Archive: News

Patricia Carey Reappointed as Social Services Commissioner
The Legislature has accepted the recommendation of County Administrator Joe Mareane and reappointed Patricia Carey as County Commissioner of Social Services for a third five-year term.  The vote was unanimous, with Legislator Leslyn McBean-Clairborne and Dooley Kiefer excused.  The Commissioner of Social Services is one of three County department heads who serve a State-mandated term of office and must be reappointed to a specified term.  During the term of office, the department head can be terminated only for cause.

Administrator Mareane told Legislators he strongly recommends Commissioner Carey’s reappointment.  In preparing his recommendation, the administrator conducted an extensive review that included a survey of DSS employees, consultation with members of the Health and Human Services Committee, and his own evaluations of her performance.

New York state spending declined for the second straight year in fiscal year 2012-13 while debt reached an all-time high of $63.5 billion, according to the annual report on the Financial Condition of New York State released today by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

“State policy decisions in the past three years have helped New York better align state spending with revenue, but difficulties remain,” DiNapoli said. “The aim should be to build on the progress made and put New York state on a truly sustainable fiscal path. While short-term financial results appear positive, the fact that we are still dependent on temporary resources means the long-term outlook remains challenging.”

The Lansing Fire Commissioners presented their $1,568,562 budget Tuesday in a budget hearing that attracted only two members of the public.$1,250.346 of that will be raised from property taxes, with the rest expected to come from the sale of surplus equipment.  The rest comes from estimated sales of equipment the district no longer needs.  The good news?  Fire district tax rate remains the same as it was last year, at 94 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value.

"If we don't get the $150,000 from the sale of the vehicles we'll just take more out of reserves," said District Treasurer George Gesslein.  "We have plenty of reserves we can use."

Salt point was on the Lansing Town Board agenda again as officials discuss future additions to Salt Point.  Supervisor Kathy Miller and Katrina Binkewicz made it clear that they do not intend to try to ban hunting on the property, which is owned by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and managed by the Town.  Binkewicz also outlined several goals for 2014 including a picnic area, informational kiosks, nesting boxes, and proposed bathroom facilities and fishing pier.

"We've been in communication with (the DEC).  They're coming down there to talk about potential grant projects," Binkewicz said.  "We would not go forward without their full support.  In fact it would be a more successful grant if we had a letter of support (from DEC) for these projects."

Democrat Pat Prior has been active in Tompkins County politics and the Democratic Party for many years.  She first came to Lansing in 1962 and stayed for eight years while teaching at Lansing Elementary School.  She moved back in 2004 and has been active in the Tompkins County and Lansing Democratic Committees.  Pryor is currently finishing her first term on the Legislature and is hoping voters will send her back for a second.

She sat down with the Lansing Star last Friday to talk about why she is running and what she wants to do if re-elected.


Lansing Star: What can you offer voters that your opponent can not offer?

Republican Mike Sigler served as Lansing's representative to Tompkins County from 2006 to 2010, when he was defeated by current Legislator Pat Pryor.  He has lived and worked in Lansing for ten years.  His daughter is in third grade.  Sigler says taxes are a major issue that needs to be addressed.  He says Lansing will grow, and defending the character of the town while facilitating growth is a major challenge.

Sigler talked to the Lansing Star in his Lansing home Monday to talk about why he wants another term on the Legislature.


Lansing Star: What can you offer voters that your opponent can not offer?

Tompkins County Commissioner of Planning Ed Marx was in the Village of Lansing Monday to tell Village Trustees about solar panels on seven county buildings.  Trustees considered putting solar panels on the roof of the new $1,079,644 village hall currently under construction, but found the purchase cost prohibitive.  But Marx says that an arrangement the County holds with a private company to lease solar cells saves the County almost twice what it pays for the lease.

"I wanted to hear more about how the County acquired solar capacity on some already-built buildings on a lease basis," said Trustee and Deputy Mayor Lynn Leopold. "Even though our building is well under way toward completion, I, for one, don't want to rule out the possibility that we could do the same in some way."

Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton (D/WF-125) announced that she had received a score of 100 in the Environmental Advocates’ 2013 Environmental Scorecard released today.

“Voting for critical environmental safeguards and renewable energy initiatives is good for the state of New York, and I am pleased that the Assembly’s leadership in these areas has been recognized by Environmental Advocates of New York,” Lifton explained.

Legislators acting as an Expanded Budget Committee heard seven more budget presentations tonight, as their review of County Administrator Joe Mareane’s recommended 2014 County Budget entered its third week.

Legislators heard presentations from the Department of Social Services, Personnel, and Weights and Measures, as well as the Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT), the Tompkins County Public Library, the Soil and Water Conservation District, and Transportation Planning.

The results are in.  Most Lansingites like living in Lansing, are less thrilled with elected officials, like emergency services they receive, favor development and more tourism, and really, really don't want hydro-fracking in Lansing.  The Town and Village of Lansing split the cost of a telephone survey that was completed last month.  Village Trustees came up with a rough strategy Monday for incorporating the results into their comprehensive plan.

"One of the things that jumped out at me was people still have a lot of trouble getting a sense that the Village is a community, whereas the Town does have a community," said Trustee and Deputy Mayor Lynn Leopold.  "They do have a sense of a center up there.  And they have hamlets, which we don't have.  We're sort of a retrofitted village with a commercial area.  And the town people think their commercial center is here."

Washington, Oct. 10, 2013 -- No Labels brought together more than 50 Republicans and Democrats today with a message to congressional leadership and President Obama: Stop fighting and start fixing! The group, nearly evenly divided between members of both parties, stood in solidarity to urge all leaders to find a way to work together to end the fiscal crisis.



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Village of Lansing Mayor Donald Hartill told the Village Trustees Monday that he is pushing a plan to lower the minimum water charge for Bolton Point customers.  A long-time member of the Bolton Point Board of Commissioners, Hartill says the current minimum charge is unfair, forcing low-volume users to subsidize major water users.

"What they should do is have some minimum charge that everybody pays, including the big users," Hartill said.  "That minimum charge would be, in effect, the cost of accounting and sending bills.  If you take a minimum charge of eight dollars per quarter and then you pay four dollars per thousand gallons or whatever the rate is on top of that, it's basically income-neutral.  But it saves almost 50% of the customers a fair amount of money.  The big users pay their fair share."