Rob Corpora, Cortland County Administrator. (Photo via Kevin L. Smith of The Cortland Voice).
Cortland County’s proposed 2024 budget signifies an increase of $2.1 million in spending, as well as a 1.12% increase in the property tax rate, officials said at the budget’s unveiling at Thursday’s County Legislature meeting.
The proposed $155.9 million spending plan levies around $39.2 million in property taxes. The tax rate in the tentative budget would be $16.09 per $1,000 in assessed property value.
Residents can expect a 2024 budget public hearing on Oct. 26. A vote on the budget is expected on Nov. 16.
“I'd like to thank all of our department heads and staff for helping with this budget,” said county administrator Rob Corpora. “With five or six budgets that I’ve prepared over the last few years, this has to be one of the toughest and it couldn't have been done without all the help and dedication of our staff and our department.”
Those hardships, Corpora and county legislators said, are mostly due to state-imposed policies, as well as a less-than-ideal general economic outlook across the country.
For instance, the county lost out on $1.3 million in expected healthcare costs reimbursements after the state withheld those municipal reimbursements as part of the 2024 state budget approved in the spring. Typically, localities expect those yearly reimbursements dubbed enhanced Federal Medicaid Assistance Percentage (eFMAP). eFMAP has been around for around a decade in its current form.
New York pays one of the highest shares in the country for its Medicaid program. A report from the Office of the State Comptroller indicates the state paid about $27.7 billion in Medicaid costs in fiscal year 2021-22. This is the highest level of spending in the history of the state, according to a report from the comptroller’s office, which attributes the high spending in part to higher enrollment levels impacted by federal restrictions on disenrollment during the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Corpora said the county pays around $10 million in Medicaid costs alone.
Corpora also pointed to an increase in foster care costs, statewide increases in rates paid to assigned counsel, and higher day care costs.
“What percentage of the budget when you say are (state) mandates?,” asked legislator Ronald VanDee (D-LD-4).
Corpora noted at least 80% of the budget expenditures are based on state requirements.
“So that is what the public needs to know,” VanDee said. “We are not necessarily big spenders up here, but we are tied as to what we have to do. We don’t like it, but we do it.”
Inflation, Corpora noted, also played a factor. The inflation rate, he calculated, is about 3.7%. Corpora added the cost of labor has also been a more expensive component of this year’s budget compared to last year’s budget.
A breakdown of the proposed 2024 budget can be viewed by clicking here.
