Archive: News

The Lansing Town Board voted 3/2 in favor of a resolution in support of converting about 500 acres of forested and farm land with 3,400 feet of shoreline to a state forest.  The vote came almost exactly one year after Finger Lakes Land Trust Executive Director Andy Zepp asked the board to support the sale of the land owned by NYSEG to New York State.  Originally the land was intended as the location for the Bell Station nuclear plant, which was to be constructed in the 1970s.   That never came to fruition.  40 years later NYSEG has expressed some interest in selling the land to New York State for use as a state forest or a Wildlife Management Area.

Arguments for a state forest were that it would bring tourism dollars to Lansing and help local businesses.  Others argued that developing prime lakefront property for residential use would bring more tax dollars to the town.  In March Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Regional Director Kenneth Lynch came to Lansing to answer questions.  (Click here to view article)  At that time he noted that a state forest must include a minimum of 500 acres.  He said fewer acres could be designates a Wildlife Management Area.  If the land is designated as a Wildlife Management Area the State pays no taxes, but if it is set aside as a state forest New York automatically pays property taxes.

Wednesday nearly 90 interested residents came to the Lansing Town Hall.  25 of them spoke to the board on the subject.  Later each Town Board member told the crowd why they do or do not support the project.

Legislature, by Unanimous Vote, Adopts 2014 Tompkins County Budget
After two months of budget deliberations, the Tompkins County Legislature adopted the County’s 2014 budget and its capital program for the next five years.  After an hour’s discussion, including on two proposed amendments, Legislators ended up making no changes to the budget, and approved the plan without dissent, with Legislator Nathan Shinagawa excused.

The $170.2 million adopted budget, including $81.4 million in local dollar spending, increases the County tax levy by 2.95% and the countywide average tax rate by approximately 1.34% to $6.89 per thousand, an increase of $14.89 for the median county home assessed at $163,000.

State agencies spent more than $462 million on overtime in the first nine months of 2013, a jump of $65 million over the same period in 2012, State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced today.

“Overtime costs continue to rise. If the trend continues, the state could spend over $600 million by the end of the calendar year, which is a substantial jump from last year,” DiNapoli said. “Reliance on overtime is becoming an expensive habit. I continue to urge state agencies to improve their personnel management, reduce overtime costs and carefully monitor its use.”

Congressman Tom Reed voted in the House of Representatives to allow health plans currently available on the individual market to continue in 2014, giving Americans the opportunity to continue to enroll in those plans without penalty under the President’s health care law. The Keep Your Health Plan Act passed the House with bipartisan support.

“First and foremost, our focus is on helping Americans and taking care of those misled by the President’s health care law,” Congressman Reed said. “Families are worried and anxious about what their health care will look like next year. One step in easing their concerns is to do what’s fair and give individuals the freedom and flexibility to choose the health care that best cares for their families.”

25 speakers passionately argued Wednesday for and against a resolution to support the creation of a state forest on 500 acres of land in the northwest corner of the Town of Lansing.  About 90 people crowded the Lansing Town Hall Wednesday, most in support of a state forest.  Town Board members also weighed in on why they do or don't support the resolution before voting 3 to 2 in favor of supporting the project with the understanding that any outcome would include the ongoing payment of property taxes comparable to current levels.

"Passing the resolution is a starting point to the process," said Finger Lakes Land Trust Executive Director Andy Zepp.  "But with the clear indication one way or another that the Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) is there."

When shopping carts are stolen from retail stores in the Village of Lansing, who should be held responsible?  Village officials have struggled with a cart dumping problem for years, where stolen carts are dumped in streams, wooded areas or ditches, mainly near the municipality's many apartment complexes.  In trying to gather information from citizens to inform an update to the Village's comprehensive plan, officials hope to get input from store managers and owners.

"We have a shopping cart problem and we're working on a shopping cart law," Trustee Julie Baker said at a meeting last week. "We want to get feedback from the business community about whether they are even interested in retrieving their shopping carts or whether they would be willing to indicate in their stores that taking shopping carts off the premises is forbidden."

The New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) has approved a second two-week extension so that the Cayuga Operating Company and NYSEG can continue working together to develop a repowering plan for the Cayuga Power Plant.  The extension’s deadline is November 21, 2013.

“This is excellent news and we are encouraged by the PSC’s decision,” said Jerry Goodenough, Chief Operating Officer for the Cayuga Operating Company.  “The decision means our company and NYSEG can jointly work on a plan that ultimately reaches a successful outcome in the repowering of our plant to natural gas.”

Legislature Schedules Hearing on Nursing Home Transfer
The Legislature scheduled a public hearing on the transfer of Ithaca’s Beechtree Care Center—a procedural step that would convey title of the facility to the Tompkins County Development Corporation, to facilitate sale of Beechtree to the private company that currently operates the nursing home under receivership.  The hearing will take place at the beginning of the Legislature’s next meeting, November 19 at 5:30 p.m., at Legislature Chambers, second floor of the Governor Daniel D. Tompkins Building, 121 E. Court Street, Ithaca.

Scheduling of the hearing was approved by unanimous vote.  The Legislature is scheduled to act on the proposal later that evening.

The Tompkins County Legislature called its annual hearing Tuesday to listen to public comments on the recommended 2014 County Budget, but nearly all the comments related to the Public Safety Building renovation that would add seven beds to the county jail and reduce the boarding-out of inmates that costs the County close to a quarter-million dollars a year.

Close to 30 people attended the hearing, and all but three of the 14 people who addressed the Legislature followed up comments made to the Legislature at its last meeting expressing deep concern about the jail project—registering their firm opposition to what they maintained is an unneeded and misdirected expansion, and urging that the county delay any action to allow a meaningful dialogue and public input, and to explore why the jail is overcrowded and what can be done about that.

Tompkins County Sheriff's office has arrested Arthur J. Basso, age 36 of Moravia, NY in connection with the death of Crystal Grobelny, also of Moravia. Grobelny was discovered just off the roadway on West Dryden Road in the Town of Dryden early Sunday morning.  Grobelny, age 31, was transported to Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton where an autopsy was completed.

Basso has been charged with a Class D felony for Leaving the Scene of an incident without reporting it. Basso was arraigned in the Town of Dryden Court before Judge Valentinelli and remanded to the Tompkins county Jail in lieu of $20,000 cash or $40,00 bond. Basso is scheduled to reappear in the Town of Dryden Court on November 18, 2013 at 9:00 AM.

Read more ...

Village of Lansing Trustees continued to consider data Monday from a telephone survey of residents, with help from Survey Research Institute (SRI) Director Yasamin Miller.  The Town of Lansing had hired SRI to conduct its survey, then decided to allow the Village to come into the project, splitting the cost of the survey.  While many questions were identical for respondents from both municipalities, some were not.  And because the demographic of the Village is different from that of the Town, Miller recommended putting more weight on the interpretation of renter responses.

"You have a higher rental population than the Town but the renters are only 27% of your respondents," she noted.  "I would look at that data much more closely than the other breakdown, because your renters are very different.  They don't line up with the general population's responses.  That's why I suggest you weight your data to the renter population if that's important to you.  If you think the Village is based on owners and residents who are hear for the long term you wouldn't weight it.  But if you think renters have valid input, your data is under-representing your renters.  It's not an invalid approach.  It's done routinely."