Archive: News

The Legislature, by a vote of 13-1, implemented a provision of New York State Tax Law that authorizes the County to apply an additional .25 percent Mortgage Recording Tax for mass transportation services.  (Legislator Dooley Kiefer voted no; Legislator Nate Shinagawa was absent.)  Last month, State Tax Law was amended to permit Tompkins County to retain that additional quarter-percent mortgage tax for that purpose, instead of having proceeds from that tax go to the State.  In its action, the Legislature repealed a 1969 resolution of the Board of Representatives that had temporarily suspended imposition of the additional tax.

The additional quarter-percent tax will specifically be devoted to support of the county’s bus system, Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT), generating an expected $800,000 in annually, which County Administrator Joe Mareane notes will provide a stable stream of revenue for TCAT to address capital and operating needs.  The three TCAT partner—the County, City of Ithaca, and Cornell University—will continue to allocate annual operational funding, each currently contributing about $900,000 each year.

The Legislature approved a capital project that will renovate the County Public Safety Building to increase jail capacity and be expected to decrease the County’s inmate board-out expenses.  (The vote was unanimous, with Legislator Nate Shinagawa absent.)

The project will construct a covered outdoor recreation area and convert the little-used current indoor recreation space to dormitory space for seven inmates.  The project, initially estimated to cost $900,000, will also include design work for an optional later phase that would provide seven more beds, should Sheriff’s administrative functions be able to move to other quarters.  The County will contract with LaBella Associates for architectural and engineering services.

The Legislature, without dissent, adopted a work group report that recommends a short-term financial strategy to respond to a sizable structural budget deficit for the Tompkins County Public Library, projected at more than $400,000 for 2014.  (Legislator Nate Shinagawa was absent.)

The work group report recommends, in part that County “target” support for the Library increase by at least $100,000 for each of the next three years, that the Library spend down all but $75,000 of its reserves over the next two years to support operating expenses, and that the County appropriate County reserves to close the remaining budget gap—this strategy to provide short-term support while the Library develops a long-term fiscal strategy to achieve a sustainable revenue structure.

In light of information being circulated by an out-of-state firm, Tompkins County Clerk Aurora R. Valenti says that her office can quickly provide a copy of a homeowner’s deed at little or no cost.  A Delaware-based company is contacting Tompkins County homeowners by mail, offering to provide the deed for a cost of $83.00.

Valenti says that the Office of the Tompkins County Clerk can give same-day service and provide a printed copy of the homeowner's deed at a cost of 65 cents per page (the State-required copying charge).

Rep. Tom Reed took the debate over whether the United States should get involved in Syria directly to constituents this week and is now asking the President to do the same. Reed sent a letter Thursday to the White House reiterating what he heard at his listening sessions on Syria this week: Americans want answers on how U.S. military action will fix the situation and if the President’s plan addresses risks of escalation.

“After hearing from several hundred constituents at our Syria listening sessions and from phone calls and emails to our office, it is clear United States military action in Syria is not what residents of the 23rd district want,” Reed said. “Absent some compelling information, I remain opposed to action and share many of the same concerns constituents have presented to me. Constituents are concerned about being drawn into a lengthy conflict which may ultimately require increased involvement and put American lives at risk. We are responding to the concerns of our constituents with this letter because these are valid concerns which the Administration has not addressed.”

The Legislature’s Government Operations Committee today received the report from a four-month-long study of a County work group that examined the County’s Livable Wage policy, in effect for the past decade.

The County’s 2003 Livable Wage policy encourages, but does not mandate, the payment of a livable wages to employees of County contractors, most of those not-for-profit human services agencies. The review was initiated following questions earlier this year regarding application of the policy and the extent to which the Legislature’s living wage goals are being considered in the procurement and award of County contracts.

The Legislature’s budget committee today recommended that the Legislature implement a provision of New York State Tax Law that authorizes the County to apply an additional .25 percent Mortgage Recording Tax for mass transportation services.

Last month, State Tax Law was amended to permit Tompkins County to retain that additional quarter-percent mortgage tax for that purpose, instead of having proceeds from that tax go to the State.

Rep. Tom Reed, county police, sheriff, fire and emergency services departments gathered at Cornell University Thursday for an Emergency Responders Advisory Board meeting. The group focused primarily on funding opportunities including grants made available to emergency and first responders.

“With the relationships we’re building with local emergency and first responders, we have a better understanding of what they are looking toward Congress to help them with,” Reed said. “Fire departments, EMS organizations, police departments – they all have specific equipment and personnel needs and the better we understand those needs, the better equipped Washington will be to address them and address them fairly.”

With two large septic systems on their last gasp and a third at the end of its projected useful life the Lansing Board of Education was nervously putting a septic replacement project on hold while waiting to learn whether they would be able to hook up to a municipal sewer.  Last month the sewer project was halted, and Town Supervisor reiterated last week that municipal sewer in lansing is dead.  That puts the school district in a race against time to replace their aging septic systems before the very real possibility that one may fail.

"Now that the sewer project is officially dead in Lansing we are getting organized to proceed as quickly as possible to put together a project focussed on replacing the three septic systems in the district which are beyond their useful life," said School Board President Glenn Swanson Monday.  "We've been holding off doing something about it until we heard what was going on with the Town.  Now that we have official word that (the sewer project) is dead, we'll be pursuing that as fast as we can."

The Ithaca Reform Temple will not be available for use as a poll site for the September 10 Primary Election due to flooding earlier this summer. Voters who would have used that site (Lansing Districts 5 and 7) will now go to the Lansing Village Hall, located at 2405 N. Triphammer Rd. Voters affected by this change should receive an orange postcard in the mail during the first week of September.

Albany, NY – A town in New York is continuing its court battle with the oil and gas industry to keep a local fracking ban in effect as the New York State Court of Appeals today announced it would take up the appeal of Norse Energy Corp. USA. Residents of Dryden are gearing up for the next round of their fight to protect their way of life, joining hundreds of communities across the country that have fought the oil and gas industry.

“We are confident that the Court of Appeals will affirm, as two other courts have before it, that our town has the right, enshrined in our state Constitution and upheld by the courts, to decide how land is used within our town borders,” said Dryden Town Supervisor Mary Ann Sumner. “Still, the oil and gas industry is dissatisfied and stubbornly insists on dragging out this court case. Clearly, they’re not used to not getting their way.”

Anyone who participates in summer programs in Lansing knows the school buildings and the pool were closed for a major capital project this summer.  The $3,033,054 Building Core Reconstruction (BCR) capital project will be close enough to completion that Superintendent Chris Pettograsso said Monday that students will be able to come to school on schedule next Friday.

"We're moving along on budget," Pettograsso said.  "We're hoping all the classrooms will be complete by the start of school.