Franklin County plans tax-cap override

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October 10, 2011

Franklin County aims to override 2% property tax

DENISE A. RAYMO Press-Republican The Press Republican Mon Oct 10, 2011, 06:10 AM EDT

MALONE — Franklin County will hold back-to-back public hearings next month on the tentative 2012 budget and its intent to override the state's 2 percent property-tax limit.

The legislature is the first municipal body in the North Country to ask to exceed the tax cap.

Budget hearings are set for 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10, at the Harrietstown Town Hall and at 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17, in the Legislative Chambers on the fourth floor of the County Courthouse.

Each of those meetings will be followed immediately at 6 p.m. by public hearings on a proposed local law that would override the property-tax cap signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

All four meetings are open to the public.

General-municipal law requires that the county hold a public hearing before a local law is adopted, and in this case, the law is seeking permission to ignore the 2 percent cap the state imposed on school districts, municipalities and counties to hold taxes down for property owners.

Once the required public hearing is held, the county can override the limit if 60 percent of its voting members opt to do so.

IN LEGAL TERMS

"The slow recovery of the national, state and local economies from the most recent recession and the continued financial obligations imposed on the county by the state in the form of mandated-government activities not fully funded by the state are conditions beyond the control of the county government," the proposed local law states.

"After serious and sustained efforts to minimize the amount of the tax levy and to project the tax-levy limit for Franklin County for 2012, it is clear that a responsible budget for 2012 will require a tax levy that will be greater than the tax-levy limit," the proposed law states.

The overall tentative budget is $115,514,259, and the amount to be raised by taxes is $16,166,681, an increase of 12.95 percent.

VETERANS CEMETERY

In other business, legislators:

▶ Recognized Carolyn Gervais for her many years of service on the North Country Community College Board of Trustees.

▶ Appointed Rick Swanston to a two-year term as the public-sector representative on the Franklin County Workforce Council, to expire Oct. 5, 2013.

▶ Authorized the creation of a full-time law-clerk position within the Public Defender's Office at an annual salary of $45,000.

▶ Supported a proposal from Robert St. Maur, a retired chief master sergeant of the U.S. Air Force, to ask elected state and federal officials to convert the former Camp Gabriels Correctional Facility into a site for a veterans cemetery.

That way, the 43,000 North Country veterans could have a place closer to home to be buried instead of at the nearest national cemetery, in Saratoga, he said.

▶ Supported legislation introduced in the State Senate and State Assembly that would have the state take over the entire cost of Medicaid services, a move that would be phased in over eight years.

▶ Agreed to contract with Erin Brunell to provide speech-and-language services to the County Public Health Nursing Service.

Email Denise A. Raymo at: draymo@pressrepublican.com