Archive: News

An attempt to hack into the Lansing School District's bank accounts has been thwarted, largely due to the vigilance of District Treasurer Sue French, according to District Business Administrator Mary June King.  French noticed that small amounts of money were being withdrawn starting in July of last year. 

"What we're finding is small amounts -- forty-three cents, fifty-seven cents," King says.  "My understanding is that they'll do that with small amounts and when they go through they will come back and hit the account for a much larger amount."

A hit 1944 Louis Jordan song asked, 'Is You Is, Or Is You Ain't My Baby?'  That's what the budget discussion at Monday's Board Of Education meeting sounded like as Superintendent Stephen Grimm explained the concept of 'recharacterizing' funds, essentially changing the intended purpose of district money.  Grimm said that new State mandates redefining how much money school districts have will affect the final outcome of a budget that may need as much as $1.2 million in cuts.

That volume of cuts could be less if state and federal funds come to the district.  But at this point those funds are nothing but big question marks, making it difficult for districts to know just how deep they will be forced to cut.  "We are not counting on a single penny from the federal stimulus or the deficit reduction assessment," Grimm said.  "So this is the worst case scenario."

Legislature Supports Three-Party Agreement to Address Affordable
Housing
After more than an hour of discussion, the Legislature authorized County to enter into an agreement with the City of Ithaca and Cornell University to develop, administer and jointly fund a long-discussed Community Housing Affordability Program and the Housing Trust Program to address the local need for affordable housing.   The measure was approved by a vote of 13-2, with Legislators Mike Hattery and Greg Stevenson voting no.

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Rep. Michael A. Arcuri (D-Utica) today announced $7.3 million in federal stimulus funding for local transit agencies through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the Recovery Bill). The funds will be disbursed directly to transit agencies that operate in the 24th Congressional District's three "urbanized areas," as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, with populations greater than 200,000.

"This bill is about jobs. I am glad to see federal economic recovery funds being used not only for jobs, but to immediately improve area transit, helping people get to the store and the doctor's office," Arcuri said. "Better transit is the first step to rebuilding our downtowns and creating jobs and economic opportunity. I am glad to see funding from the Recovery Bill coming directly to our communities in such a targeted and timely fashion."

 

When you call 911 for a fire or medical emergency in the Town or Village of Lansing the first responders are almost certainly going to be fellow residents of the town.  These responders are not paid.  They do it for the love of firefighting or Emergency Medical Response (EMS) work, and to give back to the community.  In an era when it is harder for local fire departments to recruit volunteers, New York State allows departments to offer service awards to help volunteer fire departments recruit and retain volunteers. 

This year 25 Lansing volunteers participated enough to earn service awards.  The maximum the State allows (per year) is $700," says Fire Commissioner Chairman Robert Wagner.  "That's what our rate is."

Click the microphone to hear Dave Vieser and Dan Veaner discuss this story

"This proposed law is bad policy," said Zoning Board of Appeals member Dan Konowalo.  "It's bad politics, and it should not be passed."

That summed up in a nutshell the feelings expressed by 14 of 15 Lansing residents who spoke at a packed public hearing Wednesday at Lansing Town Hall.  The proposed law would have reduced the term of planning board members and alternate members to the board from seven years to three.  In addition it would have empowered the chairman of the Planning Board to appoint alternates on an as-needed basis, and affirmed the Town Board's authority to choose the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Planning Board.

Lansing Superintendent Stephen Grimm filled in the Board Of Education on the process school officials are developing to cut about $1.2 million out of next year's school budget.  Last year about the same amount was cut out of the rollover budget -- the amount it costs this year to do everything that was done last year.  Because of cuts in state aid and the effect of the disastrous economy on investments Lansing is faced with cutting more.  That will mean layoffs and cuts to programs that are deemed to be too costly.

"We're trying to identify what it would take to get to the levels we specified at the last meeting, which is about 1.2 million dollars," Grimm said Monday night.  "One of the things that's going to happen is that we'll have a long list and it will get shorter.  You have to have some method for making those kinds of decisions.  One of the ways to look at it is to think about the educational value of a program.  But it's the value to the entire system."

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Rep. Michael A. Arcuri (D-Utica) voted this afternoon to successfully block a Congressional pay raise after working with leadership in the House of Representatives to ensure that a provision to prevent the annual Congressional pay raise was included in legislation passed by the House today.

“When unemployment is on the rise across the country and families are struggling with cut hours and wages, we can’t sit back and let our paychecks increase,” Arcuri said. “The first step to fiscal responsibility in Congress is making sure we’re in tune with the economic realities of our time – and I don’t know anyone in Upstate New York who is getting a free pass on a pay raise this year. I am proud of my colleagues, both Republicans and Democrats alike, for working together on this important provision."

Albany- New York State Senator Mike Nozzolio today called on Governor Paterson to immediately rescind the increase in the health insurance tax that was enacted recently by Governor Paterson and Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith.

“Two weeks ago, Governor Paterson and the Senate Democrats pushed through a disastrous plan that will increase health insurance premiums by more than a third for businesses, families and individuals,” said Senator Nozzolio.  “I oppose this increase because it will make health insurance unaffordable to many individual families, force many businesses to stop offering health insurance for employees altogether, or worse yet - to close their doors. This action will simply cost jobs, drive up the number of uninsured New Yorkers, and ultimately cost the taxpayers more money in the long run.”

The so-called economic bubble protecting Tompkins County from the worst of the national economic downturn may not be as protective as hoped.  According to Ithaca Board of REALTORS® statistics released for January real estate sales are down by 54% from the previous month.  Last year home sales were down by 15% from January 2007.

In January of 2007 65 homes were sold for a total of $13,812,757.  The average selling price was $212,504.  But in 2009 on 30 homes were closed in January with a total value of $4,845,518.  The average selling price has also gone down significantly to $161,517, 24% of last year's.

Legislators Briefed on Proposed Health Benefits Consortium
Nearly two years since in-depth planning began, the Legislature received a status report on the intermunicipal effort to establish New York State’s first county health benefits consortium, an approach that will enable Tompkins County municipalities to pool their resources to provide health insurance for their employees.  Development of the consortium project, advanced by the municipalities working together through the Tompkins County Council of Governments (TCCOG), is supported by a New York State Shared Municipal Services grant, awarded in 2007.

Village of Lansing officials are considering new regulations that would create 'No Parking' zones around the Village, largely on streets that intersect with Warren or Triphammer Roads.  The new regulations would require the Village to erect signs in about 16 areas that are being considered, and establish fines for illegal parking.

"I don't think anybody's doing this because it's a revenue source," said Village Attorney David Dubow.  "It became clear that there are safety issues.  It is to create 'No Parking' restrictions and then sign it properly.  The law says if you have parking restrictions you have to have signs so the public will know."