The Post-Journal is reporting Friday that the county’s audit and control committee met on Thursday and discussed a $495,000 shortfall in the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as another $128,000 shortfall due to a reduction in the PILOT payment from the NRG power plant in Dunkirk. Together the shortfalls total $623,000 –  about a quarter percent of the total budget.

The shortfall is the result of the county’s Medicaid payment to the state, which was set at $30.64 million for the 2016-17 state fiscal year. That means the county has to make a weekly payment to the state in the amount of $589,191 – starting in May and continuing through April, 2017. Health and Human Service administrator Valerie Lis told the committee the department did expect the change and as a result is under budget by $495,000.

During the committee meeting the members considered a $495,000 allocation to the department from the county’s fund balance, but it was voted down unanimously, with committee members saying they would first prefer to department work to identify cuts to offset the shortfall.

Despite being voted down in committee, the reallocation request will still go before the full legislature next week because it was approved in the Human Services Committee.

NRG Power Plant in Dunkirk

The county will also be facing a $128,000 shortfall due to the NRG power plant in Dunkirk cutting its Payment in Lieu of Tax (PILOT) for 2016.

Last year NRG announced it would cut its payment in lieu of taxes to both the county and school district by 85 percent. For the county, that means a loss of $643,000 in revenue for 2016.  The recently approved state budget does include some emergency state aid to offset the loss, which is 80 percent of the amount the county won’t receive, which amounts to $515,000. That creates a difference of $128,000 that the county will have to cover either but cuts or new revenue.

On Wednesday night the legislature met to discuss and vote on the budget, with two amendments being added to the original spending plan presented by county executive Vince Horrigan in September.

One amendment that was approved on was allocating $56,343 from the county fund balance to pay for one of the two new positions being created in the county probation department. The legislature’s audit and control committee had initially recommended removing one of the two new positions However, lawmakers had since received new data that supported the need for two probation department positions.

“The probation department has been in need of staffing for a number of years,” explained Jamestown area legislator Mark Tarbrake (R-Jamestown). “We average about 140 cases per probation officer. That is the highest in New York State. Cattaraugus County, which is second highest, averages 103 cases per probation officer. I think it is essential that we keep this position that was originally added in the county executive’s budget.

The amendment to use the fund balance to pay for the position in 2016 was approved by a vote of 18 to 1, with Bemus Point’s Pierre Chagnon voting against it.

DISAGREEMENT ON FUND BALANCE USAGE

A more contentious amendment involved adding more than $440,000 of the county’s undesignated fund balance to help lower property taxes even further.

Some lawmakers, including George Borello (R-Irving), were against that idea, saying the county should not use one-shot revenues to pay for recurring expenses because that’s how budget deficits are created in future years.

“We made a commitment when we raised the sales tax. The commitment was that we would have a structurally balanced budget and that we would no longer use one-shot revenues to cover recurring expenses,” Borrello said, referring to the legislature’s financial management policy that was approved earlier this year. “That was the goal of raising sales tax – to bring down the property tax and to balance our budget, and to get away from one-shot revenue deals in order to balance our budget. So ladies and gentleman, we’re just getting out of rehab and we’re heading right back to the bar. We’re going to take money out of the fund balance right now, and I have to disagree with that.”

Borrello and others’ also voiced their concerns over the latest projected sales tax revenues for 2016, which will be more than $400,000 lower than initially projected because of lower fuel costs. In addition, the county may have a major challenge in 2017 with the possibility of the NRG closure in Dunkirk, which has being providing about $1.5 million in property tax payments to the county on annual basis.

But most of the legislature – including Ron Lemon (R-Lemon) – felt that using the additional fund balance money would provide further tax relief for county residents.

“I think that’s something that the residents of the towns and villages and cities deserve from the county, just because I know how difficult the struggle is going to be for them to actually bring back flat property tax rates where they are. So I’m in favor of this amendment,” Lemon said.

In all the legislature voted 12 to 7 in favor of using the additional fund balance money – making the total fund balance usage $500,000 and reducing the overall tax levy by just over 5 percent. That results in the property tax rate going down by 6.6 percent – making the new rate for 2016 $8.545 per thousand assessed value.

A TAX IS A TAX IS A TAX

Following discussion and vote on the amendments, the legislature approved the 2016 budget by a vote of 18 to 1, with outgoing legislator Keith Ahlstrom (D-Dunkirk) the lone “no” vote. Ahlstrom was against the idea of raising sales tax, claiming that while the county may be cutting the property tax levy by $3.1 million, that’s outweighed by a .5 percent increase in the sales tax – which will likely bring in more than $8 million in new tax revenue.

“We’ve managed to return $3 million to the tax payers, but we’ve done that by taxing the taxpayers and additional $8 million,” Ahlstrom said. “As somebody said earlier today, ‘a tax is a tax is a tax’ and we haven’t actually accomplished anything in this budget other than shift monies around and actually taken more money.”

Horrigan said that despite disagreeing with using the extra fund balance, he will not veto the amendment and will sign off on the budget by the end of this week.

