Explaining the surplus

By DAVID HULSE

MONTICELLO, NY — After the area’s daily newspaper reported a $41 million fund balance recently, questions started flying about why Sullivan County needed a sales tax increase.

The questions prompted the Sullivan County Legislature to devote last week’s Executive Committee meeting to an explanation of difference between reserved and unreserved fund balances. Finance Commissioner Richard LaCondre did the explaining and the meeting pointedly did not begin until the reporter from the daily newspaper arrived in the meeting room.

LaCondre explained that $27 million of surplus funds were obligated to debt services, closure costs for the landfill, covering collective bargaining agreements with county unions and other obligations named in a series of reserve funds.

The remaining $14.4 million is not reserved.

Last year Sullivan used $10.3 million of surplus to defray a property tax increase and county departments are projecting $8.1 million in new appropriations growth next year, LaCondre said.

Subtracting 14.4 from 18.4 leaves $4 million in new costs with no surplus and no revenues to cover them.

A sales tax increase is expected to provide another $3 million to $3.5 million annually, LaCondre said.

“We’ve got to deal with that $4 million, with or without the sales tax,” he concluded.