Four Dem candidates, plus an independent, are running for Orleans County Legislature

This article was updated after the original article listed Rak as a Dem candidate. She is a Conservative, seeking an independent line. The towns also haven’t had their caucuses yet, when they officially name their candidates.

ALBION – The Orleans County Democratic Party is backing four candidates, plus an independent, in their campaigns for county Legislature. The Dem-backed candidates have agreed to a don’t-sell-the-nursing-home platform.

Democrats also say they will be fiscally conservative, while bringing in another viewpoint to a seven-member body that is all Republican.

The county Legislature is working to sell The Villages of Orleans, a 120-bed nursing home in Albion, because of the potential for steep deficits that legislators say could require $2 to $4 million in annual county subsidies.

Linda Rak

Linda Rak of Lyndonville believes there must be ways to reduce costs and increase revenue at the facility, without turning it over to a private company. Rak is a retired reading teacher at Kendall. She is running as a Conservative against incumbent Lynne Johnson for a district that includes the towns of Yates, Ridgeway and a portion of Shelby. Rak also is working to secure an Indepedent line.

“I’m passionate about the nursing home,” Rak said during a Democratic Party picnic this afternoon at Bullard Park. “We need people to roll up their sleeves and find a solution. We owe it to the seniors to keep it.”

Rak works at Brockport State College with graduate students who want to be reading specialists. She also has been endorsed by the Conservative Party.

Fred Miller, the owner of Family Hardware in Albion since 1986, is making his first run for county office. He has served five years on the Village Board. Miller said the village has gone at least 30 years without a resident on the Legislature.

Fred Miller

“It’s time we had a village voice there,” he said. “I don’t believe the county is doing enough for the village.”

He also criticized the county for too many “hidden taxes” that drive away customers for small businesses. He noted heating oil taxes and an occupancy tax for motels and bed and breakfasts.

“I’m willing to dig into the facts and to stand alone,” Miller said. “They need diversity on that board.”

Miller has also been endorsed by the Conservative Party. He will run against Henry Smith Jr. for a district that includes the towns of Albion and Gaines.

Former Kendall Town Supervisor Jack Gillman has the Democratic endorsement to run against John DeFilipps of Clarendon for an at-large seat. George Bower of Holley isn’t seeking re-election to the county-wide position.

Gillman was town supervisor in 2008 and ’09, the first Democrat to hold the position in Kendall in 40 years. He worked 37 years as a telecommunications specialist for Rochester Telephone and Frontier before retiring in 2003.

Jack Gillman

If the majority of the public doesn’t want the nursing home to be sold, the Legislature should listen to the people, Gillman said. The Concerned Citizens of Orleans County, a citizens group opposed to the nursing home sale, has asked the Legislature to put the issue up for a vote.

Dave Schult of Waterport moved back to the community 2 ½ years ago after being away for 30 years. Schult, 50, joined the Coast Guard after graduating from Albion. He has worked in sales for an ambulance company based in Chicago, currently the vice president of the sales department.

Schult vowed to treat the county budget as if it was his own money, carefully spending every dollar. He has experience in negotiations, which he said would be an asset on the Legislature.

He also knows all about customer service. Before his career in sales, he grew up spending numerous hours at the Lakeland, a restaurant at Pont Breeze operated by his parents for 25 years.

Dave Schult

Schult also has been endorsed by the Conservative Party. He is running against Ken DeRoller of Kendall. The seat is currently filled by Ken Rush, who isn’t seeking re-election.

Gary Kent of Albion is again challenging Don Allport for a county-wide legislator position. Kent wasn’t at the Democratic picnic today. He was in North Carolina visiting his son. Kent, a retired Kendall social studies teacher, has been one of the leaders against selling the county nursing home. Allport, a Republican, has the Conservative endorsement.

Democrats introduced Cyndy Van Lieshout, a candidate for Barre town supervisor. The Democratic Party caucus is next month. She will be running against Mark Chamberlain. Van Lieshout and her husband Mike own a dairy farm in Barre. Cyndy manages the books for the farm and also serves on the board of directors for the Upstate Niagara and O-At-Ka cooperatives.