Lawmakers will meet Wednesday night to discuss and act on the 2016 budget, which includes total spending of $256 million and a tentative property tax rate decrease of 4.6 percent. However, that tax cut could be even greater, with the legislature’s Audit and Control committee making several recommended amendments that will be put forward and acted on this evening. If all the changes are approved, residents could see the tax rate decrease by as much as 6 percent.

A key reason for the drop in the tax rate is a .5 percent increase in county sales tax rate, bringing the new total sales tax rate to 8 percent. With the sales tax hike, the overall sales tax revenue in the 2016 budget is projected to by $37.15 million dollars, an increase of $8.7 million compared to 2015.

Wednesday’s discussion and vote on the budget begins at 6:30 p.m. and is open to the public.

AFTERNOON MEETING WILL DEAL WITH REGULAR AGENDA

County lawmakers will also meet Wednesday at 2 p.m. to act on other county business.

• VIEW OCT LEGISLATURE MEETING AGENDA

Among the items to be discussed and voted on is the allocation of occupancy tax funding for 2016.

Nine waterway projects have been recommended to receive a portion of the funds as part of an ongoing effort to preserve lakes and streams.

Last week the legislature’s Planning and Economic Development Committee approved a recommendation from the county waterways panel to allocate nearly $200,000 toward the nine projects. Overall, 19 applications were submitted.

The two largest projects set to recive funding are the Chadakoin Riverwalk project came, put forth by the city of Jamestown and the Roger Tory Peterson Institute – requesting nearly $40,000.

And Walnut Creek Streambank Stabilization in the village of Silver Creek, $40,000.

A complete agenda for Wednesday’s meeting, which again begins at 2 p.m., with the discussion and budget vote happening at 6:30 p.m. – can be found at the county’s website.

On Thursday the county’s audit and control committee met to discuss and finalize a spending plan that can be voted on next week by the full legislature. While some ground has been made in finalizing the $256 million spending – the Post-Journal is reporting that committee members were split on just how much money from the Fund Balance should be applied to the budget.

Committee member George Borrello (R-Irving) is against using $500,000 from the fund balance to lower taxes even further than what has already been proposed. County executive Vince Horrigan is calling for a tax rate cut of 4.6 percent – but Borrello’s move, combined with other adjustments – would result in a 5.9 percent tax cut. That’s lower than the 6.7 percent cut to the tax rate that would go into effect if the fund balance allocation is used.

The committee voted 3-2 in favor of Borrello’s motion, with both chairman John Runkle and Jamestown legislator Chuck Nazzaro against it.

The amendment, along with others that have been brought forward, will be fully discussed during next Wednesday’s full legislature meeting.

Last week, members of the legislature’s audit and control committee held their first meeting to review the $256 million spending plan. According to the Jamestown Post-Journal, the committee members feel that they can work to get getting the tax rate by another 2 percent, bringing the new cut after full valuation to 6.6 percent.

Lawmakers would be able to increase the tax cut by finding an additional $300,000 in cuts throughout the budget, along with using $500,000 from an IGT payment. And lawmakers say they could also apply additional sales tax revenue to next year’s budget to offset the property tax. That’s because the county’s .5 percent sales tax hike goes into effect Dec. 1, meaning the county will have an entire month of additional sales tax revenue that was not budgeted for this year that can instead be used for the 2016 budget.

The proposed changes to the budget will be reviewed again later this month during the committee’s Oct. 22 meeting, and brought before the legislature during its Oct. 28 voting session, when the 2016 spending plan is expected to be finalized.

County Executive Vince Horrigan said in his weekly Monday Morning Memo that the governor signed the home-rule legislation on Friday. Last week, the county legislature also approved the resolution to move forward with the increase, meaning all that is left now is for Horrigan to sign the resolution and the county can file for the hike. Horrigan said sales tax will go up to 8 percent starting December 1.

As part of the agreement with the state to allow the .5 percent sales tax hike to take place, the county has said it would cut property taxes by at least 3 percent in the 2016 budget. It appears that will be achieved, with Horrigan last week calling for a 4.6 percent property tax cut and some legislators saying even more may be cut by the time the budget is finalized in October.

Horrigan also reminds residents that although the sales tax will be increasing, there will still be exemptions in place, including purchases of clothing items under $110, as well as for unprepared food and energy expenses.

Chautauqua County Legislator Charles Nazzaro (D – Jamestown, District 9).

MAYVILLE – Chautauqua Executive Vince Horrigan wants to see property taxes reduced by 4.6 percent in 2016, but one member of the Chautauqua County Legislature says the tax cut could be higher.

Jamestown legislator Charles Nazzaro (D-District 9), who also sits on the legislature’s audit and control committee, said that he was pleased to see Horrigan’s 2016 county budget follows several cost cutting recommendations that were laid out by the county’s Deficit Reduction Committee. However, Nazzaro said he’d like to see if even more cuts can be identified.

