Archive: News

The Lansing Board Of Education unanimously approved a $13,955,294 tax levy for the 2011-2012 school year Monday.  The levy is the amount the district needs to collect from district property taxpayers to raise the money for the $25,275,503 budget voters approved in May.  The increase in the levy from last year is 4.39, which will raise the tax rate an estimated 4.39%.

"That gives us a tax rate of $19.0944," explained School Business Administrator Mary June King.  "Last year we sought to raise the levy $13,368,831.  We actually raised the levy of $13,351,156.  That's just the reality of how this works because property values change, people challenge their taxes, they challenge their values.  It remains throughout the budget cycle and throughout the year."

For the second year in a row Tompkins County Legislator Pat Pryor held an early budget information meeting Wednesday at the Lansing Town Hall.  The County is more challenged than ever this year as they struggle to formulate a budget fraught with State mandates in the face of the upcoming property tax cap.  She brought County Administrator Joe Mareane and Tompkins County Public Information Officer Marcia Lynch with her to help explain the issues impacting the 2012 County budget.

"The tax cap, we know now, is a reality," Pryor said.  "We know there is not going to be any significant mandate relief.  We also know that our services are going to continue to be very necessary.  The primary thing we do as a county is to provide services to people."

Music, food, fireworks... check!  Community Council officials estimate that over 3,000 people flooded Myers Park Saturday to celebrate the nation's independence.  This was the first year of the event, and by most measures it exceeded the council's expectations. There was only one downside, and in a sense it was that they were too successful.  The problem was traffic control.

The Community Council hosts the annual Lansing Harbor Festival every August.  The idea of fireworks was first raised for that festival as organizers continually solicit input for features people want to see added to the all-day event.  This year the Community Council decided that the Independence Day weekend would be a better venue, especially since it was uncertain whether the Community Fireworks, that until last year was an annual event at Ithaca College, would take place at all this year.

Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli today ordered payment requests from the State University of New York (SUNY) to undergo additional scrutiny following SUNY’s decision to award a $270,000 consultant contract without competitively bidding the study or justifying a single-source award.

“New York’s procurement laws exist to make sure taxpayers get the most for their money,” DiNapoli said. “SUNY circumvented those laws at the same time it was lobbying for greater procurement flexibility.  My office will put SUNY’s future payment requests under an even sharper microscope to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

Now that the long-discussed New York State property tax cap has become reality, County officials are focusing on specifics and working to determine the actual magnitude of the cap and to clarify the real impact of any “mandate relief” that could be enacted.  County Administrator Joe Mareane told Legislators that, although the State has enacted a 2% tax cap with adjustments for real growth in tax base and some of the increase in pension cost, much about that remains vague—especially concerning pensions and whether counties can expect any mandate relief at all.

Although County officials are still working to clarify specifics, Mareane said the general concept concerning pensions is that if the County’s pension contribution rate grows by more than 2%, that excess amount is added to the cap, something that could add as much as 2% to the cap for Tompkins County.

Tompkins County CourthouseLegislature Chair Martha Robertson told Legislators the New York State Court System, which has called for the Legislature to vacate its chambers by the first of the year to make way for a Supreme Courtroom, has now told the County it needs all the space currently occupied by the Legislature, calling for all Legislature operations, not simply the Chambers, to move from the County Courthouse. 

A message from Court Clerk Paula Nichols received last week states, “it is imperative to our court operations to occupy the total space currently being occupied by the Legislative offices and staff.  We therefore request the total space to be available to the Court effective January 1, 2012 as previously requested.”

The Legislature took several actions related to Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport, including acceptance of a $1.5 million dollar grant from the Federal Aviation Administration, approval of a consulting agreement, and award of bids to construct a new sand storage building at the airport.  The grant was accepted by a 14-1 vote (Legislator Kathy Luz Herrera voting no.)

The award of more than $1.4 million in construction bids was approved by a 13-2 vote, with Legislators Kathy Luz Herrera and Pam Mackesey  opposed. Before that vote, Legislators Luz Herrera and Leslyn McBean-Clairborne expressed concern that the general contractor, Gudabri, of Savannah, NY, does not operate a certified apprenticeship program, consistent with County policy.

Legislators looked to what could be ahead regarding the State Department of Conservation’s release of its Draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (dSGEIS) on hydrofracturing gas drilling in the Marcellus shale, beginning with official release of the revised document July 8.

Legislator Carol Chock said there is nothing definitive yet regarding such issues as home rule and setbacks.  She urged all to look at the report carefully and to consider cumulative and environmental impacts.

Debbie S. Crandall of the Town of Lansing has been awarded Certification as Registered Municipal Clerk (RMC) by the New York State Town Clerks Association for achieving its high educational, experience and participatory requirements.

Debbie has been serving as Town Clerk since June 2, 2011, previously serving as Deputy Town Clerk for over 20 years, and is a member of the NYS Town Clerks Association.

Months after the proposal was first advanced, the Legislature’s Facilities and Infrastructure Committee is recommending adoption of a county road preservation law, one that incorporates revisions based on public input during months of study.  Last Friday the committee, by votes of 4-0, with Legislator Leslyn McBean-Clairborne excused, supported the proposed local law and recommended that it be put to public hearing before the Legislature August 16.

The November election is still more than three months away.  Some candidates are definitely running, others still have some time to decide. One candidate has already started campaigning aggressively for a Lansing Town Board seat, which makes him unique in the Lansing political field.  Ed LaVigne has been gathering signatures to run on the Republican and Independence party lines, has launched a Web site for his campaign, and is already handing out buttons with his campaign slogan, 'Plan Prepare Produce'.  He says mixing community involvement with government makes the impossible possible.

"In the business world you have to have a plan, you have to implement that plan, and you have to be successful," he says.  "That's the tangibles.  Now you deal with the intangibles, which is community.  That means you can tap into something you can't see, you can't smell, you can't taste, but you can feel.  That is that community spirit.  You tap into that and it is the missing ingredient for a lot of people who try to get things done."

The new independent commission charged with preparing a recommended plan for reapportioning County legislative districts based on the 2010 Census, has officially started its work. The commission convened for the first time late yesterday.  It must submit its recommended reapportionment plan (and any alternates) to the Legislature’s Government Operations Committee no later than March 1, 2012.

Appointed by the Legislature to serve on the Commission are Henrik (Hank) Dullea, Linda Duttweiler, John Gutenberger, Michael Hattery, Margaret Hobbie, Daniel Konowalow, Eric Lerner, Sarah Reistetter-Akiri, and Jeffrey True, with Dullea appointed as Chair.  All nine Commission members were at yesterday’s inaugural session.