Democrats also introduced Paul Snook, a Republican running for Carlton highway superintendent. He has the Conservative endorsement against incumbent David Krull.

Four candidates for State Supreme Court in the eighth district also addressed Orleans Democrats. Those candidates include Mark Montour, a Lancaster town justice and acting judge for the city of Buffalo; Jeannette Ogden, a Buffalo city court justice; Jeff Marion, an attorney; and Dennis Glascott, an Angola town justice.

Orleans County officials say many residents and businesses in the rural outlying areas are at a competitive disadvantage because many areas lack access to high-speed Internet.

That makes it harder for students to complete homework, residents to fill out job applications and businesses to reach customers – tasks that increasingly require high-speed Internet.

The county has tried to coax Time Warner the past three years to extend services in the rural areas, but the cable provider has balked unless it was paid $10,000 a mile to run the infrastructure. The county believes wireless Internet may be the best solution to increasing access at an affordable cost.

The county and three local towns are starting a “mini-study” that could expand to the rest of Orleans and even Niagara counties.

The study will first focus on the towns of Shelby, Ridgeway and Yates, where highway superintendents have been trained to survey their towns to catalog assets that could be used to expand broadband Internet access.

The Niagara Orleans Regional Alliance – led by Orleans County Legislator Lynne Johnson and Niagara County Legislator Dave Godfrey – has been spearheading an initiative with the goal of attracting last-mile broadband Internet to rural businesses and residents without access.

“The approach is to market the region to a number of Internet service providers and work with them to find a solution that is both profitable to them and have zero long-term costs to local taxpayers while providing affordable broadband services to residents,” said Evhen Tupis, principal at BPGreene and Associates, a rural broadband consulting firm.

To do so, un-served addresses are being cataloged, potential “build on” structures – such as existing communication towers, water towers and other tall structures – are being identified and positioned as assets with potential ISP’s.

There is a focus on Wireless ISP’s because of the inherently lower build-out costs, though cable-line providers are certainly not excluded.

BPGreene and Associates trained the highway superintendents to document the needed information. Tupis of Clarendon is now in the process of repackaging their results into a Request for Comment (RFC). Through it, potential providers will be given the opportunity to provide feedback on the completeness of the information and voice their desire to participate in a formal Request for Proposal (RFP) to actually Internet services.

Legislature Chairman Dave Callard, R-Medina, plans to use the result of the RFC to decide if this approach would warrant more towns in Orleans County.

“As an added benefit, it is quite possible that this initiative may introduce competition in presently-served areas as well,” Tupis said.

Photo by Tom Rivers – Orleans County officials have a new historic marker under wraps today. The marker will be dedicated at 1 p.m. Saturday.

ALBION – A historic marker, with a log cabin logo, will be dedicated on the courthouse lawn during a 1 p.m. ceremony on Saturday.

The marker will honor the pioneering spirit of Albion’s first residents. In December 1810, William McAllister bought 368 acres in Albion, the east side of the village, from the Holland Land Company. The following year he built a log cabin where the current County Clerks’ Building stands next the county courthouse.

McAllister and his wife, known only in historical information as “Mrs. McAllister,” were Albion’s first settlers.

The Capurso family in Albion is paying for the marker.

Marsha Rivers

Press release, Hospice of Orleans

ALBION Marsha Rivers is the newest member of the Hospice of Orleans team. She joined the staff as Director of Development and Community Relations on June 17.

Rivers has been working in Albion since 2008 at Care Net of Greater Orleans, a pregnancy resource center. She served as Care Net’s part-time executive director from 2009 until this summer, when she joined Hospice full time.

As successor to Cora Goyette, who retired in March following the successful campaign to build the Martin-Linsin Hospice Residence, Rivers will be reinforcing support for the residence as well as all the vital services Hospice of Orleans provides, including home care, transitions, and bereavement assistance for our community.

