Archive: News

For eight years the fate of the Cayuga Power Plant has loomed over the Lansing Board Of Education's budgets.  Starting in 2010 the value of the district's largest taxpayer has plummeted by 100 million dollars, and Lansing School District Business Administrator Mary June King says it is likely to lose even more value after the current negotiations with Tompkins County are concluded.  King presented five scenarios assuming various plant value losses that could result in the tax rate rising anywhere between 22 cents per thousand dollars of assessed value to as much as $1.51.  That would mean that owners of a $200,000 home may pay between $80 and $338 more than they did this year.

"I've been telling you we're in negotiations," she told the Board.  "I'm not at liberty at this time to share details from those negotiations.  Hopefully the County will have completed its negotiations with the plant by the end of February.  I can assure you that we're going to see a decrease in the value of the plant.  Of that I am absolutely confident."

New York State Senator Pam Helming (R-54th District) yesterday helped pass legislation to better protect the health of volunteer firefighters who become sick due to the hazards they encounter from their service to the community. The bill (S1411), expands the benefits available to volunteer firefighters when they contract certain illnesses and cancers as a result of their dangerous work.

"Volunteer firefighters valiantly serve our communities and put their lives on the line for us every day to protect our lives and property," said Senator Helming. "These unsung heroes of our communities are critical in meeting our emergency services needs in often hazardous environments and dangerous circumstances. For their service, they must be provided every protection that the state can afford them."

Fifty-nine school districts have been designated as fiscally stressed under New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli's Fiscal Stress Monitoring System. This is a decrease from 82 districts that were listed in stress last year and 90 the year prior.  No school districts in Tompkins County were designated as fiscally stressed.

This is the fourth year DiNapoli's office has assessed and scored the financial stability of school districts. The latest round of scoring designated two school districts in "significant fiscal stress," nine in "moderate fiscal stress" and the remaining 48 as "susceptible to fiscal stress." The scores are based on the evaluation of 671 school districts with fiscal years ending on June 30, 2016.

The Legislature's special Jail Study Committee last week led a public discussion on the issue of capacity at the Tompkins County Jail. At the public information meeting, consultants from the Center for Governmental Research (CGR), described the criminal justice and jail population trend analysis they are conducting on behalf of the County, and members of the public were invited to comment and ask questions.

Close to 50 people attended the meeting and nearly half of them spoke. None of the speakers supported building additional jail capacity, maintaining that the County should instead invest in additional programs and services, as alternatives-to-incarceration, and should focus on the root causes of why people are in jail and ways to keep people out of jail, and if they have been incarcerated, how to keep them from returning.

As President-Elect took office, Congressman Tom Reed expressed his optimism for President Trump's Administration and renewed his calls for bipartisanship.

"We care about listening to the people from our district as we go through the major changes in the coming year," said Reed. "We have an unprecedented opportunity for a meaningful fresh start, and the ability to reach across the aisle to make impactful positive changes for the people around our region. We want to make sure they are included in this process."

Property tax levy growth for school districts will be capped at 1.26 percent for the 2017-18 fiscal year, according to data released today by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. The latest calculation affects the tax cap calculations for 677 school districts as well as 10 cities, including the "Big Four" cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers.

"For the fourth consecutive year, school and municipal officials will need to plan around a tax cap below two percent," said DiNapoli. "My audits have shown some school districts will be able to rely on ample rainy day funds to offset the low growth in revenue, but others must examine their budgets to determine where they can limit spending or cut costs in order to stay under the cap."

Following the first meeting of the new Congress, Rep. Tom Reed (R-New York) announced his membership in the emerging Problem Solvers Caucus.

"We care about the people that sent us here. That is why we want to develop the smart policy solutions we need to overcome our greatest national challenges," said Reed. "It's only right that we look for opportunities to partner with our colleagues across the aisle and recognize that the best ideas don't come from parties, but from individuals and by listening to all sides of an issue."

Congresssman Tom Reed (R-NY) and Congresswoman Diana DeGette (D-CO), co-Chairs of the House Diabetes Caucus, are applauding a change in policy that will help diabetic senior citizens. After a multi-year effort led by Reed and DeGette, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it will expand Medicare coverage for Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) systems.

Legislature Chair Lane Delivers 2017 Annual Message
In his annual message before the Tompkins County Legislature, Legislature Chair Michael Lane called 2017, the County's Bicentennial Year, "a year of reflection, a year of hope, and a year of action" –a year to look back at our heritage and historic diversity, and to look ahead during the last year of the Legislature's four-year term, with an election coming in November.

"In a year of transition and facing unknown challenges, we have hope and we are strong," he said. "We are a diverse county, full of forward-looking, intelligent and passionate people," Lane observed. Acknowledging the disappointment and apprehension many in Tompkins County feel after the national election, Lane stated, "We do know, however, that the bitterly divisive rhetoric at the national level does not reflect who we are in Tompkins County and does not reflect the values that we work hard to promote." In referencing the many elements of the county's diversity, Lane said, "We are new people from everywhere in the world. And when new arrivals come to Tompkins County and contribute to our society, we welcome them. We don't build walls to keep people out; we open our hearts to let them in…We are part of that hope that has always been our America."

Senator Pam Helming (R-54th District) is urging the community to join her efforts to keep Judith Clark behind bars by signing an online petition calling on the New York State Board of Parole to deny Clark's release.

Senator Helming noted Judith Clark's role as driver of a getaway car in the 1981 robbery of the Brink's armored car in Rockland County that left security guard Peter Paige and Nyack, N.Y. Police Sgt. Edward O'Grady and Officer Waverly "Chipper" Brown dead. Clark was convicted of murder and robbery charges and sentenced to 75 years in prison, but Governor Cuomo recently commuted her sentence, making her eligible for parole in 2017.

Lansing Planning Consultant Michael Long told the Town Board Wednesday that development in Lansing is healthy, making Lansing the 'growth part' of Tompkins County.  Long outlined 16 major Planning Board projects, plus activities by the Agriculture Committee and progress on the comprehensive plan revision.  Projects included commercial and residential plans in various stages of planning and construction.

"We have a lot of different things going," he said.  "I think it's been a very productive year.  We had about 13 projects approved.  About 43 division lots approved, four commercial projects approved, and residential items for the Village Solars and Village Circle zone."

The Lansing Town Board approved up to $20,000 to update all its town laws and convert them to digital form.  After a major update that brings all the Town's ordinances up to date and consistent with each other, the service continues to update laws, providing drafts of laws.  Town Attorney Guy Krogh recommended the Town contract for the service, saying it would help keep Lansing's ordinances in sync with new state or federal laws and with each other, and provide a tool for citizens to easily access the laws through the Town Web site.

"My experience in examining these things, and knowing other towns that have gone through the process is that I've pretty universally heard from towns like the Town of Ithaca that have gone through it that, 'gee, we should have done this years ago," he said.  "Nobody knows everything about New York State law, so getting another set of eyes on everything just helps me to do a better job and better protects the Town.  I'm all for it."