Archive: Opinions

It seems to me that every time Albany does something to allegedly save taxpayer money I get irritated.  The way I see it, most of the mandates from the hallowed halls of the Empire State end up costing local taxpayer money, usually property tax money.  The tax cap mandate has cost school systems a bundle in money and the quality of education.  Money, because they have to pay people to deal with mountains of reporting, and quality of education because it strips localities of their ability to determine what quality of education they are willing to pay for.  The latest one is the shared services mandate.

On the face of it, this is a good idea.  Duplicating services duplicates costs.  Sharing them cuts costs.  Then why do most of the local legislators I talk to (off the record) grouse that this is a colossal waste of time, despite the upbeat recommendations by the Tompkins County Shared Services Panel?

One reason is that municipalities and school districts in Tompkins County already share services and continue to look for ways to do so.  Cooperation within Lansing alone is staggeringly good.  When the school district could no longer afford some athletics programs, the town recreation program took them on.  Now that the swimming pool is finally open school officials are looking for ways to increase time available for Rec Department programs.  The Highway Department has taken on a large number of extra projects that have benefited the whole town or the Village of Lansing, providing quality work at great savings.  As for local school districts, isn't BOCES the very incarnation of shared services?

The Shared Services Panel begins its recommendations with, "The Panel did not find any 'low hanging fruit' that would produce significant, recurring new property tax savings. In fact, examples cited by the State for consideration by counties read like a list of accomplishments already made in Tompkins County:  health benefits consortia (GTMHIC), energy purchasing consortia (MEGA), shared insurance cooperatives (NYMIR), shared plowing (County contracts with towns for snow plowing), shared highway equipment (informal arrangements throughout the County), reduction in back office overhead (centralized assessment)."

The question arises, why were these busy legislators and municipal employees forced to waste their time (and our money) coming up with contrived money-saving ideas when they are already saving money with significant sharing of services?  One reason is that existing measures don't count in Albany's tally of items that meet the mandate requirements.  If you don't meet the mandate, you're penalized, even if, in reality, you do meet the mandate.

While income and sales taxes are, I think fairly, based on a person's ability to pay, property taxes assuredly are not.  In fact, it seems to me that property taxes are designed to penalize the people who are most in need -- people with low-paying or no jobs, seniors on fixed incomes, etc.  If they can't pay they lose their homes.  Pushing something the State, which is paid for with taxes based on income or ability to spend, onto local governments that derive their income from property owners strikes me as evil, unfeeling, and assuredly not helpful to taxpayers.

This isn't just me.  I have rarely heard the level of sarcasm from elected officials that I have heard on this mandate.  Much sarcasm off the record, and even some on the record.

"I'm going along because I have to, but it certainly isn't a positive experience," groused Village of Lansing Mayor Donald Hartill of a Shared Services Panel meeting last June.  "At the first meeting I argued to just tell the (state) government to go stuff it.  That didn't go over very well.  It's this continual relentless trying to manage from the top.  It doesn't work too well."

Enough is enough.  Tompkins County, for all its peccadilloes, does a pretty good job of sharing resources.  Perhaps it is time for the county to secede from New York State and do its own thing.  If property taxpayers have to pay for this stuff anyway, why go through the additional red tape and hassle?

v13i