For people living in Chemung County, this is the 12th year in a row their property taxes will not be raised.
“We’re very proud of that,” said Chemung County Executive Tom Santulli.
But some are critical. Santulli presented his 2017 budget to legislators at a meeting this week. They spent two hours poring over the $188 million proposal.
Legislators questioned whether or not the flat tax rate could lead to it eventually skyrocketing.
“There was a debate over: When do we start raising them? Well, I can tell you this: Even if we do have to start raising them down the road, we gave the taxpayer 12 years of relief on taxes that are already too high to begin with,” said Santulli.
Property taxes are so high in New York, Santulli says it’s the primary reason so many people are choosing not to live in the state.
“I would tell you taxes are too high, despite what we’ve done,” he said. “And I think it’s not conducive to drawing people here, to keeping young people here. Businesses have left. I take it very seriously.”
But the proposal brought up other concerns, too. Legislators say unfunded state mandates have consistently been the biggest challenge facing the budget.
“Because they continue to go up every year and we’re required to pay them whether we want to or not,” said Chemung County Legislator Rodney Strange. “Our actual budget, about 20 percent of our budget is what we have a say in. The rest of it is all mandated or contractual. So it’s tough every year.”
One of those mandated programs increases county taxes by 67 percent.
“We are the only state in the country that has a local share of Medicaid. No other state in the country makes their local county government pay a local share; it’s all funded through the state,” said Strange.
Despite these challenges, Strange say the budget is in good shape.
“I don’t think you could get a better budget. I don’t know in this type of economic climate what more you could want in a budget. It’s an excellent spending plan, it’s an excellent budget.”