- By Marcia E. Lynch
- News
Print 
In three separate votes, the Legislature approved the issuance of serial bonds and notes to support nearly $6.5 million in County capital projects—up to $4.3 million to help support road and highway reconstruction improvements; up to $1.65 million to pay a portion of the cost of repairing or replacing county bridges; and up to $470,000 to help support the cost of a voice-over-internet protocol telephone system, which will extend such service to all County departments. All three bonding resolutions were approved without dissent. (Legislator Jim Dennis was excused.)
Legislature Supports Legislation to Amend Mortgage Recording Tax
The Legislature, by unanimous vote (Legislator Jim Dennis was excused), “endorses, supports, and encourages” the State Legislature to adopt pending bills in the Senate and Assembly that would amend the tax law regarding the Mortgage Recording Tax in Tompkins County, to dedicate the quarter-percent “Additional Tax” element of the tax to support mass transportation, an action it indicates that would provide Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT) a source of revenue available to other major transit operations in the state, and that will contribute to the long-term viability of public transit in Tompkins County. The County is authorized to impose the quarter-percent “Additional Tax,” but has not yet voted to do so. It requested the State legislation regarding dedication of the proceeds.
In a separate action, the Legislature, also approved without dissent, first rescinded two earlier resolutions, passed in 2011, that asked the State Legislature to introduce legislation and supported specific bills that would have authorized the County to enact a .25% Mortgage Recording Tax, with proceeds of the tax provided to the County for general purposes. The Legislature affirms that its support of current bills that would dedicate the additional .25 tax to mass transportation under the “Additional Tax” provision represents “its sole and exclusive request regarding changes in the Mortgage Recording Tax.”
Legislature Supports Uniting American Families Act
The Legislature, by unanimous vote (Legislator Jim Dennis was excused), voiced its official support of proposed Federal legislation, the Uniting American Families Act, that would permit a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident to sponsor his or her same-gender partner for permanent resident status under U.S. immigration law. Immigration law permits a U.S. citizen or permanent resident to sponsor a spouse, child, or parent for permanent resident status, such authorization not provided for same-gender partners. The measure, recommended by the County’s Workforce Diversity and Inclusion and Budget, Capital, and Personnel Committees, notes that lack of such authorization forces the disruption of same-gender families. Through its action, the Legislature calls upon President Obama and elected officials in Congress to press for passage, thanks Senators Schumer and Gillibrand and Congressman Hanna for cosponsoring the legislation, and calls for elected officials to ensure in any legislation that principles summarizing in the Act that end long-standing discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender immigrant families are included in any comprehensive immigration reform legislation.
Among other actions, the Legislature
- Adopted a Green Building Policy which specifies that new construction and major renovations of County-owned building or property shall meet at least the equivalent of LEED Silver standard, with a decision on whether to seek the actual certification made on a case by case basis. Legislator Mike Lane proposed increasing the threshold for covered projects from $500,000 to $1 million, which failed by a 5-9 margin. Adoption of the policy was approved 13-1, with Legislator Dooley Kiefer voting no. Kiefer had urged that the policy acknowledge that other standards exist beyond the LEED standard.
- Heard a presentation from Cornell professors Robert Howarth and Tony Ingraffea entitled “A Renewable Energy Future for New York,” based on a Stanford/Cornell study that uses New York State as a model to demonstrate how the state can be powered with wind, water, and the sun to address global warming, air pollution, and energy security. They maintained that global warming is real and a critically important issue to New York State, that the federal Environmental Protection Agency has vastly underestimated the effect of methane emissions on climate change, that renewables, not shale gas, is the answer, and that meeting the state’s energy needs through renewable energy sources is achievable with rapidly advancing technology. The presentation may be viewed online at the County Legislature website at www.tompkins-co.org/legislature. (Click on the Tompkins County Meeting Portal, the May 7 Legislature meeting, video, then the item on the agenda.)
v9i18