$92 million county budget would increase taxes 3.25%

County officials say Orleans faces many rising costs, including from homeless crisis

ALBION – Orleans County’s tentative budget for 2024 totals $92,494,994, which is down 1.5 percent from 93,702,812 in 2023.

However, despite the reduction in spending the county is proposing a 3.25 percent tax increase with the tax levy going up $607,000 to $19,264,000. The levy was $18,657,000 in both 2022 and 2023.

Jack Welch

The county will have a public hearing on the budget at 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 30 at the Orleans County Legislative Chambers, 14016 Route 31 W, Albion.

“Orleans County released its tentative budget that continues to stay below the state property tax cap, even with the tremendous budget pressures we are facing from high inflation and unfunded state mandates,” said Lynne Johnson, County Legislature chairwoman. “It is unconscionable that just nine state mandates now account for 98.9% of our total tax levy in this year’s budget proposal but that is the reality we are dealing with as Albany attempts to pass their budget problems onto us.”

Although the levy is up over 3 percent, the tax rate will drop by $1.30 from $9.87 to $8.57 or by 13.2 percent. That is because the reassessments in several towns in the county have boosted the overall assessed value by 19.0 percent or by $358.9 million to $2.25 billion.

The budget was filed on Wednesday by Jack Welch, the county chief administrative officer. Welch said putting together the budget was a challenge due to “volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity such as promises broken, the core inflation rate that is twice as high as it was two years ago, continued employment challenges of retaining and hiring new employees, prolonged supply chain issues which have no certainty of the price of goods or the delivery of goods as quoted.”

He said actions by the state government has stressed the county budget. That includes a loss of over $3 million in federal funds through the eFMAP Medicaid reconciliation for the Affordable Care Act enhanced payments. That state eliminated that money from counties, Welch said.

The county also will lose out on $1.1 million in annual Medicaid to State (formally MMIS) payments, he said.

“The second loss we have had to endure is the wireless broadband Congressional Directed Spending funding in the amount of $1.5 million because Orleans County was not the lead agency,” Welch said in his budget statement. “We are moving forward to complete the wireless broadband project in 2024 utilizing our own funds.”

Welch said a homeless crisis for temporary and permanent emergency housing placements has increased the workload for the Department of Social Services. Assisting the homeless as well as other mandated programs through DSS prompted the county to increase the hours for DSS workers from 35 to 37.5 hours per week with a goal of 40 hours per week rather than hiring additional employees, Welch said

“All of these changes have had the greatest impact on the component of the budget titled Economic Assistance and Opportunity,” he said in his budget message. “The 2024 budgeted county cost for these services is 17.5% over 2023 budgeted county cost.”

Nine state mandated programs account for $19,056,290 or 98.9 percent of the proposed 2024 tax levy. For 2023, the “9 for 90” mandates totaled $16,877,758. That is a 12.9% increase for Orleans County, Welch noted.

Lynne Johnson

The 2024 Capital Plan totals $7.8 million with a county cost of $3.5 million without using debt. Highway projects – bridges, roads, culverts and equipment – account for $6.7 million of the capital expense. Technology upgrades also are a significant part in the Capital Plan with departments updating end-of-life platforms, Welch said.

The county also is facing a 7.8 percent increase in health insurance costs, bringing the total expense to about $8 million.

Welch said sales tax revenue has been strong and that takes some pressure off property taxes. The county also is in line for $4.3 million in state and federal funding for bridge work and other highway improvements.

The county budget provides funding for other organizations in the county, with some slated to get an increase and others not.

The four public libraries will stay at $10,000, according to the 2024 tentative budget. The Cobblestone Museum is budgeted for $3,000, when the organization previously wasn’t in the budget but sometimes received $3,000 from the county’s contingency funds.

The budget allocates $200,000 for the Economic Development Agency, up from $190,000 in 2023. The Soil & Water Conservation District would go from $95,000 in 2023 to $97,500.

The Sportsmen’s Federation would see its funding cut from $1,000 to $0.

The Cooperative Extension would at $240,000, even though the organization requested $275,000. The Extension has been at $240,000 since at least 2020. The Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council would stay at $4,000.

The annual fee for solid waste and recycling service will increase by $4 to $220. This fee will continue to support the e-waste collection efforts for county residents at three sites across Orleans County.

“The program remains very popular, with high demand for the disposal of CRT monitors and televisions,” Welch said. “The county is also planning to continue to offer the Household Hazardous Waste pick up annually which includes residential tires.”

Sales taxes receipts are budgeted $20.8 million and strong sales tax growth has taken some of the pressure off the tax levy, helping the county to stay below the property tax cap for 2024.

“I commend Chief Administrative Officer Jack Welch and all our of department heads for putting together a responsible budget that properly funds our services while maintaining accountability to taxpayers,” Johnson said. “The need for our services has never been greater, yet our employees continue to find ways to meet that demand within the confines of our budget.”