County Executive PJ Wendel presents proposed 2023 budget to Chautauqua County Legislature

Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel‘s proposed 2023 County budget reduces taxes by 30-cents.

Wendel said this is the third budget proposal he’s made that lowers county taxes.

He said the tax levy has an 4.1% increase, or an increase of $2.7 million, which is the maximum increase allowed by New York State, “But uniquely linked to that, our property tax value also went up 4.1%. So, it’s not like we increased spending frivolously. We increased it, what I feel, is a very moderate rate, taking into consideration the increase in the value of our homes. Along with that, we also saw inflation go up 8.2%. So, although you’re seeing increases in the levy, most, and I’d say the majority, of that, 90% or more, is based on unfunded mandates.”

Wendel said revenues increased by 6.9%. He said that was driven by a $5 million increase in sales tax. State aid also is up 16%, or $6.7 million.

When it comes to expenditures, Wendel said there has been a large increase in the number of full-time employees in County Government, going from 1,319 employees in 2022 to a proposed 1,353 in 2023, “But those, again, a large majority, if not all are funded by revenue or grant fundings. So, one of the goals I had, if you want to increase FTEs (full-time equivalency employees), make sure you have them funded, not ‘Let’s just try to make it happen later,’ but we have the funding as the positions are being created.”

Equipment costs are up 74% or $410,441. The proposed 2023 budget would use $4.5 million of the general fund to go toward $3.6 million in capital projects, $600,000 for a one time bonus for CSEA union members, and $292,000 for repayment of helicopter debt.

Wendel said the capital projects include investments in heavy equipment, the Dunkirk and Jamestown airports; information systems, emergency response systems, and at Jamestown Community College.
He said his goals for the 2023 budget were to present a structurally sound budget, maintain a general fund balance of five to 15% of revenues and present a budget with a tax levy at, or below, the tax levy limit.

An interview with County Executive Wendel on his proposed 2023 County budget can be heard on Community Matters at 5 p.m., September 29 on WRFA.

Jamestown City Council

The contract for AFSCME Local 418 covers January 1st, 2022 through December 31st, 2025. It includes a 2.5% wage increase in the first three years with a 2.75% increase in 2025.

Mayor Eddie Sundquist said health insurance contributions will rise from 23% to 24% the first two years then to 25% in 2025, “In addition, the deductibles on the traditional plan have now been put in line with most of our management deductibles in other units. It will go up during the contract to $400 for a single deductible, $800 for a family. And then by 2025, it will be $500 for a single, $1,000 for a family.”

The contract also standardizes overtime and sick leave policies. Council approved a new contract with CSEA employees in September, leaving the Administrative management group’s contract to be approved before it expires at the end of 2021, as well as contracts for Police and Fire employees’ who are out of contract.

Council also approved accepting a $6,195 dollar grant from the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation to put video surveillance cameras in Dow Park. There had been requests for cameras in that park following the theft of a statue and vandalism of the Underground Railroad Tableau this summer.

A resolution on the Chadakoin River Strategic Business Plan was tabled until the Planning Commission could vote on the proposal at its November meeting. Council President Tony Dolce said the commission did not have a quorum at its October meeting and, thus, couldn’t vote on the plan this month.

A group of CSEA 6300 members and supporters stand along Route 394 in Mayville July 22, 2015 as part of an effort to raise awareness for the need of a new collective bargaining agreement with Chautauqua County. (Image by Jason Sample, WRFA)

MAYVILLE, NY – After waiting three-and-a-half years with no results, the leaders of a union representing an estimated 950 government workers in Chautauqua County say enough is enough and it’s time they receive a new contract.

Dozens of members and supporters of the Civil Service Employees Association  (CSEA) Unit 6300 were in Mayville Wednesday night prior to the Chautauqua County Legislature meeting in an attempt to draw attention for the need of a new contract.

The members of the union – which includes highway department employees, social service workers, health department workers, and others – have been working under the terms of their old collective bargaining agreement since Jan. 1, 2012.

Local president Steve Skidmore spoke to WRFA Wednesday night and said the group is at an impasse with the county over a new contract, and wanted to raise awareness and support through Wednesday night’s rally.

“We’re out here because we haven’t had a new contract in 43 months,” Skidmore said. “We’re frustrated. We tried to show the county how to save millions of dollars in insurance [costs] and they seem to walk away from it.”

Skidmore said at issue in negotiations is health insurance, and the amount of money the county could be saving in the line item if it were to go with a plan supported by the union.

“The sticking point is how we fund the insurance and how we could save so much money over the past few years and into the future. It’s money the taxpayers could save – not only is it money that could help us get raises, but it could save the taxpayers money,” Skidmore said. “We’ve had our own insurance company and another insurance company give presentations, showing the county where it could save money, and they still don’t want to do it.”

