LITTLE VALLEY — There were few changes in the tentative $230.2 million Cattaraugus County budget for 2018, passing through the County Legislature’s Finance Committee Thursday night.
The full County Legislature will meet Tuesday at 4 p.m. to conduct a public hearing on the budget, which reduces the full value tax rate by 20 cents to $12.65 per $1,000.
Any changes were subtracted from the contingent fund and did not affect the tentative tax levy of $55.3 million from property taxes. That is an increase of $722,613, or 1.3 percent.
County Administrator Jack Searles, who serves as budget officer, and County Treasurer Joseph G. Keller reviewed their respective portions of the budget the Finance Committee oversees.
Review by other committees earlier this week produced only a handful of changes.
The County Operations/Public Safety Committee first trimmed $30,000 from the proposed Cattaraugus County SPCA budget, then restored it in a subsequent meeting. The result was the SPCA’s allocation recommended by the budget officer remained at $95,000.
A $5,000 increase in the coroner’s training account was also approved by the Finance Committee
As recommended by the Legislature’s Development and Agriculture Committee, the snowmobile grant administrative fee was removed from the budget in the committee. That reduced revenues by $15,000. Also, the committee agreed to increase Salamanca Rail Museum funding to $10,000 from the recommended $5,600 for next year. That increase came from the contingent fund.
The county administrator said a last-minute intergovernmental transfer (IGT) notice for the county’s Olean and Machias Pines nursing home facilities would not affect the 2018 budget.
However, at next Tuesday’s Legislature meeting, legislators will be asked to approve $1.5 million in fund transfers in order to be able to receive $3.1 million in IGT funds. The request must be received by Nov. 29 or the county could lose the IGT funding.
Searles said this represents about six months of IGT funding, and comes on the heels of three other IGT offerings this year. Each IGT requires 50 percent in county matching funds.
Because of this year’s IGT funding, Searles said the two nursing homes will not require additional county funding to cover any deficits.
Searles reminded legislators on the Finance Committee that the budget started with a $1.2 million hole resulting from the loss of tax-immune proceeds from its share of Seneca Allegany Casino revenues through the state.
Earlier this year, the Seneca Nation announced its obligations to New York state, under the 2002 Gaming Compact, had ended with the last quarter of 2016. State officials objected and invoked an arbitration clause.
County officials are also looking at a $100,000 loss in revenue from the tobacco settlement. The 2016 revenue was $2.4 million, as compared to $1.1 million this year. The 2018 level will be $1,075,000.
Searles also said he had set aside funding to cover the cost of new labor contracts with seven county unions. No tentative agreements have been announced yet.
“It’s a great budget,” County Legislator James J. Snyder, R-Olean, the vice chairman who serves as chairman of the Finance Committee, said afterward. “There’s no controversy. Jack put together a very solid budget and everyone knows it.”
Searles credited the county department heads, who, he said, were asked to submit budgets that were the same or lower in their impact on the tax levy.
The full Legislature will vote on the tentative budget Tuesday after a budget hearing following the regular meeting that begins at 4 p.m. on the third floor of the County Center.