“I consider it a high honor to be part of Hospice,” Rivers said. “I agree wholeheartedly with the hospice philosophy of considering all aspects of a person’s needs as they navigate life-limiting illness. Also, it’s a real blessing for me to have meaningful work so close to home.”

Rivers’ first public appearance for Hospice will be the Ducks Ahoy Race at 3 p.m. on July 4 in Johnson’s Creek, as part of the Lyndonville Lions’ Annual Independence Day Celebration. Duck tickets, each one representing a chance to win cash prizes donated by Baxter of Medina, are for sale at the Hospice office, 14080 Route 31 West, or at the Hospice booth near the creek in downtown Lyndonville on July 4.

An Orleans County native, Rivers graduated from Albion High School and then earned her bachelor’s degree in communication from Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester. She worked as a reporter for the Batavia Daily News before returning to her alma mater, where she filled several roles, including admissions, alumni relations, public relations and marketing, ultimately serving as editor of the college magazine, Roberts Today, for nine years. During that time, Rivers also earned her master’s degree in theological studies, with a concentration in nonprofit leadership and management, from Northeastern Seminary.

Editor’s note: Marsha Rivers is married to Tom Rivers, editor of OrleansHub.com.

Orleans Hub launched on April 2 and we’ve been building a growing and faithful audience since that first day. Thank you.

We thought you’d be curious about the stories that have generated the most page views in our first three months. Here they are, from number one to 10:

Day-old baby left with Medina FD, on May 28

Lyndonville woman dies in Carlton crash, on June 10

Suspect in lockdown surrendered to police, on May 23

Long-time Lyndonville store shuts down, on April 30

Kendall makes US News list of top schools, on April 26

Missing Albion girl is found safe, on May 2

Lockdown lifted at Albion schools, on May 23

8 face drug charges in multi-agency investigation of cocaine in Albion, on June 21

Kendall tops Orleans County school district rankings, on June 19

20-year-old charged after Albion girl is located unharmed, on May 2

We’ve published hundreds of photos on The Hub in the past three months, and many of the site visitors say they enjoy the photography the most. My favorite picture was published on our first day – April 2.

It shows Baillie Oberther, 16, of Medina being crowned queen of Dyngus Day during a celebration at Sacred Heart Club. Bonnie Boyd, last year’s queen, passes on the crown.

I like their happy faces and the intergenerational bonding. I like that Medina keeps up the Dyngus Day tradition, and that it is embraced by people of all ages.

Johnson joins effort to preserve Falls Air Reserve Station

ALBION – County officials from Orleans, Niagara and Erie are working to develop a three-county network to bring a regional voice to shared issues.

The group has identified a top issue as the long-term future of the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station as a viable large-scale employer. The Orleans County Legislature appointed Legislator Lynne Johnson, R-Lyndonville, to represent Orleans on the group.

The three-county network will work on the Air Reserve Station and expects to take up the following issues:

The viability and sustainability of regional industry as serviced by and positioned due to the access to various transportation networks.

The interface of transportation networksinterstate highways, freight rail, Great Lakes ports, access to the oceans, international crossing points for highway and rail, and airports capable of transporting passenger and cargo up to and including wide-body aircraft.

Seeking support for needed investment in the same with an emphasis on tying commercial and freight traffic to our two major airports, and allowing direct and high-speed access for container shippers to and from the airports, including through the construction/redesignation of interstate highways and rail lines.

Emphasizing regional transportation infrastructure, including access to ports along Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, access to the Welland Canal, and the existing rail lines including in southern Erie County.

Devising a regional strategy for utilizing and enhancing this transportation infrastructure to position Western New York to be globally competitive.

Reaching long-range agreements to develop communications infrastructure partnerships to position Western New York to be globally competitive.

Five Orleans districts to receive $3.2 million more

Photo by Tom Rivers – Albion Central School officials say they will be able to preserve their programs at the middle school (pictured) and other schools in the 2013-14 budget.

Source: NYS Division of the Budget

State aid increases are making life a little easier for school leaders this budget go-round.