CSEA members and supporters stand outside the Gerace Office building during a rally on July 22, prior to the Chautauqua County Legislature Meeting. The group is trying to raise awareness for the need of a new contract. (Image by Jason Sample, WRFA)

County executive Vince Horrigan says that the contract negotiations have been ongoing since before he took office at the start of 2014 and he’s made it a top priority since being elected. He adds that while the two sides are currently at an impasse, he’s confident a new deal can be reached with the help of a mediator.

“We’re closer than a lot of people think,” Horrigan said. “Some of it is ‘Where are the savings?’ and ‘When will the savings happen?’ We have three other unions which we have negotiated successful contracts and we have to be careful that whatever we do with our insurance policy, it applies with everyone. We don’t want to wind up impacting or violating other agreements.”

“While I can’t comment on the specifics, I do think a mediator will help us iron out the perceived differences,” Horrigan concluded.

Meanwhile, CSEA labor relations specialist Don Luna is also inviting anyone with the knowledge of health insurance to offer their help as well in trying to iron out a deal.

“We’re asking somebody to take a look at this, besides us. It seems like the county and us are at a standstill. They think it’s one thing, we think it’s another,” Luna told WRFA. “So we’re asking anybody that has an expertise in insurance to come and take a look at this plan and see who’s right.”

Horrigan said that while he’s not sure how long the mediation process will take, he’s hoping to get the contract situation finally resolved sooner, rather than later. The contract would also need to be reviewed and approved by the legislature prior to going into effect.

County Executive Vince Horrigan and his staff have finalized a draft agreement with the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA Unit 6323), which would be retroactive and run from January 1, 2012, through December 31, 2017.

The draft agreement includes modifications to health insurance benefits and no increase in wages for 2012 or 2013. However, there is a 2 percent increase for each year from 2014 through 2017.  The contract is being reviewed today by the legislature’s audit and control committee and will be acted on by the full legislature during the regular voting session on March 26.

On Feb. 26, 2014, the Chautauqua County Home in Dunkirk, NY was sold to VestaCare for a price of $16 million.

MAYVILLE – The Chautauqua County Legislature has given its approval for the privatization of the county home in Dunkirk.

Lawmakers voted Wednesday to approve the sale of the 216-bed skilled nursing facility to VestraCare with a price tag of $16 Million. The final vote was 13 to 5, with all lawmakers representing the Dunkirk and Fredonia areas voting against the sale. Thirteen votes were needed for the sale to go through, with County Legislature Chairman Jay Gould absent due to illness. The successful vote comes only after three previous failed attempts in 2013 to sell the facility.

SALE WAS INEVITABLE

The legislature spent 20 minutes discussing the sale prior to voting. Dunkirk Legislator Terry Niebel pleaded with his colleagues to hold off on selling, saying that the property was worth a lot more than the $16 million that was being offered.

“the only valuation that we have is from 1997 and that was a full valuation…. and that valued the county home at $23.9 million,” Niebel explained, adding, “That was actually six years before the $18 million renovation. And even since then, we’ve put $400,000 into a gas well and another $800,000 into a boiler and air conditioning system.”

Niebel suggested that lawmakers take the time to due a new valuation of the property to have an up-to-date assessment, saying that in the meantime, the county home could still operate for another two years without any additional taxpayer money.

Despite Niebel’s reasoning, Jamestown legislator Fred Larson explained that the sale of the county home would be inevitable and, considering the current offer from VestraCare would expire at the end of this month, failure to act now means the county would only be flushing money down the drain.

“If the county home is not sold tonight, it will be sold next month, probably for another $500,000 less,” Larson explained. “The buyer knows that next month there will be 13 votes in favor of selling for $15.5 million. There is simply no point to dragging this agony out and costing the taxpayers another half million dollars by waiting until next month or the month after to sell.”

CUTTING THE SAFETY NET

Prior to the vote, the legislature spent nearly 45 minutes listening to comments from the 14 members of the public, which were overwhelmingly against selling the facility.

Among those who spoke was Jamestown resident and former legislator Timothy Hoyer, who said that the county home provides a safety net for many senior residents who have no where else to go and that by selling the home, the county would be turning its back on those who are most in need of help.

Jamestown resident and local CSEA president Steve Skidmore also commented, saying that workers at the home have always been willing to make concessions. “Over and over I saw it reported in the paper that the CSEA wouldn’t come to the bargaining table to try and do our part and do what [the CGR study] said we can do with the county,” Skidmore said. ” It was patently untrue. We sent letter after letter to the county executive and he just ignored them.”

North county resident Joanne Niebel also was against the sale, saying the county home not only supports residents who need senior care and may not get it anywhere else, but also provides quality jobs that contribute to the local economy. “We have people in the community gleeful that these people are going to lose their paychecks and benefits, when they’re the ones who support the communities in the north, when we have nothing else. I mean, you couldn’t even keep a cookie factory in Silver Creek.”

