| Highlights of the November 16, 2004 meeting of the Tompkins County Legislature COUNTY SAYS NO TO LARGER JAIL Eight County Legislators voted to halt plans to expand the size of the County jail. Legislators stated several points of view, from a philosophical disagreement with incarceration as a solution to drug and alcohol abuse to a rebellion against a state-mandated requirement to build a 136-bed jail. All expressed humanitarian concerns for inmates who may have to be boarded at other counties' facilities and for those who are held in the existing jail, which is recognized to be outmoded physically and programmatically. It is an almost complete certainty that the state Commission of Correction will refuse to renew housing variances that have for years allowed up to 103 beds to be filled in the County's building. Without the variances, the jail capacity will drop to a maximum of 73 and the County will be forced to board out overflow inmates at a cost of $75 - 85 per day. The Legislature's vote, in the form of an amendment to the proposed 2005 County budget, removed $250,000 from the capital program and earmarked $400,000 in contingent funds for expected boarding-out costs. Not expanding the jail, a $20 million capital project, will save a potential $1.6 million in 2006 - but the facility is still in need of essential building and mechanical system repairs. Voting to stop the Public Safety Building construction design - which had surpassed the cost of boarding out - were Dick Booth, Kathy Luz Herrera, Tim Joseph, Michael Koplinka-Loehr, Leslyn McBean-Clairborne, Peter Penniman, Martha Robertson, and Nancy Schuler. Those who favored continuing with designs for a larger jail were Dooley Kiefer, Michael Lane, Frank Proto, Thomas Todd, George Totman, and Dan Winch. Barbara Blanchard, chair of the Public Safety Committee and the Legislature's most dedicated communicator with the Commission of Correction, was not present at the meeting. LEGISLATURE DEADLOCKED ON 2005 BUDGET A vote of 7 in favor and 7 against left the County Legislature with no decision on the tentative County budget for 2005. Legislator Barbara Blanchard, whose vote would have been a tie-breaker, was absent from the meeting for family reasons. The budget will come back for another vote at the Legislature's December 7 meeting. By state law, if the budget is not passed, it will go into effect, as currently amended, by December 20. County law says the budget becomes adopted by default on December 10. Some who stated dissatisfaction with the budget blamed the jail vote, which Michael Lane characterized as a "poison pill." Others were unhappy with the budget increases for the Highway Division. Voting to approve the budget were Richard Booth, Tim Joseph, Dooley Kiefer, Michael Koplinka-Loehr, Peter Penniman, Nancy Schuler, and Martha Robertson. Voting no were Kathy Luz Herrera, Michael Lane, Leslyn McBean-Clairborne, Frank Proto, Thomas Todd, George Totman, and Daniel Winch. The tentative budget would raise the County property tax levy by 6.49 percent. The total property tax levy would be $33,073,560. The County property tax rate would be $7.17 per $1,000 of assessed value, a 3.99 percent decrease. Besides removing the cost of the jail plans, the tentative budget was successfully amended by a vote of 10 to 4 to add $100,000 for the increased cost of a competitive wage and benefits package for potential employees of Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT), which is in the process of becoming a not-for-profit corporation. Each of the three partners of TCAT - the County, the City of Ithaca, and Cornell University - was asked to add $100,000 to their support of the transit entity during this period of transition. In another amendment, by a vote of 8 to 6, $30,000 in rollover (unspent) funds was reclaimed from the Probation and Criminal Justice Department, with no reduction in services, to reduce the tax levy. Contacts: Michael Koplinka-Loehr, Chair, Budget and Capital Committee, 257-2329; County Administrator Stephen Whicher, 274-5551. |