Archive: News

The Lansing Central School District’s $3,612,048 2010 Health, Learning and Safety Capital Project passed Tuesday night (March 9th) 386-116.  The district asked taxpayers to approve the project, with no additional tax impact.  The project addresses problems identified in a 2005 inspection of school buildings, and will focus mainly on the high school.

Superintendent Stephen Grimm, Business Administrator Mary June King, School Board President Anne Drake, and school board member Glenn Swanson waited Tuesday night as the votes were counted.  489 voters showed up at the polls Tuesday, and 13 write-in votes were counted.  The write-ins tallied 7-6 for the project, but the final count shooed it in with more than 3-1 voting yes.

With a week to go before Census forms begin to arrive in mailboxes throughout Tompkins County, County officials and community partners gathered this noon to celebrate the 2010 Census and to urge everyone to participate.

At the event, held at the Tompkins County Public Library, speakers reminded the community how the Census is important to our community and urged that everyone watch for their Census form to arrive in the next few days, to fill it out, and to send it back.  The event was sponsored by the county’s 2010 Census Complete Count Committee and the many local partners in the community Census campaign.

County Administrator Joe Mareane told the Legislature’s budget committee today that the County must quickly assess the local cost involved before deciding whether to seek federal stimulus funds as part of a regional initiative to extend broadband service to underserved areas.

Over the past several months, the County has been considering participation in a wide-ranging program, funded through the federal stimulus and proposed by the Southern Tier East and Southern Tier Central Regional Planning and Development Boards, which would build a multi-county, multi-regional open access fiber-based telecommunications network. 

The Lansing Board of Education (BOE) starts each year with a 'rollover budget' figure, the amount it will cost next year to do everything the district did this year.  Then it adds or subtracts based on program needs, physical plant, growth, and tax impact to come up with a budget for next year.  That's how it works in times of prosperity.  But with severe state aid reductions this year and looking ahead several years, and reduced federal money, the Lansing BOE is looking at an approximately $2 million gap.

"This is the calm before the storm," Supernintendent Stephen Grimm said at Monday's BOE meeting.  "In the next budget presentation on March 22, we will unveil where we are going to close our revenue gap.  More specifically, what many people are concerned with are cuts.  What we're finding is that the revenue gap is increasing.  There is no way you can cut that much money without cutting people."

As part of the Annual Reassessment Program, all parcels were reviewed for the 2010 roll year and Preliminary Assessment Change Notices will be mailed to 2,787 property owners. This consists of 719 decreases in assessed value and 2,068 increases in assessed value.

To provide property owner’s whose assessment has changed since the 2009 Final Assessment Roll adequate time to review the 2010 Preliminary Assessment Roll, the Department of Assessment will hold meetings from March 22 – April 9, 2010 for these property owners. At these meetings, it is the property owners’ responsibility to present any new information (such as changes in inventory and/or any recent fee appraisals) regarding their parcel that the Department of Assessment has not already taken into account while valuing their property at 100% fair market value. All real property information (including sales) is available for review on the 5 public computers in the Assessment Office, this information is also available at the Tompkins County Clerk’s Office.

After voters approved a 2.3 million addition and renovation of Lansing Central Fire Station in September fire commissioners expected the $2.3 million project would be ready to go out to bid shortly after the first of the year.  Over the past month or two they have showed some restraint in expressing frustration as the project has been stalled in paperwork.

"That's how we were going to do it," Fire Commissioner Jeff Walters says.  "There's more red tape than we can shake a stick at.  If you had this when you build a house you'd never build a house."

Legislature Strongly Opposes Retroactive State Tax on IDAs

The Legislature, by unanimous vote after little discussion, went on record strongly against a retroactive “cost recovery” tax imposed on Industrial Development Agencies (IDAs) across New York State.  The State Department of Taxation and Finance has billed every IDA in the state seeking a tax corresponding to 4.7% of the gross revenue received by the IDA in the 2008 calendar year, payable by March 1. 

