Highlights from the September 24, 2024 Meeting of the Tompkins County Expanded Budget Committee

Monday, September 30, 2024

Understanding the 2025 Recommended Tompkins County Budget

• The recommended 2025 Tompkins County Budgetwas prepared by the County Administrator and delivered to the Legislature on September 3. The recommended budget totals $252.3M, with revenues made up primarily of local property taxes (levy), sales tax receipts, and State and federal funding.
• The proposed total property tax levy is $55.7M, which is $2.3M, or 4.34%, higher than 2024. If passed, this would result in a $138 increase in the property tax bill for the owner of a median-priced ($300,000) home.
• Departmental and agency budgets can be found in the 2025 Recommended Budgetor in the links in the title of each section below.
• As part of this budget development process all departments and funded not-for-profit agencies were asked to submit a budget with a 5% reduction due to cost increases and constraintson available funds for one-time use.
• Departments and agencies can make over-target requests as part of the budget process, which they detail during presentations to the Expanded Budget Committee. Over-target requests are detailed in departmental and agency budgets in the online budget system (links above and below). Some over-target requests are included in the recommended budget, others are made for the Legislature to consider when voting on the budget.
• Highlights below focus on the over-target requests or significant changes proposed by departments and agencies during the budget process.
• For more detail, read the County Administrator's 2025 Budget Message.

County Attorney

A 5% cut to the County Attorney's office would result in reduced staff hours across the department. The $29,611 cut is proposed to be restored in the recommended budget.

Rural Tompkins County Libraries

Several local rural library leaders and the Finger Lakes Library System presented their budget, including that across them 109,222 people visited, 275,061 items circulated, 1,454 programs were held, and computer stations were used 17,334 times in 2023.

A 5% cut would result in $2,000 reduced from each library in the central Finger Lakes Library System organization. This would result in less new materials, programming, and no cost of living increases for staff pay.

Tompkins County Historian

The Tompkins County Historian presented their budget, including a 5% budget cut of $940 proposed from programming expenses that cover the publication of booklets on local history.

Tompkins County Clerk & Department of Motor Vehicles

The Tompkins County Clerk's Office presented its budget and detailed a proposed reduction of $27,471 as a 5% cut.

$16,994 was requested by the department to maintain the current efforts of its shared services scanning program. The department is responsible for land and court records, many of which require scanning. Not having this funding may impact the department's ability to get State grant funds. The over-target request was not recommended.

Information Technology Services Department

Information Technology Services staff proposed reducing one full time geographic information systems (GIS) analyst position and the public Wi-Fi in County buildings to reach the required 5% cut budget. Over-target requests were made to restore both cuts.

Neither the GIS position ($94,371) or the public Wi-Fi ($12,689) over-target requests were recommended in the budget.

Tompkins County Public Library

The Tompkins County Public Library, which is a supported agency through the County's annual budget, presented its budget to the Legislature. The agency's 5% cut total of $216,587, paired with increased operating expenses, would result in the reduction of 5-7 positions impacting service hours and programs. An over-target request to restore the $216,587 was proposed but not recommended.

Tompkins County Board of Elections

The Tompkins County Board of Elections would experience a $53,094 cut with the proposed 5% cut budget. This would result in reduced staffing, program expenses, and program supplies.

A $113,575 recommended over-target request would increase the budget for elections workers to meet the annual departmental workload. An $8,000 request for ElectionStats software allowing users to search past elections results and information was made but not recommended.