The five districts in Orleans County will receive between 4 and nearly 7 percent more in state funds next school year, according to the state budget approved last week. That follows two years of meager increases. The districts were all cut significantly when David Paterson was governor. The state sliced education spending by nearly $3 billion state-wide during Paterson’s tenure.

“With the latest aid increases we are now back to the funding levels of 2009,” said Clark Godshall, superintendent of the Orleans-Niagara BOCES.

The 13 districts in the Orleans-Niagara BOCES cut 700 positions during the school funding crisis over the past five years, Godshall said. Some of those reductions were made due to shrinking enrollments. But many teachers, administrators and staff lost their jobs because districts were contending with rising costs and tepid revenue growth. The state also imposed a tax cap of about 2 percent on local governments.

“With the tax cap you were forced to reduce,” Godshall said.

State-wide education funding is up nearly $1 billion for about 700 school districts. The five districts in Orleans County collectively will receive $3.2 million more in operating aid, or a 5.0 percent increase to $66.8 million.

“We will be able to preserve all of our programs,” said Shawn Liddle, Albion Central School assistant superintendent for business. “We’re always grateful for the aid we receive from New York State.”

State and federal governments pay for about 80 percent of the district’s $33 million annual budget. The state budget gives Albion about $800,000 more in operating aid for 2013-14.

Although programs will be maintained, Liddle said the Finance Committee is eyeing some staff cuts to mirror a drop in student enrollment. The committee will make its budget recommendation to the Board of Education during Monday’s 7 p.m. meeting.

The district went the past six years without raising taxes. Albion cut staff and tapped reserve funds to stave off a tax increase during that time. But Liddle said the committee is looking at a 1.5 percent tax increase for 2013-14, which will be under the 2 percent cap.

Lyndonville also expects to preserve all of its programming and stay under the tax cap, said Board of Education President Ed Urbanik.

Rather than dig deeper into its reserve funds, the district can preserve those funds due to the increase in state aid. That gives Lyndonville a cushion with the uncertainties with health care costs, Urbanik said.

Rural schools have been lobbying the state to boost funding the past several years. Rural districts say they were disproportionately hit hard with the state funding cuts under Paterson.

Educate NY Now, an advocacy group of school stakeholders throughout NY, praised the new state budget, particularly the sizable increases for some districts. But Billy Easton, executive director for the Alliance for Quality Education, said the state needs to do more to help school districts, especially those in rural areas.

“There remain urgent educational needs that must be addressed, such as closing the now widening gulf in educational opportunities between wealthy and poor schools,” he said in a statement. “Legislators are getting the message loud and clear that our schools are in crisis. This budget will slow the rate of classroom cuts, not stop it.”

Travel agency, sheet metal fabrication, storage units, farm labor camps all OK’d

ALBION – Several business projects have the backing of the Orleans County Planning Board for wide-ranging initiatives throughout the county.

The following projects were approved Thursday at the Planning Board meeting:

Matthew Pask wants to operate a travel agency out of his home at 12236 Maple Ridge Rd., in Shelby. Pask said he will use about 400 square feet of his house for the business, Next Adventure Travel Agency. He plans to have office hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Charles Breuilly of Albion is working to build four rental storage buildings at the southwest corner of Allen Road and Route 98 in Albion. Planners recommended the village of Albion Zoning Board of Appeals approve variances for setbacks to allow the project.

Rick Stacey, owner of RS Automation on Route 98 in Albion, is working to expand the business at 4015 Oak Orchard Rd. He intends to build a 56-by-64-foot accessory/storage structure for raw materials that RS Automation will use for its custom metal projects.

The company also is planning a 50-by-75-foot addition to its existing building to increase its production capabilities.

Aaron Albone of 1273 Marshall Rd., Lyndonville, plans to sell steel from his home, which is in a rural/agricultural district.

Leonard Auker is planning a sheet metal fabrication business in Carlton at 12667 Roosevelt Highway. Shoreline Sheetmetal will operate on Tuesdays through Saturdays in a detached 24-by-32-foot barn.

Kast Farms wants to add four manufactured housing units, with a capacity of eight people in each building, at 2824 Densmore Rd. The housing in the town of Gaines will be used for farm workers.