“We want to make sure we’re doing everything possible to reduce spending where we can,” Nazzaro said. “I think what we need to do again, when we start our budget hearings in a couple of weeks, is to set a goal for our committee – chairman [John] Runkle did that last year with input from the members – set a goal, and work toward that goal.”

As for property taxes, Nazarro says that any cuts to the budget would likely be used to help increase Horrigan’s initial tax cut, although he’s not sure how much further it can go.

“I would like to see the tax rate cut deeper,” Nazzaro said, adding, “I’m not going to put a number on that, but we are raising sales tax, and I support that, but again, my goal is to present a deeper tax rate cut than what was presented by the executive.”

As Nazarro said, the audit and control committee will begin budget hearings the first full week of October.

The legislature will likely finalize and approve the budget during it’s October voting session, since it needs to be approved before Nov. 1 so the county has time to file for a .5 percent sales tax increase with the state.

Chautauqua County Executive Vince Horrigan.

MAYVILLE – One of the cost cutting measures Chautauqua County Executive Vince Horrigan has called for in his 2016 executive budget is in regard to the amount the county spends on housing inmates at the Chautauqua County jail.

In recent years, the county has been forced to incarcerate so many residents that the county jail is often times at full capacity – meaning any additional inmates have to be housed in Nearby Cattaragus County jail or other facilities, at the cost of county taxpayers.

To reduce the jail cost, Horrigan is calling for the addition of two new positions in the probation department.

“What we’re looking at is an additional supervisor and an additional probation officer who’s going to focus on identifying those inmates that can be released under supervision, screening them, and then getting them in front of a judge to where we can get them released under supervision and get them into treatment programs,” Horrigan said. “It’s something that is maybe more appropriate than just sitting in jail because they can’t make bail.”

Horrigan says that the focus will be on non-violent offenders, and the county will not release anyone from jail who poses an ongoing threat.

Meanwhile, Horrigan said the count will also create an assigned council initiative with Cattaraugus County, which he says will also address the rising cost in the criminal justice system.

“When we have conflicts with public defenders office, we will be contracting with Cattaraugus County and they will handle the assigned council conflicts,” Horrigan said. “It won’t be all of our assigned council. We will still have local attorneys that will be asked to take on that task, but it will take on a portion of this and we feel it will reduce our assigned council numbers, which typically are significantly higher than budgeted.”

According the Jamestown Post-Journal, as of Sept. 5 there were 210 local inmates at the Chautauqua County Jail, many who have yet to be sentenced or cannot afford bail. Each inmate costs the jail an average of $76 a day, not including medical costs.

Horrigan delivered his budget on Wednesday night at the county legislature meeting. WRFA featured the budget presentation during our weekly community matters program on Thursday. If you missed it, an encore of the program will be broadcast this Sunday at noon and will be featured on our website starting next week.

Chautauqua County Executive Vince Horrigan (standing, left) addresses the Chautauqua County Legislature and presents his 2016 executive budget on Sept. 23, 2015.

MAYVILLE – Chautauqua County executive Vince Horrigan has presented a budget for 2016 that not only cuts property taxes by more than four percent, but also reduces spending by $3 million.

On Wednesday night Horrigan laid out his tentative $256 million spending plan before the Chautauqua County Legislature. A cornerstone of the spending plan is a reduction in the property tax rate by 4.6 percent and an increase in sales tax by .5 percent.

Horrigan said the drop in property taxes will help to improve the local economy.

“This new era of lower property taxes will supercharge our growth strategy by attracting new businesses and new homeowners while retaining our existing property owners,” Horrigan said. “Our future success hinges on growth and will bend our future deficit protections to better levels.”

• READ 2016 BUDGET PRESENTATION

Under Horrigan’s spending plan, property taxes would drop by 42 cents per $1,000 assessed value, bringing the new tax rate to $8.73 per $1,000.

One reason why they county is able to reduce the property tax rate is by increasing sales tax by half a percent, which Horrigan said would not only generate additional revenue, but also keep the county on par with the rest of Western New York.

“Returning to an 8 percent sales tax rate will put us equal to the average of our Western New York neighboring counties and significantly below Erie County,” Horrigan said. “Maintaining the clothing exemption, the home energy exemption and sharing the cost of services with visitors to Chautauqua County holds our property taxes down and puts us on a road to growth with our tax base.”

With the sales tax hike, the overall sales tax revenue in the 2016 budget is projected to by $37.15 million dollars, an increase of $8.7 million compared to 2015.

Another reason for a drop in property taxes is a $4.5 million decrease in contractual expenses, which include the transfer of WIC and Family Planning to other providers and reductions in Health and Human Services.

Other highlights of the budget include a plan to reduce incarceration costs by adding two new positions to the department of probation, which would allow for more non-violent offenders to not have to spend as much time in jail.

The county executive also highlighted a several economic development initiatives, including a new tenant for the former Carriage House food processing plant in Dunkirk as well as a new $54 million Dairy Processing plant in Ripley.

The budget will now go before the county legislature for its consideration. Because of the sales tax increase and the need to file that increase with the state, lawmakers this year have a deadline of Nov. 1 to finalize and approve the spending plan.