Allegany County  - Taxpayers Fact Sheet

 

·         2003 County budget totals $83.6 million.   Of this amount 60% or $50 million is mandated.

·         Medicaid, Health Insurance and State Retirement increased $2.3 million and account for a 16% increase in your property taxes alone.

·         Medicaid is the most expensive mandate, increasing 72% since 1996, and is $8.9 million of the budget.

·         25 position have been abolished, $966,000 in construction projects and $313,000 in DPW equipment eliminated.

·         Due to state mandated, minimum staffing requirements, our Sheriffs budget is up 58% since 1998.

 

Non-Funded Mandate - A program required by law, that is funded by your local tax dollars.

 

Below are answers to some of the questions we have recently received. We hope this helps to show that while our local tax rate has increased in recent years, our local government has not. Due to State and Federal mandates our County, just as others, are being strangled financially.

 

Why is Allegany County’s tax increase so much higher than the other counties ?

It is not. The surrounding counties have raised their taxes over the past few years at a higher rate than our county.

In a 4 year average Allegany County is actually less than most of the surrounding counties.

Allegany Co. 7.75% / Cattaraugus Co. 8.2% / Chautauqua Co. 9.19%

Steuben Co. 10.4% / Wyoming Co. 6% / Niagara Co. 6.22%. 

This is using a tax increase of 24% for Allegany Co. and the tentative increases of surrounding Counties as published in the paper.

 

In 2003 budget year 28 counties raised their taxes 10% or more and 15 counties taxes were raised between 15% - 27%, at this same time Allegany Co. was at 6.6% which was half of the state wide average of 12.2%. Allegany Co. is certainly not alone in their struggle with unfunded mandates.

 

How does Medicaid and the Family Health Plus program effect our local taxes?

The Social Services portion of our budget is $31.1 million or 37% of the total budget. Medicaid rose by 525 applicants or 15% and the Family Health Plus portion rose by 606 applicants or 505% since Jan. 2002. In New York State 25% of this burden is directed to the local taxpayers. This equates to $8.9 million in our local amount to be raised by taxes or 47% of your County tax bill.

 

Does this account for all of the mandated programs we have heard so much about?

No. If we figured in all our mandated programs the total would be $50 million or 60% of the total budget. The local share that you have to pay is $11.6 million or 60% of your tax bill.

 

Why is the County raising the permit fee to use our County landfill, didn’t we pay for this long ago?

It costs approximately $1.3 million dollars annually to operate the landfill. This amount has been raised in the past by your property taxes. Allegany county is one of only two Counties in New York State to put this cost entirely on the property tax bill. The permit fee will help to shift this cost a little towards those who use the landfill.

 

Why don’t we just sell the landfill?

This has been discussed, along with some other ideas. The legislators feel that the landfill is a great asset to the County and these options need to be investigated at greater detail.                                        

 

Did the Legislators and Department Heads get a raise this year when things are tight?

No raises were given this year to any of these people. In 1999 legislators were paid $75 per meeting day with the highest paid legislator receiving  $24,000.  Since 2000 each legislator is paid a salary which is $8,500 with the Chairman receiving more.
 

Is it true that the legislators get lifetime health insurance after a certain number of years service?

If a legislator participates in NYS retirement, which requires a payroll deduction of 3% of their salary, single coverage or family coverage may be available after 10 years of service, at the same terms as their last year of service, having reached age 55, at the same terms as their last year of service.  Currently 7 legislators are enrolled in the NYS retirement system.

 

How much does the Allegany County Transit bus system cost me in my county taxes?

No county taxes are used for this service. Bus transportation is a contracted service, not County operated. The entire system is subsidized by State and Federal funds, along with fares collected.

Why does the county do snow plowing?

The county tries to contract with all the Towns for the plowing of County roads. All but three have signed contracts. The County has to use County equipment to plow the County roads in these three Towns.

 

Why has the Sheriffs budget grown so much in recent years?

Our jail must conform to minimum staffing requirements that are set by the New York Department Of Corrections. Legislators have met with officials in Albany as recently as Dec.16, 2003 to ask for relief in these requirements. With the number of prisoners exceeding the number that we can house, we are forced to transport the prisoners to other jails. We have transported prisoners as far as Broome Co. in recent weeks.

 

Where were most of the cuts made to the budget?

Our Public Works Department was cut by $1.2 million in  personnel, equipment and capitol improvement projects. This Dept. is largely funded by local tax dollars and these cuts have the greatest impact on your tax bill. As this happens we also start to fall behind in our infrastructure, such as roads and bridges. These projects can only be curtailed a short time before we begin to drastically jeopardize them.  We also abolished 25 positions county wide, with more being evaluated. Each department within the county was scrutinized and each had cuts. Reductions included conferences, travel, motor vehicles, purchases, overtime, and equipment, among other items.

 

Where our do County taxes come from and where do they go?

                         

 

 

 

 

Printed by the Allegany County Board Of Legislators