![]() The Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council would stay at $4,000. ![]() The Extension has been at $240,000 since at least 2020. The Cooperative Extension would at $240,000, even though the organization requested $275,000. The Sportsmen’s Federation would see its funding cut from $1,000 to $0. The Soil & Water Conservation District would go from $95,000 in 2023 to $97,500. The budget allocates $200,000 for the Economic Development Agency, up from $190,000 in 2023. 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 four public libraries will stay at $10,000, according to the 2024 tentative budget. The county budget provides funding for other organizations in the county, with some slated to get an increase and others not. The county also is in line for $4.3 million in state and federal funding for bridge work and other highway improvements. Welch said sales tax revenue has been strong and that takes some pressure off property taxes. The county also is facing a 7.8 percent increase in health insurance costs, bringing the total expense to about $8 million. Technology upgrades also are a significant part in the Capital Plan with departments updating end-of-life platforms, Welch said. Highway projects – bridges, roads, culverts and equipment – account for $6.7 million of the capital expense. The 2024 Capital Plan totals $7.8 million with a county cost of $3.5 million without using debt. That is a 12.9% increase for Orleans County, Welch noted. Nine state mandated programs account for $19,056,290 or 98.9 percent of the proposed 2024 tax levy. “The 2024 budgeted county cost for these services is 17.5% over 2023 budgeted county cost.” “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. 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 Welch said a homeless crisis for temporary and permanent emergency housing placements has increased the workload for the Department of Social Services. “We are moving forward to complete the wireless broadband project in 2024 utilizing our own funds.” “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. The county also will lose out on $1.1 million in annual Medicaid to State (formally MMIS) payments, he said. ![]() That state eliminated that money from counties, Welch said. That includes a loss of over $3 million in federal funds through the eFMAP Medicaid reconciliation for the Affordable Care Act enhanced payments. He said actions by the state government has stressed the county budget. 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.” The budget was filed on Wednesday by Jack Welch, the county chief administrative officer. 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. “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.”Īlthough 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. “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. 30 at the Orleans County Legislative Chambers, 14016 Route 31 W, Albion. The county will have a public hearing on the budget at 4:30 p.m.
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