Archive: News

Dearth of Data Plagues Sewer Committee

Lansing's sewer committee met Wednesday to ponder challenges the project faces before a vote that is currently planned for September.  They discussed a wide range of ongoing issues including financing, zoning and land use, expanding the initial service area, the formula for calculating landowners' costs, and getting the facts about current septic problems, replacement costs, and testing.

Lansing's Board Of Education passed a $22,094,333 budget last week after Superintendent Mark Lewis presented a final version to the board.  That figure is an increase of $727,462 over last year, or 3.4% more than last year.  But the tax levey will go up an estimated 7.38%.  That is bad news for a school board that experienced a failed capital project already this year, and a failed budget vote last year.

The 3.4% budget is less than the statutory 3.84% budget the State will impose on the district if taxpayers vote down the proposed budget on May 15.  This is a mixed blessing.  While it shows a school board that is finally facing its spending issues in the face of a local tax revolt, it also means that taxpayers will pay more if they vote against a budget that is about twice the rise of the cost of living.  And the 7.38% tax rise is considerably better than the nearly 10% the board was faced with only a few weeks ago.

This Tuesday Village of Lansing voters will elect a mayor and two trustees.  The polls open at the Oakcrest Road firehouse at noon, and will be open until 9 pm.  Click on the pictures of the candidates below to read our interviews with them:

Donald Hartill Mayor

Larry Fresinski Trustee/Deputy Mayor

Lynn Leopold Trustee

Legislature Accepts Two State Grants, Authorizes Application for One More The Legislature, without dissent (with one Legislator absent), accepted $300,000 in state funds, under the Department of Transportation’s “Air 99” program, to support improvements and maintenance for airport terminal road system. A $75,000 local match for the project will come from the airport budget. Legislators also accepted $106,000 from the state Office of Real Property Tax Services Technology Improvement Program.

The grant, awarded to the county’s Information Technology Services department, will support development of an Enterprise Address Management System (EAMS), a standardized addressing system, incorporating emergency response data, for real estate parcels in the county through the county’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) system. The standardized data, to be used by government organizations and departments throughout Tompkins County, will be used as source of accurate and complete local addressing information.

Village Trustees passed a budget Monday that will lower the Village tax rate by $0.19 per thousand dollars of assessed property value.  In a public hearing Monday Mayor Donald Hartill reported that the only change in the proposed budget will be $270,000 that will go into a capital fund for highway construction.  The money was originally slated to be used for construction on Northwood Road, but Hartill said that project is behind.  "If we encumber it now, then it's a much more complicated accounting," the Mayor explained.

Nobody attended the hearing, and officials attributed that to residents being happy about lower taxes.  But Monday a freak blizzard swept the area, making driving conditions difficult.  "I expected some of my fellow municipalities to be here in protest," Hartill joked.  "It sets a very bad precedent!"

Village of Lansing elections are scheduled for April 24th at the Village firehouse on Oakcrest Road. Mayor Donald Hartill, Trustee/Deputy Mayor Larry Fresinski and Trustee Lynn Leopold will all be running unopposed for a new term. All three are running in the Community Party, which seeks to unite Village residents regardless of political affiliation. This week we conclude our series of exclusive interviews with the candidates. These interviews will be kept live on the 'Elections' page (click News, then click Lansing Elections) at least until Election Day.

Larry Fresinski and his wife Cathy have lived in the Village of Lansing for 20 years. They have three grown children with daughter Tammy and their two grandchildren in Ithaca, and sons Matthew and Aaron studying in Las Vegas. The couple have three dogs, one of which recently won an award of merit at the Westminster Dog Show.  Coincidentally the Village was incorporated on his birthday.

Construction began Tuesday on the transformation of Salt Point from a largely unregulated party hangout to a quiet nature park.  A new road, parking lots, nature trails, and new signage are all part of the Town of Lansing's plan to manage the property and restore indigenous foliage and wildlife.  The Town has received grant money to make the changes.  "We're going to put the money in to have that place that's a quiet place for people to walk and enjoy," says Town Supervisor Steve Farkas.

When you hear that a union has come to town it brings to mind stereotypes about wage disputes and picket lines, possible mob connections, higher costs for employers, and a breach of trust between employers and employees.  But when Lansing's Highway Department employees voted to become an International Brotherhood of Teamsters bargaining unit this year, it was none of the above.  "It's good for us, it's good for our employees across the board," says Town Supervisor Steve Farkas.  "I see it remaining a win-win situation for everyone."

The idea came about when Highway Department workers heard from colleagues in neighboring municipalities that the Teamsters' benefits package was quite good.  "It didn't affect salaries per se," explains Highway Superintendent Jack French.  "There is not as much money being taken out of everybody's paycheck as there used to be because of health insurance.  The Teamsters have got great health insurance coverage.  It just covers so much more than we were getting before at a lot lesser price."

Engineer Jim Blum presented preliminary data on factors that affect the cost of septic system replacement in Lansing, at Wednesday's Sewer Committee meeting.  Blum's team at the engineering firm of Stearns & Wheler has been gathering the data to show how the cost of septic replacement stacks up compared to the cost of paying for a sewer system.  Blum presented maps showing 50 different soil conditions in the town, soil permeability data, and a map of water table depth and rating.  "We looked at the soils, bedrock, and groundwater information," Blum said.  "The maps indicate areas where there might be issues with how that would impact setting up a septic system."

Lansing's Sewer Committee met Wednesday to report on progress on addressing residents' concerns about the $18.25 million project.  They covered a range of issues from land use and zoning, an update on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Village of Lansing, the impact of expanding the initial service area, progress on a cost comparison between sewer and septic replacement, and a review of the schedule.  And, of course, money.

The money was mixed on the money front.  Committee members had been hoping to get a loan from Tompkins County, which has been pressuring Lansing to change zoning to encourage affordable housing.  But Andy Sciarabba reported that Tompkins County received a ruling from the New York State Attorney General's office that it cannot loan money to one of its municipalities for a project of this kind.  The County may grant the money, but chooses not to do so to only one municipality.  "That's out of the planning committee," Sciarabba said.  "They won't take it back unless we have some other bright ideas."

Village of Lansing elections are scheduled for April 24th at the village firehouse on Oakcrest Road.  Mayor Donald Hartill, Trustee/Deputy Mayor Larry Fresinski and Trustee Lynn Leopold will all be running unopposed for a new term.  All three are running in the Community Party, which seeks to unite Village residents regardless of political affiliation.  This week we continue our series of exclusive interviews with the candidates.  These interviews will be kept live on the 'Elections' page (click News, then click Elections) at least until election day.

Lynn Leopold is running for her fourth term as Village Trustee. She began when she was appointed to finish out the term of a resigning Trustee. She and her husband Carl have lived in the Village since 1981 when they build a log home near the old railroad bed made from pine ‘Leopold Logs’ that were created when a forest planted by Carl’s father in Wisconsin had to be thinned.