11/2/07 - Senior citizen break passes in committee

County Budget and Finance Committee also approves $114 million budget

(As Published by Cortland Standard, Ida Pease reporting)

The county Budget and Finance Committee voted to support the $114 million tentative budget and send it to the entire Legislature for approval. No changes were made to the draft budget prepared by the county administrator.

Legislators Sean Clark (D-2nd Ward), Dan Tagliente (D-6th Ward) and Newell Willcox (R-Homer) were absent.

The committee also passed a resolution Thursday to increase the income eligibility for a senior citizen exemption from $10,500 or less to $14,300 or less to receive a 50 percent discount on county taxes.

This measure would cost the county around $34,000 from loss of tax money, said County Administrator Scott Schrader, and would not take affect until 2009, provided the entire county Legislature passes the resolution by March.

Cortland County residents will have a chance to weigh in on the tentative 2008 $114 million budget at 6 p.m. Nov. 20 during a public hearing. The Legislature will meet Nov. 29 to vote on the budget.

Legislators John Daniels (D-Cortlandville) and Ron Van Dee (D-5th Ward) asked Schrader to see if the county could go up to $16,500 for income eligibility for the senior tax break. He said he would check, but typically the county does not have an exemption that exceeds those offered in municipalities.

The number of seniors who could take advantage of the current exemption has dropped from 173 in 2002 to 116 in 2007. The taxable value of the properties is $2,366,103. The total taxable value in the county for 2008 is $1.7 billion.

The city of Cortland have an income cap of $14,300 for its 50 percent exemption. Only one town, Preble, offers a higher 50 percent exemption for incomes up to $16,500. Most towns in Cortland County has an income limit of $10,500. Two school districts that exceed a $14,300 income limit are Dryden and Groton, both in Tompkins County, with a $19,500 and $16,500 exemption base, respectively.

The county exemption level has not changed since 1991, said Schrader. That exemption provided a sliding scale option that reduced the exemption to 20 percent with an income of $16,200. The new proposal would boost that cap to $20,000.

The committee did not pass a similar tax exemption to cover Cold War veterans from 1945 to 1991. Schrader advised against passing this exemption because it has not passed in the state Assembly yet. He said the committee could consider it once the state Assembly passes it. There are about 4,000 Cold War veterans living in Cortland County, with about 68 percent of them owning a home. The potential cost to other county taxpayers would be $28,000.

“I feel comfortable with it (the budget),” said Ron Van Dee. He noted the process has been different from the past when legislators were looking for every dollar they could cut.
The committee did not change mileage reimbursement or take away health insurance for legislators. Kay Breed (R-Cortlandville) had asked that the committee consider this.

Legislator John Troy (D-1st Ward) said, “I’m against doing away with it,” noting it would not be fair that some legislators who travel from a distance could not get reimbursed. He noted the cost is only $2,500 and also that there are only six who take the health insurance and the clerk of the legislature is included among the Legislators. The clerk position is a full-time position. The committee did pass a resolution that legislators must turn in mileage within 60 days. The county pays $5,120 per individual insurance policy a year and a family policy is $12,696.