CATTARAUGUS COUNTY
Spending up by $9 million in plan OK’d by legislators
2009 budget includes slight tax increase
LITTLE VALLEY — Cattaraugus County legislators voted without fanfare Wednesday to adopt a $203.9 million spending plan for 2009, making only one bookkeeping adjustment that had no effect on the $44,788,000 tax levy.
The levy is 4.26 percent more than it was in 2008, while total spending is up by about $9 million.
Finance Committee Chairman Michael O’Brien, R-Portville, said the budget reflects a strenuous effort to hold the line or cut back on spending in anticipation of coming cuts in state funding. The budget reflects a tax increase of 0.85 percent, for an estimated full-value tax rate of less than $12 per $1,000 of assessed value.
In other action, lawmakers approved two bonding measures to allow borrowing of $1,191,800 to support a five-year capital plan for road and bridge and building improvement projects totaling $3,711,800 in the 2009 budget year.
A controversial central firefighter training facility appears in the plan, with construction beginning in 2010, at a cost of $900,000. In contrast to the 2009 portion of the plan, the projected cost for 2010 spending could be as high as $8.3 million, which is the most to be spent in any of the coming five years.
In 2009, the Public Works Department will build the next in a series of salt storage sheds at a cost of $365,000. Three more sheds are projected to be built in the coming years — in Allegany, Markhams and West Valley.
Also on the drawing board is a $250,000 electrical backup generator at the Little Valley Center, in addition to a total of $2,006,800 in road, bridge and culvert improvements — an amount that was almost halved from a longer list of projects due to the world financial crisis.
Two Olean Pines nursing home projects are contained in the work plan: a $100,000 laundry upgrade and $760,000 D Wing roof.
Also, about $660,000 in Public Works Department funds, unspent during previous projects, will be rolled over to support the cost of the five-year capital program, in addition to $1 million that will be diverted in 2009 from the general fund surplus.
The Legislature also adopted a measure authorizing an increase in fees collected by the county clerk for recording and certification of documents, in a move to increase revenues by about $300,000 annually and maintain a lower tax levy. The Cattaraugus County clerk’s fee for certified copies of certain recorded documents will increase from $5 to $20, and from $3 to $5 for each page. Only Bill Sprague, D-Yorkshire, voted no.
In another matter, the legislators tabled legislation that would have awarded a $2.4329-per-gallon contract to Noco Energy Corp. of Tonawanda for gasoline that is sold at the Onoville Marina. Tony Capito of the Public Works Department said that under the contract, the price of gas would not fluctuate by more than 3 cents a gallon even if the price continues to drop.
Public Works Committee Chairman Dick Giardini, D-Allegany, noted that the marina is closed until spring and it would be wise to renew the bidding process at that time.