Oded Kalir of Brockport also is working to add farmworker housing in Gaines at 13105  Eagle Harbor-Knowlesville Rd. Kalir wants to convert an existing single-family house into farmworker housing. The house currently isn’t in an agricultural district but Kalir has applied to have it added to County Agricultural District No. 3.

CARLTON – County officials say their costs for maintaining a state-owned boat launch and park are not as high as reported on The Orleans Hub on Friday.

The Hub put the costs at between $10,000 and $20,000 for bathroom cleaning, mowing and other upkeep at the Oak Orchard Marine State Park, a boat launch and bathrooms along Archibald Road on the west side of the Oak Orchard River.

I came up with that number because county officials said they pay $19,000 to have bathrooms and docks cleaned at the Orleans County Marine Park, a county-owned site on the east side of the river. The cleaning costs for the state site are part of that contract.

I figured it was a 50-50 split, but a county official said there is significantly more work at the county site, which includes 72 boat slips. He estimated the state boat launch and bathrooms cost the county about $3,000 a year.

I figured mowing and other expenses added to county costs as well, but I was told those expenses aren’t nearly as high as reported.

I stand by the crux of the article, that the state should assume financial responsibility for its own boat launch, especially because it’s a revenue generator for the state and the local economy because of the sales tax spent by the fishermen on gas and other supplies while they’re in the area.

State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation – The Oak Orchard Marine State Park, a boat launch with bathrooms on the west side of the Oak Orchard River, has been run by the county since the state threatened to close it in 2010, citing a budget crunch in the parks department.

CARLTON Three years ago, then-Gov. David Paterson took the budget ax to 41 parks and 14 historic sites under state ownership, shutting them down.

The Oak Orchard Marine State Park, a boat launch and bathrooms on the west side of the Oak Orchard River was targeted to be closed by the state.

Orleans County officials wouldn’t let that happen. They worked out a deal to keep the site on Archibald Road open, paying to mow the lawn, clean the bathrooms and look after the property.

County officials estimated there are about 7,000 boat launches from the site each year. The county has continued as the site’s caretaker since then, spending about $10,000 to $20,000 a year to keep the boat launch open and the bathrooms clean.

The willingness to assume keep the state site open shows the county’s commitment to the fishing industry, its top tourism attraction, which generates about $12 million in spending a year. A chunk of that goes to the state in sales tax revenue and fishing license fees.

The state’s budget crisis has passed and I think it’s time for the state to resume operations of this site.

I’ve been told a deal is in the works. It may include an automated machine that would allow the state to collect money every time a boat is launched. The county has been letting people use it for free, not wanting to pay someone to man a booth to collect a boat launch fee.

I give the county lots of credit for stepping up in this situation. Now, the state should take care of its own property, or at least cover the county’s costs.

Photo by Tom Rivers – The most recent community-wide reassessment in the village of Albion cut almost $3 million in the village’s overall tax base, a 2 percent drop that was the biggest decline in the county.

It’s time to launch a “Save The Villages” campaign, and in this case I mean the real villages of Orleans County – Albion, Holley, Lyndonville and Medina.

The village neighborhoods in Orleans County are in trouble. The numbers paint a grim picture.

Every three years the towns in Orleans County reassess all properties. This generally results in a 5 to 8 percent growth in the tax base over three years, as prices are adjusted to reflect the market values, said Dawn Allen, the county’s real property tax service director.

I’ve been a reporter out here for 17 years now. The data came out last month and this is the first time I can recall a reassessment leading to a decline in the values for several of our communities. The villages, in particular, are suffering. Overall, the county grew about 1 percent.

All four had their housing values drop, with Albion showing a 1.9 percent drop or a decline of $2.65 million in overall property value. That shrinks the tax base for the property owners to pay for government services, likely pushing up the tax rate. The Village Board in April approved a budget that raised the tax rate 3.0 percent or 49 cents per $1,000 of assessed property. It increased from $16.37 to $16.86.

Lyndonville’s tax base is also down by 1.2 percent, a decline from $28.90 million to $28.55 million.

