Slow internet

MONTICELLO, NY — “We’re trying to get funding in place for expanding broadband,” said legislator Michael Brooks at the county’s management and budget committee meeting.

Monticello is scheduled to be the first community to receive broadband through the county. That plan is to bring wireless access to 95 percent of the county by using emergency towers. The project has been estimated at $3 million and will take up to five years to finish.

“This has been painstakingly slow,” Brooks said. “It’s been quite an education in bureaucracy... we were hoping to have an answer [on funding] from the feds by now.”

“The department does have a Plan B if funding doesn’t come through,” said IT commissioner Lorne Green. “But the support at the federal level and the state level has been strong enough, we don’t anticipate that this grant is not going to be funded.”

“Hopefully by next year, we’ll have three active sites,” said county manager Josh Potosek.

High energy

A discussion of the county’s energy tax was unexpected in a health and family services committee meeting.

Committee chair Nadia Rajsz introduced a resolution to rescind the tax on residential electrical usage. (The legislature voted last week to remove the tax on oil and propane, but left electricity in place.)

Rajsz said she was getting calls from seniors who heat their homes with electricity. To leave that intact “is selectively targeting a few people,” she said.

Legislator Alan Sorensen had requested a report from county treasurer Nancy Buck showing the revenue from the energy tax; the state had not yet sent the data. (Energy tax funds are included with sales tax revenue.)

“I think we should eliminate the whole tax,” legislator Joe Perrello said.

“It’s set to sunset in 2023,” Brooks said. Only removing part of the tax is “a moderate approach... we still need some money coming in. I’m just looking to balance it.”

“Wait until we see where the delta variant takes us,” chairman Rob Doherty said.

The current version of the revised energy tax would take effect in December 2021.

Legislators agreed to discuss further changes at next week’s executive committee meeting.

Community services update

Health and family services commissioner John Liddle reported at that department’s committee meeting that they had received six RFPs (requests for proposals) on the proposed outsourcing of the county’s community services department.

The department oversees drug and alcohol treatment, mental health care, and much more.

All were from non-profits, and none “presented a compelling case to completely replace all of our services.”

Individual bidders had relevant skills, he said, and those would support what the county is doing, and add the benefit of outside expertise.

“Melissa [Stickle, community services head] and I are very pleased with the results that came back... we got what we were hoping for from the responses,” Liddle said.

Do not have a mental health emergency off-hours

Pre-pandemic, mobile mental health services were provided by Rockland Psychiatric 24/7, Liddle said. During the pandemic, as with so many things, the availability dropped.

Services are still limited. Now, “it is provided from 8 [a.m.] to 4:30 [p.m.], Monday through Friday.”

It is, shall we say, difficult to schedule a mental health emergency. The county is well aware of that, and Liddle expressed frustration. “They have not resumed service yet, despite promises to us that they would do so.”

He assured legislators that he and Stickle were staying on top of the situation.

Very slow rental assistance

The emergency rental assistance program, authorized by the state and meant to prevent homelessness by covering rent and/or utilities, seems to have issues.

“We’ve been working as hard as we can to get folks into that program,” Liddle said. “It was very cumbersome and done through a web portal.” (Not useful in a county without consistent broadband.)

Landlords, he said, are frustrated with the amount of paperwork.

Perrello, a landlord, agreed. “I was one of the first people to apply.” The program started at the beginning of summer. After seven weeks, he said, he asked where the money was. After all, he had taxes to pay. He said the state kept asking for more information, more documentation…   and when he had that lined up, they said they wouldn’t pay. The tenant had since moved.

Liddle said he would research the problem.

“Maybe things will change with the new governor?” Rajsz said.

“It won’t change,” Perrello said. “This is New York.”