Archive: News

The good news is that the Lansing School District will be spending $30,000 less than budgeted for this year, and a 'rollover budget' -- what it would cost next year to pay for what we have this year -- would only mean a 4.74% rise in the budget.  That is certainly a good starting point that would require palatable cuts to reach an acceptable rise in the 2009 school budget tax levy.

The bad news is that cuts in New York State aid will mean a hole in projected revenues that exceeds $600,000.  "The rollover budget is about 4.74% higher than this year,"  School Superintendent Stephen Grimm told the Board of Education Monday evening as they got a first look at projected numbers for next year.  "But then revenues come in and they're not all there.  Because the State kept it."

The idea of a Lansing Town Center has captured the imagination of many in the town.  For some it is the framework with which to guide the future development of the township, encouraging housing and business density some place where residents want it and discouraging the haphazard growth that seems to upset other residents.  For others it's just the idea of having a little market nearby, or perhaps a doctor or dentist.  And for still others it is a way to cement a strong community with a physical focal point.

While aspects of town planning have popped up individually, no specific overall plan has been offered.  The most obvious manifestation was the sewer project that suffered a long and painful death.  Occasional blips have included an ongoing attempt by town officials to get deed restrictions removed from the 150 acres across Route 34 from the Town ballfields to allow development there, and even an idea to swap the ballfields there to allow development where they currently are.

Tompkins County’s strong financial reputation paid off again today, as the County sold $6.5 million dollars in one-year bond anticipation notes at an unprecedented note rate cost of only .73 percent.

The $6.5 million in notes sold today support renovations to the County’s new Health Department building at 55 Brown Road.

Legislature Leadership Again Debated.  No Action Taken
Saying the issue of the 2009 leadership of the Tompkins County Legislature must be resolved without delay, Legislator Dooley Kiefer tonight renewed her motion to reconsider the Legislature’s vote which two weeks ago reelected Michael Koplinka-Loehr Chair of the Legislature for 2009.  Kiefer’s move came even though Legislators Leslyn McBean-Clairborne and Kathy Luz Herrera were excused from the meeting, and legislators have said that it’s important for the full complement of members to participate in the leadership decision.

Ludlowville residents know that the Lansing hamlet might better be called Floodlowville.  The bowl-like community in the crook of Salmon Creek is the receiving end of continual flooding that has apparently been caused by historical bad drainage decisions, erosion, and has caused a recorded $315,000 of damage between 1991 and 2005 alone.

About 15 Ludlowville residents crammed into the small courtroom at Lansing Town Hall earlier this month for the second public meeting about a project that is designed to reduce damaging flooding in the hamlet.  Tompkins County Senior Planner Scott Doyle called the meeting to tell residents what progress has been made since they first met last August.  Barton & Loguidice  Charles White, David Hanny, and Scott Nostrand were on hand to present their technical findings on the causes of the floods.

Lansing's Town Board proposed a law Wednesday that would reduce planning board member terms from seven years to three.  The new law would affect planning board members, and alternate members to the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA).  Town officials say a shorter term will make it easier to attract new members to the board.

"We just appointed a new planning board member and an alternate," explained Town Supervisor Scott Pinney.  "In the process of trying to find people to fill those positions the biggest detriment to that was the fact that when we told them it was a seven year term a lot of people shied away."

WHCU's Geoff Dunn and Dave Vieser were Tompkins County's own reporters on the scene when they went to Washington to broadcast live from Barack Obama's inauguration Tuesday.  They just about had front row seats in a windy scaffolding set up for the radio press on the left hand side facing the podium.  They returned to Ithaca Wednesday in time to broadcast the Morning News Watch program Thursday morning, and then they took some time to talk to the Lansing Star about their experiences.

Editor's Note: When I went to the studio to interview them I thought I would end up with a story and a few quotes, but decided to publish our interview in its entirety, because it gives a unique look at what it is like to be a radio journalist as well as insight into what it was like to be right up front at the inauguration itself.  Dave and Geoff were enthusiastic about their experience both as professional broadcasters and just as people who got to be a part of a defining moment in history.

1098 emergency calls went out to the Lansing Fire Department in 2008.  That was up 4.27% from 2007, a smaller rise than last year's 15%, but continuing an upward trend.  41% of those were fire calls, with the remaining ones EMS (Emergency Medical Services).  "Call volume keeps going up a little bit every year," notes Lansing Fire Chief Scott Purcell.  "We noticed a big jump last year.  This year it rose by 45 calls."

When a 911 call comes into the the Tompkins County Emergency Response center a dispatcher puts out a call to fire fighters in that municipality.  If they do not respond, the towns and villages have mutual aid agreements that bring other fire departments into neighboring towns.  Lansing responded to all but one of the 450 fire calls last year, and to all but 98 EMS calls.

After cutting over $1 million from the 'rollover budget' last year, Lansing school officials are looking at significant cuts again this year.  "I have no doubt in my mind that it will mean layoffs," School Superintendent Stephen Grimm told a somber Board Of Education Monday.  "There is no way we can reduce that much when 80% of your costs are in personnel.  But we will be open and forthright with everything, and it will be a collaborative process.  We'll work together on it."

As with just about anything involving money and statistics, saying that the district cut $1 million is a matter of interpretation.  This year's budget was actually three quarters of a million dollars more than that in the previous year.  A 'rollover budget' is what it would cost next year to do exactly what was done this year, meaning that the million in cuts was to what money can buy this year, versus what it could buy the year before.  And because the district cut significantly last year Grimm says forming next year's budget will be all the more challenging.

Lansing Library opponent Dan Pace was at the Board Of Education meeting Monday to present a petition to the school board to ask them to hold a vote to take the Lansing Community Library off of the tax roles.  After library supported won a vote last May to create a 'School District Charter Library' that would collect a small tax for operating expenses, Pace petitioned the State Education Department to annul the vote and/or to permit another vote to try to take the library off the tax rolls.

"We did win on the other part in that we the people of Lansing through State Education Law 268  does provide that any library established by vote may be abolished by majority vote in an election," Pace told the board.  "We've got about seven or eight pages of signatures here.  We could have gotten a lot more.  We'd like the board to address this issue and have a revote on the library to remove it from the tax roles.  Not to abolish it, but to remove it from the tax roles."

Chair Koplinka-Loehr Says Vice Chair Revote Improper. Asks Legislature to Reach Clear Decision

 

At a special meeting of the Tompkins County Legislature, Chair Michael Koplinka-Loehr stated that his decision to call for a revote for the position of Vice Chair at the Legislature's January 6 organizational meeting was in error, and he laid out options for correcting that decision. The Chair issued a formal apology to his legislative colleagues, County staff, and the public, and said he takes full responsibility for the error and its consequences.

 

Legislators Martha Robertson (who was elected Vice Chair in the revote), Carol Chock and Will Burbank announced that they were attending the special meeting "in protest," and Legislator Jim Dennis said he was "unhappy" about the need to attend. They maintained that this matter did not amount to an emergency situation and objected to the session being called by the Chair when all members could not be present.

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Michael A. Arcuri (D-Utica) voted again Thursday to provide health care to 11 million children nationwide, including the nearly 651,853 children enrolled in New York’s SCHIP program, Child Health Plus (CHPlus).

“As a father, I know first hand how critical health insurance is to ensure preventative care and keep our families healthy,” Arcuri said. “It is unconscionable that in the richest nation in the world there are children in working families who don’t get the medicine and care they need. To rebuild our economy and tackle the great challenges facing us as nation, we must start at the beginning – making sure the next generation is healthy.”