The other villages in Orleans – Holley and Medina – have witnessed shrinking values in recent years. Medina for example dropped $658,131 in an off reassessment year in 2012. Holley fell $653,185 for its most recent fiscal year.

The new reassessments, which go in effect for the villages’ budget for next year, actually show overall gains for Holley and Medina due to big properties coming on the tax rolls.

Medina Memorial Hospital sold Orchard Manor for $4.1 million, putting a tax exempt property back on the tax rolls. That helped Medina stave off a decline in latest reassment. It made up for a $2.15 million drop in the other values in Medina.

Holley also would have showed a negative number but the Holley Cold Storage was put back on the tax rolls at a $1,760,730 assessment. The company had been off the tax rolls and paying local governments in a payment in lieu of taxes plan.

Allen watches the real estate market in the villages with worry. She sees homes that used to sell for $60,000 to $80,000 sometimes go for $20,000.

She said denser populated areas, whether cities or villages, are struggling in other communities in upstate New York.

“All of the villages are in bad shape,” she said. “It’s not just Orleans County.”

She thinks the high taxes in the villages are a culprit in the assessment plunge. Medina Mayor Andrew Meier agrees. He has believes the tax structure unfairly punishes villages property owners, who are double and triple taxed for many services.

He advocates for consolidating the village of Medina into the towns of Ridgeway and Shelby, so there isn’t such a disparity in the tax rates between the village and residents who live in the country.

Village residents pay about $12 more per $1,000 in their combined tax rates, compared to residents outside the village in Shelby and Ridgeway. For an $85,000 house, that’s $1,000 more in taxes annually if you live in the village. It’s a similar phenomenon for village residents in Albion and Holley who pay far more in taxes than their country counterparts.

Meier has sought exemptions from the towns in highway plowing for village residents, who already pay for village taxes for plowing. The outside-village residents don’t pay towards Medina’s plowing, police, and other costs. Yet, the village residents pay in the village and then in the town.

Meier thinks the villages with police department should get a discount in their county taxes because they are sparing the county that expense.

He also said the county should change the way it shares sales tax and mortgage tax with the villages, in particular, so they have more money to offset property taxes. Otherwise, he fears the values will continue to fall in the villages, forcing the tax rate to go higher, which will only hasten the decline of those communities.

I’m solidly in Meier’s corner on this one, and I wish more village officials would sound the alarm. I’d like to see the town and county governments not be so stingy while the villages are drowning.

I live in the village of Albion. I think the DPW, police and other village government workers have done a fine job keeping this community together. But I don’t think it’s right the village bears nearly the full cost of Mount Albion Cemetery, the parks program and so many other services that are used by outside-village residents.

The county often complains about the state freezing reimbursements, but the county hasn’t increased the local sales tax share to the villages or towns in more than a decade. The county keeps more than 90 percent of the sales. Genesee County does a 50-50 split with its municipalities.

Orleans County has benefitted from a surge in sales tax in the past decade – mainly due to rising gas prices – and that has helped the county stay under the tax cap. But the villages don’t have the luxury of added sales tax. It can only raise taxes or cut services.

I’ll have more on this formula in another article, and I’ll try to make the case why it needs to be changed, why it’s imperative the county share a little more with the local municipalities.

The new reassessments show trouble signs in other communities as well. The lakefront communities, which people may perceive as being home to the most prosperous residents, are seeing declines in values. Kendall and Yates both dropped. Carlton froze its values after an uproar from the community over many properties with big increases. The town’s overall value did go up to reflect some building projects.

“The economy is affecting the lakefront towns,” Allen said. “There isn’t the demand for the second homes anymore.”

Collaboration with Genesee County Health Dept paying off

ALBION – Orleans County expects to save $130,000 annually in the cost of transporting pre-school children with disabilities to early intervention and supportive health programs.

The county approved a five-year deal on Wednesday with the Genesee ARC for busing children, ages 3 to 5, to program sites in and out of county. The county was able to group its busing needs with Genesee County’s, and that joint application drove down the costs for both counties, said Paul Pettit, director of public health for both counties.

