time when the Town is considering a major tax reduction, and setting a precedent that could drain town resources in future years.  Marty Christopher and Kathy Miller were willing to vote for the increase on a one-time basis.  But other board members said no.

"I've heard from more people, 'I can't believe you're not funding this'," Miller argued.  "Someone said to me, 'When you are looking at fund balances like this and decreasing our tax rate like that and don't give LYS the $2,000  you've got egg all over your face'."

Kleeschulte gave an impassioned plea for the funding, noting that in the wake of $12,963 in county cuts to youth services over the past two years, Lansing is the only municipality that hasn't added more funding. 

Last year Town Board members were stunned to learn that they couldn't legally give public money to programs in need unless the programs formally applied, showing how what they do benefits the public good.  LYS, Gadabout, and Foodnet scrambled to do that, and their funding was maintained.  Local senior citizen programs did not, and their funding was cut.  At budget time Youth Services said they could get along if the $29,000 they were receiving were maintained.  Later there was news of another unexpected cut, but the Town held fast to maintaining the level of support without raising it.

Over the past month the Town Board has been debating a large tax cut.  Because of reduced annual expenses over the past three years, the town's fund balance has been growing exponentially.  By the end of this year it will be approximately 130% higher than the level town board members feel it should be maintained.  That changed the tone of the discussion Monday, though board members were reluctant to change their policy.

"I don't have a problem with the $2,000.  That's not it," Deputy Supervisor Connie Wilcox said.  "But we don't give the senior citizens anything any more.  We didn't increase Foodnet.  We didn't increase Gadabout.  Those are all programs in need, too.  I'm looking at the overall picture of what we haven't let people have and what we've taken away from them."

Supervisor Scott Pinney criticized the commission for not doing enough independent fundraising, and for not helping residents understand what they actually do.  He said that the Town has been generous in maintaining LYS funding at the same level, especially in light of cuts that have been made to other organizations and to internal town departments.

"One of the problem is that the Town has cut different things and tried to keep everything level," Pinney said.  "The Town is fiscally in vary good shape at this point.  The economy has sucked for the last three years, and it helps the people in the town if we cut our tax rate, because everybody else is raising theirs, and raising their.  So to give you a raise when we've cut everyone else... you should increase your fundraising.  You didn't do the barbecue, you could have done the barbecue this year..."

Councilman Marty Christopher said he would be willing to approve an additional $2,000 on a one-time basis.  Even LYS's most vocal supporter on the board, Kathy Miller, was critical of the commission.  Miller acknowledged that the program is valuable for kids, but said the commission has to do more to raise funds as well as public awareness of what, exactly, they are and what they do.

"I have to say I agree with you to an extent," said Councilwoman Kathy Miller.  "Here's what people have said to me: Who are they?  Why do they get this money?  They don't understand the program.  And it's not just people on this board.  We asked, I think last year, that you try and raise some money.  I don't know if that went on.  The only thing I know about is the spaghetti dinner that I took my family to.  So it's not just a matter of money.  It's a matter of being visible to the community."

The Lansing Youth Services (LYS) Commission is made up of eight volunteer members.  They meet monthly to guide the program.  In Lansing there are two LYS programs, which requires two program managers.  One is based in Lansing Middle School to lead or manage a variety of programs that has included a variety of after-school programs that targets kids from lower income families, but welcomes kids from all strata of Lansing life.  In the High School Kleeschulte is the program manager for the 'High School Helpers' program, that provides paying jobs for students, mainly on the school campus so they don't need transportation to work.  That program also teaches kids how to apply for jobs, how to write resumes, and how to interview successfully for a job.

She said the Middle School program is most at risk, because the LYS Commission doesn't have enough money to hire a program manager.  She said they need to offer a $24,000 annual salary.  She said that an additional $2,000 will bring the commission's funding up to the point where they can afford a full time program manager (Kleeschulte's position in the high school program is part time).  20 candidates have applied for the job, but Kleeschulte says with current cuts the commission doesn't even know whether it can tell them the job is full or part time.

"We're asking for somebody with a Bachelor's degree and we're getting people with master's degrees," she noted.  "We can't offer them benefits if they're not full time for Cooperative Extension.  If we can't have a full time program manager in the Middle School  -- families are getting divorced.  There are kids who have no adult support."

She noted that the LYS Commission itself has contributed $2,500 to $4,000, more than any other commission in the county.  The commission has solicited and received private donations, applied for and received a United Way grant, increased fundraising efforts, and received an ongoing $1,200 appropriation from All Saints Church.  The Lansing PTSO also contributes $1,200 each year. 

The commission is also asking the Lansing School District for an ongoing contribution, and has applied for a $5,000 Community Foundation grant that they hope will be approved next month.  And LYS has increased fees for middle school programs.

"We hate doing that," Kleeschulte said.  "We're targeting kids for financial and social reasons that generally can't pay for programs.  We don't like to charge fees, but we're doing it and we're getting a good response.  We've cut program costs to bare bones.  We've cut Primitive Pursuits, a wildly popular program county-wide.  We can't afford it.  We're not doing it.  We'll figure out how to do it another way."

Councilman Robert Cree voiced the concern that all board members seemed to agree on.

"Last year the original request was just to level funds," he said.  "It wasn't until later that the request came in for more funds.  I'm afraid we're going to open a door."

But Christopher wanted to know what impact the extra funding would have on the town budget for next year.

"A couple of thousand dollars?" Town Bookkeeper Sharon Bowman said.  "Negligible."

While $2,000 represents a 6.9% rise in town funding for youth services, it is insignificant in the face of a $2.3 million fund balace that the Town is trying to reduce to $1 million over the next three years.  Board members struggled with the principal of funding causes, no matter how worthy, at taxpayer expense, and worried about being inundated by requests for more and more money if they granted the rise to one group.

"This whole thing is gut wrenching," Wilcox said.  "You want to give the money to Youth Services, yet we cut Foodnet.  That might be people not having something to eat once a day.  Then when you talk about all this money we have."

Christopher and Miller said that while the request could make a big impact on LYS programming, it was modest enough that it wouldn't affect the budget.

"Quite frankly it doesn't make sense to me," Miller said.  "If we were talking hundreds of thousands it would make sense to me.  If we were talking 30 organizations saying they need $2,000 more apiece, it would make sense to me.  But it's really a handful.  It's less than a handful.  If we can't do that when most of us are sitting here doing pretty well and the community says they're fine with it... and the couple of people who aren't, frankly, are libertarians who don't want to pay any taxes at all."

Kleeschulte left te meeting in defeat after a 3-2 vote with Pinney, Cree, and Wilcox voting no.  About twenty minutes later a call for a revote was rejected by Pinney, who said the board had already voted and should concentrate on other budget business.

But by the end of the meeting Wilcox had rethought her position, and asked for a revote.  Pinney said he opposed another vote, but with support for a revote voiced by Bowman the board voted again.  This time the increase won 3-2 with Wilcox, Miller, and Christopher supporting it.

"I am glad we did," says Wilcox.  "All the reasons I stated at first are still legitimate to me, but if we are still able to make a 33% reduction in taxes why not do something for our youth?  They are our future."

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