For the Tompkins County IDA, that paymet would be nearly $36,000.  The tax, contained in this year’s state budget, is said to reimburse the State for a share of the cost of providing services to IDAs.  The Legislature’s resolution calls the tax “redundant and punitive,” noting that it includes payments-in-lieu-of taxes collected for local governments and school districts, state and federal grants, and local taxpayer-funded appropriations and that the tax was imposed long after IDAs prepared their budgets.

State Senator Michael Nozzolio is calling on the State Health Commissioner to allow a sophisticated DNA testing process be used in the investigation of the murder of college student Kristin O’Connell. Nozzolio is demanding that the Department reconsider its refusal to allow evidence in the case to be sent to an advanced forensics lab in the Netherlands for “touch DNA” testing, which may provide crucial information in the 25-year-old investigation.

“It would be unconscionable for the pursuit of justice to be impeded by New York State bureaucracy,” Nozzolio said. “The Department of Health must not deny what could be the last chance for progress on this case.”

Washinton, DC – U.S. Reps. Michael A. Arcuri (NY-24) and Daniel Maffei (NY-25) sent a letter to U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Secretary Ray LaHood last week advocating support for additional federal funding for high speed rail development in Central New York and the Mohawk Valley.  Arcuri spoke to Secretary LaHood on the phone late Wednesday, and the Secretary offered to meet with the two congressmen in the coming weeks to discuss the matter further.

“High speed rail development represents the Erie Canal like vision our region needs to create jobs and economic activity,” said Arcuri, who spoke with USDOT Secretary LaHood on the phone yesterday regarding high speed rail in Upstate New York.  “The short term construction jobs coupled with the long term benefits of being able to move people quickly and efficiently around the State is a recipe for economic success. I will continue to work with my Republican and Democratic colleagues from across Upstate New York to secure the investment needed to make high speed rail a reality.”

The Winter Olympics finished on a high note last Sunday as the United States and Canada played for the gold medal in Men's Ice Hockey.  With less than a minute left in the third period and a one goal lead, all of Canada watched in disbelief as the United States scored the tying goal with 24 seconds left in the game. 

The tying goal forced the game into “sudden death” overtime.  In this situation, the first team to score wins.  Canada scored first and emerged as the gold medal winner defeating the United States 3-2.  Canada rejoiced at the victory.  With all the jokes and puns about the warm weather, rain, and lack of snow, Canada felt vindicated with their gold medal victory over the U.S.

The Village of Lansing may seem like an unlikely home for deer, but the deer population there has decimated forested lands there.  Despite a population control program instituted three years ago, the deer have continued to devour new forest growth, seriously threatening the future of wooded Village lands.  This week Dr. Bernd Blossey and Dr. Jay Boulanger were at the Village Trustees meeting to make recommendations for improving the program.

"In my opinion the deer problem in Lansing surpasses what's happening on the Cornell campus, based on my observation," Boulanger  said.  "On the Cornell campus area we have about 100 deer, but what I've seen as a hunter in Lansing is absolutely unbelievable.  At times I've had 20 deer walk by me within minutes."

With State millions of dollars of promised State funding vanishing, an expiring federal stimulus program, a severe turnaround in the valuation of Lansing's largest taxpayer, and a generally tanked economy, school administrators across New York have dubbed the phenomenon a 'funding cliff.'  State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli has estimated the impact to New York schools at $2 billion in 2010-'11, a funding gap that could raise property taxes an average of 7.7% on average across the state.  On Monday school board members saw a snapshot of what that gap could mean to Lansing.

"We need to direct you to start to look for ways to eliminate two million dollars from the budget, and give us choices," said school board member David Dittman.  "Some of it might be a combination of elimination and some modest tax increase, given the situation.  But I don't think the taxpayers deserve to have a 12% hike in their taxes because the Governor and the County Board decided to change our revenue stream."