- By Marcia E. Lynch
- News
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The Tompkins County Legislature, by a vote of 14-1, formally adopted amendments to the 2011 tentative budget, as recommended by its Expanded Budget Committee. Legislator David McKenna voted no, but several other legislators made it clear they were voting in favor of the package at this point so that it could be sent on for review by the public and comment at the Legislature’s public hearing on the budget next Monday, November 8.The recommended budget would raise the tax levy (the total amount of property tax revenue needed to balance the budget) by 5.98%. The countywide average tax rate in the recommended amended budget would increase by 7.9%, to $6.47 per thousand dollars assessed property value, an increase of $75.30 for the average $160,000 home.
The Legislature approved creation of a Broadband Committee and the appointment of 20 people to serve on it. The advisory committee is charged with assessing broadband infrastructure investment, deployment, and adoption opportunities countywide and making recommendations for improved broadband access and affordability. The committee, chaired by Legislator Pat Pryor, will focus areas including economic development, government performance, public safety/emergency medical services, telehealth, equity in education, energy and the environment, rural broadband access, and civic engagement.
The Lansing Town Board passed the 2011 $5,480,544.05 budget Wednesday. $1,829,976.60 will be raised by taxes at a tax rate drop of 5.32%. While the overall budget is $1,157,149.25 higher than this year, the levy is $384,793.36, $384792.61 less than last year's levy. The board approved the budget unanimously after a public hearing. They also approved a special districts budget of $1,526,390, which is paid by residents of those districts only. Special districts include water, lighting, drainage, and sewer districts.
Andrew M. Cuomo
There has been growing buzz around town about a new supermarket planned for the corner of North Triphammer and Town Barn Roads. As the head of a group of investors who are bankrolling the project Andy Sciarabba has been pushing to keep to a schedule that will mean the market can open next May or June. Monday the project passed a major hurdle when the The Lansing Town Planning Board unanimously approved a negative declaration on the environmental review, and approved the site plan 5/0. That puts the project on track to begin construction on schedule.
On Saturday, 10/16/10, at about 4:48 AM, deputies were dispatched to a residence on North Triphammer Road in the Town of Lansing for a reported home invasion burglary. It was alleged that Bradley H. Brown, age 36, had forced entry into the home before assaulting two occupants.
State Department of Transportation (DOT) officials were at the Lansing Town Hall Wednesday to explain to local residents why Route 34 in front of the State juvenal residential center will be closed for just over two months next summer. A box culvert adjacent to the Lansing Residential Center has deteriorated to the point where state engineers have elevated it to the highest priority on the list of bridges to be repaired in next year's building season. DOT engineer Nicholas J. DeCirce says that salt damage, normal wear and tear, and just plain old age have contributed to deterioration of concrete and steel in the structure.
More than four years after planning began, a 13-member intermunicipal health insurance consortium has earned the New York State certification it needs to begin operations, enabling all Tompkins County municipalities, large and small, to provide employee health benefits in a cost-effective way.
Local and county sales tax collections increased 10.5 percent across New York during the first three quarters of 2010, compared to a 9 percent decline in the same period the year before, according to a report released today by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. However, more than a third of this growth is due to sales tax rate increases and the extension of sales tax on additional items in New York City and Nassau County. Excluding these changes, growth in collections to date was approximately 6 percent.
In their second night of decision-making, Legislators acting as an Expanded Budget Committee recommended partial restoration of matching funds to support Municipal Youth Development Programs, as part of the County’s 2011 tentative budget. Tonight’s decisions may be reconsidered at later expanded committee meetings and will require approval by the full Legislature to become final.