The Albany County Legislature voted to override Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2 percent tax cap and adopted a 2012 budget, both by votes of 29-10, at the Monday, Dec. 5, meeting.
The total county budget is $598 million with an 8 percent property tax increase, well below the 19.2 percent tax hike originally proposed by County Executive Mike Breslin. Total appropriations contained in the budget (what the county will actually spend) are $557 million.
“We worked hundreds of hours trying to figure out how to reduce that to a manageable number and without decimating the services that the county is responsible to provide,” said Shawn Morse, chair of the audit and finance committee.
According to Morse, an average homeowner in Cohoes will pay an extra $3 a month for a total of about $37 a year under the 8 percent and in Colonie, $4 a month for about $52 a year.
“While the percentage might seem high when you talk about the property tax cap we could not achieve this year, our 8 percent is equivalent to many places that had 2 percent in actual dollars,” said Morse.
Regardless of how large or small a homeowner’s property tax bill increases (the average Green Island homeowner will only dole out $1.81 more per month), Morse said he understands every penny counts.
“I don’t minimize $5 a month out of anybody’s pay because that’s a reduction in their household income [but] I think we can all at least feel we can provide much needed services at a very reasonable price,” said Morse.
There was concern from residents and legislators that essential services might be lost, but Morse said the budget will ensure all county services are saved, like the nursing home, dental care, mental health, though there may be some reductions in those services.
“Those services will still be available to those people in need of them and who qualify for them,” said Morse.
County Executive-elect Dan McCoy said rumors of losing those services were “scare tactics.”
“We said to Breslin, ‘What do we have to do to live within 2 percent?’ … He didn’t give us details, just said mental health, dental, these are the things that we control,” said McCoy.
The things the legislature doesn’t control is unfunded mandates, which McCoy said make up 70 percent of the budget.
“When Medicaid goes ups $11 million with no relief from the Senate and Assembly, I blame them,” said McCoy. “If we didn’t have unfunded mandates we wouldn’t be here tonight.”
Morse said he and his committee got the tax increase down to 8 percent through a “plethora” of ways, including reducing the workforce and requiring each department to provide a certain amount of savings throughout the year through “whatever means they could achieve.”
“It’s called a personal savings. Each department may be able to save their personal savings through overtime, other types of reductions, training, travel, any kind of expenditures so we allowed each department to cut it the way they thought was best for their department,” said Morse.
Morse said the county also saw an increase in savings from the proposed Medicare advantage plan put in place last year, through the Canadian drug plan from last year and sales tax will be “a little higher” than it was last year based on the last quarter.
“Put all that together and you start reducing the budget and that’s what got us down to the 8 percent,” said Morse.
McCoy said Cuomo’s 2 percent tax cap actually helped the legislature arrive at a “responsible” budget.
“I’ve got to compliment Gov. Cuomo for what he’s done because we’ve had more dialogue on this budget in the 12 years I’ve been down here,” said McCoy. “In the past when we ran into problems we’d raise taxes … and didn’t blink an eye.”
The legislature is planning to take the “unprecedented” step of starting the 2013 budget process starting Jan. 1, 2012, said Morse.
“Our goal from Jan. 1 … will be reviewing and looking at every single contract, nonprofit, payment that we make, in a goal to get us down to the lowest possible tax rate and that would include the hopes to get down to the 2 percent,” said Morse.
