Sullivan legislators vote for three percent tax hike

41 government employee layoffs averted

By FRITZ MAYER

MONTICELLO, NY — Sullivan County lawmakers have voted for a 2007 budget that will result in a three percent real property tax increase. Lawmakers voted seven-to-two in favor of adopting the budget, which totals about $207 million for the year.

It’s a bare-bones budget that will cause maintenance of some county roads to be deferred until after 2007; maintenance of county-owned buildings will also be deferred.

Lawmakers said they were generally pleased with the budget, because the tentative budget presented in October called for the layoff of 41 county employees. Thanks, in part, to the success of a retirement incentive program, those layoffs were averted. However, 140 vacant positions will be eliminated from the county government staff.

In remarks before the December 14 vote, Jonathan Rouis, chairman of the finance committee, said that because of the ongoing overhaul of the budget-making process, this year’s estimates as to the county’s revenues and expenditures were more realistic than in the past, which should lead to fewer surprises throughout the year. He added that it was not a perfect budget, but that it was a good compromise.

The lawmakers were nearly unanimous in their praise for county manager David Fanslau, and his efforts in the budget process. Fanslau is creating a new budget department to “bring more accountability to the budget process.”

The two legislators who voted against adopting the budget did not find fault with Fanslau, but did find fault with the budget process.

Leni Binder, a Republican, said she had been advised that she need not attend some of the earliest meetings with county department heads. In taking that advice, she felt she was not familiar with some of the issues involved in the budget preparation. She suggested that the majority Democrats made some staffing decisions without consulting the Republicans. This brought a sharp response from chairman Chris Cunningham, a Democrat, who wanted to know which positions caused her concern.

Because legislators are not permitted to talk about specific members of the staff in public, the legislators went into executive session to discuss the matter.

When the legislators were once again in open session, Binder added that another concern was that lawmakers did not get a look at a report from an auditing firm until a week before the vote, which was not enough time to properly absorb it. Republican Legislator Jodi Goodman, who also voted no on the budget, voiced a similar complaint.

After the vote was taken, Rouis reiterated his desire to see an increase to the sales tax from 7.5 to 8.0 percent to improve the county’s fund balance and pay for essential needs.

Fanslau echoed Rouis’ sentiment, saying that improving the fund balance is crucial to getting a good interest rate when the county goes to the bond market to raise funds to build the new county jail. A low fund balance could mean a lower bond rating, which in turn would mean that the county would have to pay millions of dollars in additional interest charges.

Room tax increase

Along with the vote on the budget, lawmakers also voted to raise the county room tax from two percent to seven percent. Mark Kutcher, the president of Kutcher’s Hotel and Country Club in Monticello, lobbied heavily against the increase. However, Paul Carlucci, the general manager of The Villa Roma in Callicoon, supported the increase.

Fanslau said the increase was a request from the Sullivan County Visitor’s Association, which would use the additional funds to promote tourism, the second largest industry in the county. Lawmakers in Albany must approve the measure, and Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther has indicated she would support it.

Along with the increase, lawmakers are requesting a change in the language of the room-tax legislation. The requested language would allow the county to collect room taxes from people who stay in tax-exempt facilities, if the purpose of the stay is not exempt.

For instance, a bungalow may be a tax-exempt structure, but if the visitors staying in it are taking a vacation, which is not a tax-exempt activity, the visitors would be required to pay a room tax. About 30 of the 61 counties in the state already have language that allows them to collect taxes in similar situations.

All of the funding from the room tax this year will go to fund the activities of the visitors’ association. If the room tax increase is approved in Albany, the revenue from it could be more than $700,000, compared with about $300,000 in 2006.