State may not give much in AIM funding, but lavishes school aid, grants on Orleans County

Editor:

The recent editorial entitled “Where is outrage over state shafting villages, towns with AIM funding?” by Tom Rivers, certainly fits the “big bad Albany Democrats giving Orleans County the shaft” but at best it can be called a partial truth, because, while there is undoubtedly a shortfall in AIM funds received by Orleans County, the State more than makes up for the shortfall in school aid and grants to Orleans County.

The property tax levy is made up of school tax, local tax and county tax. Everything the state provides to any of those line items reduces the tax burden, not just AIM funds. So, while Mr. Rivers paints a bleak picture to elicit a Rosa Parks-style protest, school aid and AIM funds both come from the same source and have a direct impact on property taxes, one only needs to look at the math to paint a clearer picture.

Here are a few stark examples, if we look at Chautauqua County, Mr. Rivers points out that AIM funding in Salamanca amounts to $156.54 per capita. Now that number is an outlier, but we can use it to demonstrate Orleans County is not being short-changed by the State of New York.

The total school aid for Orleans County is roughly $114 million, and the population is 40,000, which amounts to a per capita of $2,858. In Chautauqua they receive $345 million with a population of 127,000 which is a per capita $2,716 per capita. That number applies to residents of Salamanca, and residents of Medina.

The difference amounts to $142 per capita, in favor of Orleans County, and if we use Mr. Rivers example of the Village of Medina, they receive $6.88 per capita in AIM funds, which is inaccurate anyway because he didn’t include AIM funds given to the towns that are part of the Village so it should be doubled to $13.76 per capita.

$142 + $13.76= $155.76 which means Medina receives more per capita in school and AIM funds than Salamanca, which is the city in Mr. Rivers example with the highest per capita recipient of AIM funds.

If you shifted the school aid to AIM, the school would be forced to raise property taxes, so there is no real disparity, and Medina’s firehouse conundrum would not be solved by more money from the state, the state is clearly providing equitable property tax relief.

If anyone should feel shafted it is Genesee County. Mr. Rivers also pointed out that the City of Batavia receives $112 per capita in AIM funds. Total school aid to Genesee County is $134 million with a population of 59,000. That is $2,271 per capita, and $587 less per capita than Orleans County.

Let’s not forget that Salamanca has a casino, and Batavia has a racino, both of which generate a significant amount of income for the State.

So, is Orleans County really getting “shafted” by New York State? Nope, not even close, and those numbers don’t take account of huge grants in recent years, including a $4.5 million one to The Village of Medina.

As for the Villages, one of the major sources of revenue to the county, that stays in the county, is sales tax. Orleans County has seen astronomical gains in recent years, and could provide some form of relief to Medina, perhaps in the form of a no-interest loan.

While it doesn’t fit the hyper-partisan nature of politics in the region, the outrage should be with the county government, which has hoarded its sales tax largesse for decades.

Thom Jennings

Oakfield, formerly an Albion resident