Sullivan tax hike coming

‘Perfect financial storm’ leads to layoffs

By FRITZ MAYER

MONTICELLO, NY — For the past decade when the budget has been tight, officials have been able to balance it by eliminating unfilled county positions. That happened again this year. But because of what county manager David Fanslau called a “perfect financial storm,” working county employees will actually lose their jobs if the tentative county budget is adopted.

At a news conference on November 10, Fanslau laid out the details of his proposed budget: 40 currently empty county jobs will be eliminated, 10 requested jobs will not be filled and 14 occupied positions will be cut. Fanslau said, however, that some of the laid-off workers will be able to move to other county jobs, so the final actual employee cut could be in the single digits.

In another major move that will have an impact on all property owners in Sullivan County, the county portion of real estate taxes will rise by seven percent. The hike is needed, Fanslau said, because of a decrease in revenue from sales tax and other taxes.

Fanslau said that the total proposed budget for 2009 is $191.2 million, down about $926,000 from last year. The lower spending level is due not only to employee cuts but also to spending cuts in other areas.

If approved by the county legislature, some of the cost-cutting measures will mark significant changes from past practices. Fanslau, for instance, has proposed that county employees be responsible for cleaning their own offices, which would not only reduce the cost of the cleaning contract with outside cleaners, but would also eliminate the need for night-time security guards, who are on duty while the cleaning crews perform their duties.

Fanslau also said that green energy measures that have been or will be adopted by the county will save additional dollars. He noted, for instance, that county employees use five million sheets of paper every year at a cost of $40,000. He said a new directive will call for the increase of electronic records to reduce the need to print, copy and fax papers, and thereby reduce costs.

In the area of waste management, Fanslau called for substantial changes. Tipping fees at the landfill for household waste would rise from $75 to $95 per ton. He also called for the establishment of a “Waste Flow Control” law, which would require that all garbage generated in the county be processed in county facilities. Right now, about 18 of the 80 tons of waste generated here is going out of the county.

But, perhaps most significantly in the solid waste area, Fanslau wants to restructure the pricing for individual plastic bags brought into the system by private residents. His plan calls for maintaining the $2.50 fee per bag only for 30-gallon clear plastic bags. For 30-gallon black plastic bags, the price would jump to $20 per bag. This would give residents a great incentive to utilize the clear bags and allow landfill personnel to more easily enforce recycling rules.

This aspect of the proposed budget is likely to come under much discussion among lawmakers because recycling enforcement measures in the past have proven to be politically thorny. But, as a whole, the proposed budget has received support from both Republicans and Democrats in the legislature, which must approve the final budget before the end of the year.

At the meeting, Republican legislator Leni Binder said that she supports the budget effort so far, but it won’t really be complete until Albany announces what changes might be coming. The state may cut revenue payments to the counties for the remainder of this year and for the next fiscal year, which at the state level starts in April 2009. Any changes from Albany will likely result in changes at the county level.

Democratic legislator Ron Hiatt said the budget reflects that the economic realities of the county, state and nation have changed and the fiscal discipline is a necessity.

County chair Jonathan Rouis, a Democrat, thanked county staff who worked on the budget and said, “I think their 2009 tentative budget appreciates our current fiscal situation, conservatively anticipates our future, and they have worked incredibly hard to minimize the burdens that this global economic depression will have not only on our employees but on our taxpayers as well.”