Orleans has been working with Ridge Road Express for its transportation, while Genesee has hired Attica Bus Services. The counties are obligated to work out the transportation for children with disabilities, ages 3 to 5, according to a state law.

Counties list the service as one of the “9 for 90” state-mandated programs that stress county budgets. The nine programs consume more than 90 percent of most counties tax levies, according to the New York State Association of Counties.

Orleans and Genesee’s transportation contracts expire this summer. Genesee ARC will start Sept. 1.

The contract calls for Orleans to pay $38.83 per child for each round trip within the county, and $214.63 for daily trips outside the county with another $61.25 for a bus aide for a round trip. Those costs are “significantly less” than what Orleans has been paying, Pettit said.

Genesee and Orleans have been sharing a public health director since October in a shared service initiative, the only one of its kind in the state. Legislature Chairman David Callard praised the initiative for yielding savings to taxpayers.

The two-county effort has yielded another benefit: a free staffer for the next two years. The two counties submitted an application to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention for a public health associate fellow. The application was approved and a public health specialist will be placed in the two counties the next two years.

Orleans had applied for the associate the previous two years, but was denied. Pettit believes the collaboration with Genesee gave the counties a stronger application this round.

“We’re able to essentially get some free help over the next two years,” he told Orleans legislators.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Elizabeth Meyer, 17, of Medina served milk punch to Orleans County legislators and other attendees of today’s County Legislature meeting, including Legislature Chairman David Callard, right.

Elizabeth is the 2013-14 Niagara-Orleans dairy princess. She was assisted by her father, Larry, in serving the milk concoctions. Mr. Meyer is well acquainted with local farmers. He is the county director for the Farm Service Agency.

His daughter, who will be a senior at Medina High School this fall, has worked the past three years at Gasport View Dairy, feeding calves. She said she enjoys watching the animals get bigger.

She delivered a speech to county legislators about agriculture, praising farmers for their mechanical knowledge, their effort financial management and environmental stewardship.

Legislator Ken Rush, R-Carlton, then a read a proclamation from the Legislature, declaring June “Dairy Month.”

ALBION – Orleans County has stepped up its welfare fraud investigations in recent years and is poised to double those efforts.

“We can’t ignore it,” Legislature Chairman David Callard said about welfare fraud. “We have to deal with it. People need to know in Orleans County that we’re serious about it.”

The county has been increasing the recovered dollars in welfare fraud and “avoidance,” welfare that is sought but isn’t approved because the applicants aren’t eligible for the benefits, said Tom Kuryla, the Department of Social Services commissioner.

In 2009, the county recovered $37,000 in welfare fraud, and prevented $352,000 in benefits from going to people who weren’t eligible for welfare, he said.

The numbers have steadily increased since then. In 2010, there was $40,000 recovered and $1,245,000 prevented. In 2011, $76,000 was recovered with DSS avoiding $1,358,000 in ineligible benefits, Kuryla told legislators today.

Last year, the lone welfare fraud investigator recovered $85,000 and DSS prevented another $1,598,000 in ineligible benefits.

Kuryla said the DSS’s lone fraud investigator has 50 caseloads and responds to another 40 to 50 inquiries a month. That is a heavy caseload, Kuryla told legislators.

The Legislature approved his request to not fill the position of a recently retired child support specialist, and instead hire a second fraud investigator. District Attorney Joe Cardone also endorsed a second fraud investigator.

“It would more than pay for itself,” he said about the position.

He noted the recent case of a woman who accessed $40,000 in childcare benefits when she didn’t send her child to daycare, instead keeping the money for herself. The alleged crime was detected and she was charged with fraud.

Kuryla said DSS will be better able to investigate people on welfare long-term, who may be claiming a disability is preventing them from working. DSS also wants to check people using emergency housing assistance in hotels. Those people may not be aggressively pursuing other less costly housing.

Kuryla doesn’t begrudge needy people from accepting welfare on a temporary basis, but he said fraud “is breaking the backs of taxpayers.”