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Lansing's County Legislator Pat Pryor told the Lansing Town Board Wednesday that the County is considering additional financial help for four agencies that are suffering unusual budget challenges due to the faltering economy.  She said Tompkins County Area Transit (TCAT), the Tompkins County Public Library (TCPL), Tompkins County Area Development (TCAD), and the Tompkins County Soil and Water Conservation District may need special financial help for 2013.

"We have several major agencies here in Tompkins County that, primarily because of the downturn in the economy, have tightened their belts," Pryor said.  "They have reduced staffing.  They have looked at every other way they could possibly save money and do things better with fewer resources."

Pryor said these agencies' typical revenue sources such as fees for services and grants have not recovered at a fast enough pace that they can operate on what they do generate.  The Legislature is looking at supporting the four agencies because of the important needs they fill in the community.

"There are thousands of TCAT riders in Tompkins County," she said.  "It saves a great deal of wear and tear on our roads and a lot of gasoline because of people using our mass transportation system.  TCAT is a very important part of our culture, and a very important service here in Tompkins County."

Pryor said it is essential that the County maintain the level of support for TCPL in order to maintain the library's 'Lead Library' status in the Finger Lakes Library System.'  She said that much state and other funding depends on TCPL maintaining that position.

She also promised to report to the Board on alternative transportation options at a future meeting.  She said the County is considering a number of options, particularly for a growing demographic of baby boomers over the age of 60, in addition to TCAT and Gadabout.

TCAD has been a victim of the economy as well.  The agency relies on fees from companies it helps to come to Tompkins County and helps obtain tax incentives to encourage economic and job growth around the County.  But companies are hesitant to invest in coming to a new community unless they are confident it is a financially viable move, and established companies have pulled way back on spending.

"This is a critical piece of our economic development in Tompkins County," Pryor said.  "There was a time when TCAD was first formed when the County supported a great deal more of the cost of TCAD than it has recently.  As TCAD grew and became very successful the fees were able to collect from the businesses they helped were able to replace most of the County's contribution.  Because of the downturn in the economy, businesses are not investing.  Two of the big ones, Cornell and Ithaca College have gone to a cash-only policy.  They are not borrowing the way they were before."

She said the Soil and Water Conservation District's budget challenge comes from the challenge of getting grants in the current economic climate.  She said the Legislature has only just begun investigating, and it is not clear that the County will have to find more money for the agency.

Pryor stressed that the Legislature views additional funding for these agencies as temporary, saying they are closely watching efficiencies that are being implemented, as well as the state of the economy.

"Whatever measures we take now and over the next year our hope is that eventually they will come back to a stable position, and that the County will be able to back out of that funding as they become more stable," she said.

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