12/10/07 - Leaders give state of county, city, C’ville

Officials call for cooperation as city looks for ways to save money

(As published by Cortland Standard, Christine Laubenstein reporting)

Cortland County and the town of Cortlandville are in good financial shape, while the city faces financial difficulties, according to government officials who spoke Saturday.

The three municipalities are trying to work together to help finances in all of the municipalities, they said.

County Administrator Scott Schrader, Legislatarure Chair Marilyn Brown, Cortlandville Town Supervisor Dick Tupper and Cortland City Mayor Tom Gallagher spoke at a state of the municipalities event Saturday at the SUNY Cortland Alumni House on Tompkins Street.

It was the fourth such event hosted by the League of Women Voters in recent years. About 25 people attended the event, most of whom were league members or their spouses.

County Administrator Scott Schrader touted the 4 percent county tax reduction for next year, and emphasized the importance of the county working with the city and towns to save money.

An example, Schrader said, is the county allowing towns and villages pay into its workers’ compensation program, Schrader said. That cuts costs for municipalities and makes it less likely they’d lose protection in the case of a catastrophe.

The county has recently demonstrated interest in cooperation with municipalities by starting talks about it possibility picking up the tab for funding libraries, Gallagher pointed out later in the talk.

Currently individual municipalities fund the libraries. Schrader added the city and county are considering merging their prisoner booking and holding operations.

Cortlandville Town Supervisor Dick Tupper said like the county, Cortlandville is in good financial shape, with low taxes and high reserves.

Tupper cited a 2006 audit recently accepted by the board that shows the town added more than $700,000 to its reserves in 2006.

He said he expects the town will add even more this year, though he didn’t know the amount. At the same time the town has achieved numerous projects, he said. Those include the new Town Hall, the new park off Starr Road and the town’s new aquifer monitoring plan, which is designed to identify any pollution in the aquifer.