The lone person to express his support for selling the facility was County Chamber of Commerce President Todd Tranum. “Failure to vote ‘yes’ and proceed with the sale, as many of you know, is just kicking the hard decision down the road. You do not want a situation – where many of you may still be in this room – two or three years from now having to make the difficult decision that other county’s have had to make to close the county home.”

Chautauqua County Home in Dunkirk, NY.

MAYVILLE – The President of the union that works at the Chautauqua County Home says he heard some positive things from a group of buyers who want to buy the skilled nursing facility, but they also left a few of his questions unanswered.

CSEA Chautauqua County Unit President Steve Skidmore represents the 280 employees who work at the county home in Dunkirk and who are fighting to keep the facility publicly owned by the county. Skidmore says that while representatives from VestraCare said that they would employee the same number of employees, if not more, while also providing similar wages, he said the didn’t guarantee the current employees would be able to keep their jobs.

He also said the representatives were not clear about a possible tax break they would be getting from the county for $1 million in upgrades that are included in the proposed contract. “It’s right in this agreement that they will get a million dollar PILOT program from the IDA, so when they say they’re going to spend a million dollars to improve the Chautauqua County Home, they’re going to spend IDA money and taxpayers money to improve the home. That’s not their money.”

The county legislature will be acting Feb. 26 on the sale of the home for $16 million to VestraCare. In the meantime, Skidmore says he will continue to try and persuade lawmakers that selling the home would be the wrong decision.

The Post-Journal reported earlier this month that about 170 employees signed a petition saying they’d be willing to break from the union and re-negotiate a contract with the county to find a way to reduce costs and keep the facility publicly owned. Skimdore says he is aware of that effort, but also says the union has been willing to make concessions throughout the process.

“They weren’t positive the union was doing enough to negotiate the changes,” Skinner explained. “But two years ago the we tried to talk with Greg Edwards and he refused at every letter we sent to him. He never would sit down and negotiate… I doubt that [Vince] Horrigan is going to do that just because he’s going to worry about the sale first. If the sale doesn’t go through then we’ll sit down with him.”

On Feb. 5, Edward Farbenblum and Shannon Cayea-Delker from VestraCare talked with the legislature for an hour-and-a-half about their new offer to buy the county home.  While some lawmakers appear to be against the sale, it looks as though the proposal would have enough of the 13 votes needed in order for it to go forward.

Legislators Lori Cornell (Jamestown) and Vince Horrigan (Bemus Point) listen as Legislator Larry Barmore (Gerry) talks during the Prendergast Library’s Critical Discussion involving the County Home on Jan. 8, 2013.

JAMESTOWN – The issue of whether or not to sell the Chautauqua County Home to a Chicago-based company was once again in the spotlight, this time during a Critical Discussion Series at the James Prendergast Library. A panel of four Chautauqua County legislators were involved in the discussion. They were Larry Barmore (R-Gerry) and Vince Horrigan (R-Bemus Point) – who both support selling the home to William “Avi” Rothner of Altitude Health Services, LLC of Chicago – along with William Coughlin (D-Fredonia) and Lori Cornell (D-Jamestown) – who are opposed to selling the home.

The discussion allowed each panelist to offer their thoughts on the proposed sale of the home. Barmore explained that it simply isn’t cost effective to run the home anymore, considering it will be running in a significant deficit starting in 2014.

“The hard cold facts, as we move into 2014… including the IGT funding, the County Home will lose close to $9,000 per day,” Barmore said.

Barmore’s claim of the county home losing an estimated $9,000 per day was refuted by David Fagerstrom, president of the local CSEA that represents the county home employees. He said that number is way off, and doesn’t take into account a series of cost-saving adjustments that could be made at the home to get it back in the black.

County legislator Vince Horrigan echoed Barmore’s sentiment for selling the home, saying that if it is sold, it would result in the home being privatized and the addition of a significant property tax payment being added to local coffers.

“The future is not good,” Horrigan said. “Property tax revenues is what is continued to be turned to to keep [The County Home] afloat. Look at what’s happened up in the north county – Petri, Carriage House, NRG – are all businesses that are leaving us and those people are probably going to be laid off, but we’re going to go ask for more property taxes to keep the county home running when, in fact, here’s someone that can take a one-star county home rating – according to Medicare – and all indications are he’s going to move it to  three or four star home.”

County lawmaker William Coughlin – who opposes selling the home – explained that the reason he’s not in support of a sale is because he doesn’t think Altitude Health Services is a good fit to purchase the home. In addition, he explained that the legislature hasn’t even made the decision to sell the home in the first place.

The questions that I present are two-fold,” Coughlin said. “Number one – do we want to sell the home? Do we have the votes necessary to sell the home and that is the first vote that should have been taken. Now if that goes and you are going to sell the home, do you want to sell it to William ‘Avi’ Rothner. It’s two separate issues.”

Several members of the public were on hand to ask questions and make comments regarding the sale to Altitude Health Services, with it split down the middle in terms of who was in favor and who was opposed.

The lawmakers say the sale will most likely come before the legislature during the February voting session.

Earlier in the month, the county received contract proposals from the CSEA regarding the County Home. Members of the CSEA also forwarded a letter to each county legislator – which was then reportedly read during the meeting at the request of minority leader Lori Cornell (D-Jamestown).

However, some objections were raised about how much information the legislature should have in the negotiation process, as well as what they are allowed to discuss publicly.

In today’s Post-Journal article, County Attorney Steve Abdella said that under the Taylor Law and the county charter, the County Executive is specifically charged with the responsibility for negotiation of all employee contracts. The County Legislature has separate duties, including the task of resolving an impasse in negotiations and authority to approve or disapprove negotiated labor contracts. He also said that the New York Public Employees Relations Board frowns on legislative involvement prior to an impasse resolution procedure.

Despite Abdella’s explanation, some legislators continued to question whether there were any updates as to the progress of the negotiations, rather than the negotiating itself. The meeting came to an abrupt end when Keith Ahlstrom (D-Dunkirk) moved to adjourn.

County Executive Greg Edwards is currently in negotiations with the CSEA. He is also still working with potential purchaser William Rothner of Altitude Health Services, LLC on the proposed sale of the home. A resolution involving the sale could come before the legislature as early as the January meeting.

The CSEA is requesting that contract negotiations for employees at the Chautauqua County Nursing Home be separated from negotiations for the remainder of the Chautauqua County Employee Unit 6300. This request is predicated upon full funding of the County Home (including IGT match) and implementation of other cost-saving and revenue enhancing recommendations made in the Center for Governmental Research report.

Edwards noted the poor timing of the request by the union, saying that it is less than a month prior to the county legislature’s review of the contract to sell the County Home to Altitude Health Services, Inc. of Chicago for $16.5 million.

According to Edwards, the County Home is projected to lose more than $700,000, or approximately $9,000 per day.

Read Full statement from County Executive Greg Edwards:

Mayville: — On November 21, 2012 my office received the attached letter from Penny Gleason. You will note the letter disclosed that there were others who were copied on the correspondence. On Monday, November 26, 2012 I met with County Attorney Steve Abdella and Human Resource Director Joseph Porpiglia to review the letter to attempt to discern the meaning of the third paragraph. In addition I discussed with these professionals what could be proposed by the County in response, since the Union had left negotiations and declared impasse many months ago resulting in the start of the Mediation, Fact Finding, and other processes as required by law in Civil Service Contract negotiations.

This letter was delivered less than 30 days from the time the Legislature will be reviewing the actual contract to sell the County Home. The Union’s letter conditions any potential negotiations by the CSEA on my promise that I will guarantee that the taxpayers of Chautauqua County will spend $1.6 million of our property taxes, and another $1.6 million of our State and Federal taxes every year going forward to keep the Skilled Nursing Home owned by the County. Not stopping there it also requires that I promise that the significantly flawed CGR report recommendations be guaranteed to be implemented. If, I commit the taxpayers of our County to funneling of over 3.2 million tax dollars into the County Home each year, and implement flawed changes, then, the CSEA will negotiate changes to their contract.

Over 10 months ago, I sent the attached letter to the President of the CSEA on the same day I was going forward with the retention of Marcus and Millichap to market the County Home. The CSEA failed to even acknowledge the letter, never responded and never made any proposals to address the issues at the County Home. On October 24, 2012 the Chautauqua County Legislature voted 16 in favor and only 8 opposed to direct me to negotiate a contract for the sale of the County Home with Altitude Health Services, Inc. I have been engaged in these negotiations and will have a contract for the Legislature to review for their December 19, 2012 meeting.

In spite of the above, I have prepared and delivered to Penny Gleason of the CSEA the attached letter offering to the CSEA another opportunity to deliver on the invitation I made to the union over 10 months ago to step up and propose changes to eliminate the deficits in County Home operations. In deference to the Legislators who will be reviewing the contract for sale at their meeting on December 19, 2012, the response if any must be received prior to December 12, 2012.

Every day that passes the County Home loses another estimated $9,000 per day. The taxpayers of Chautauqua County can no longer be asked to fund these losses, when a private sector company is willing to pay $16.5 million to purchase the skilled nursing facility, commit to operating it in a similar manner with likely improved quality, and pay property taxes to the County municipalities of approximately $800,000 per year. This means instead of losing $9,000 per day we could be earning $2,190 per day and have the opportunity for expanded health care for our seniors.