genesee county

Genesee County will likely close the financial books on 2011 with an unexpected revenue surplus and County Treasurer Scott German is recommending the legislature roll the money over into its reserves.

The extra money will likely come from a windfall of $997,000 in sales tax revenue that came in above budgeted expectations.

At Wednesday's Ways and Means Committee meeting, Legislator Ray Cianfrini asked if the 2012 budget could be amended so some of this unexpected revenue could be directed at programs cut in 2012, such as Meals on Wheels, which is being forced to reduce delivery days.

In an interview Thursday, German said the legislature could do that, but his recommendation is that the money be held in reserve.

Reserves, he said, should be used for emergency expenditures, such as a bridge falling down, and not to fund programs legislators already decided already to cut.

"Under the tax cap, the legislators still had room to raise taxes if they wanted to fund those programs," German said. "The fact the sales tax came in better than anticipated, that's not a good justification to fund a program."

The treasurer said he anticipates the county will close its books on 2011 -- which happens in March -- with $13.2 million in revenue, up from the anticipated $12.2 million.

Total sales tax for the county -- which is shared among the county and various municipal agencies -- was $35.2 million, beating the 2008 record of $34.3 million.

Higher gas prices and the three-week close-out sale at Lowe's were probably the main contributing factors to the strong sales tax numbers, German said.

Is the local economy improving?

"I would hope that would be the case, but that would be speculation," German said. "I would hope business is getting better."

The Sheriff's Office plan to convert a jailed drug dealer's car into cash hit a road block Wednesday in the Ways and Means Committee.

A resolution authorizing the Sheriff to auction off the 2005 Chevy truck passed the Public Service Committee on Tuesday, but Wednesday, Legislator Ray Cianfrini had new information on the state law governing the disposal of seized assets.

Cianfrini said he wasn't concerned about the Sheriff's Office getting the money, just that proper procedures be in place and that the law is followed.

"I think there needs to be something more speicific and there needs to be more clarification," Cianfrini said. "I don’t have any trouble with the vehicle going to the Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement purposes, but what about the dispersal (of the proceeds)?"

County Attorney Charles Zambito provided Cianfrini with a copy of the state law, which outlines procedures and proper dispersal of any revenue generated by the sale of seized assets. The law is complex with multiple variables, and while the Sheriff's Office could wind up with some or all of the revenue generated by the sale of the truck, so could the District Attorney's Office, or the state, or the county.

The vehicle was signed over by Matthew Zon, who entered a guilty plea to criminal possession of a controlled substance, 2nd, and was sentenced to prison for possessing and distributing methamphetamine.

Undersheriff William Sheron said that since the vehicle wasn't seized, but signed over to the Sheriff's Office by the defendant as part of a plea deal, the procedures outlined in the law didn't necessarily apply.

"You’re looking at a state forfeiture process that if (a defendant) were reluctant in turning over a vehicle to us, then we would go through this process to seize the vehicle," Sheron said. "It’s now a common practice, as part of a plea bargain, where (the defendant) signs over title of the vehicle to relieve us from going through this process."

Zambito pointed out that even in the plea agreement, the vehicle is signed over "pursuant" to state law, which means, he believes, the process for disposal of the asset is governed by the law.

"We still have to follow the rules about what you do with the property once you get it," Zambito said.

The resolution on disposition of the vehicle was tabled until the matter can be further researched and clarified.

There's a hazardous weather outlook for portions of Western New York. The National Weather Service office in Buffalo has issued a high wind warning beginning at 5 p.m. today. Gusts of up to 60 mph are expected through 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Also, areas of blowing snow are predicted between midnight and 2 a.m.

Press release:

In an ongoing effort to define the State mandates that should be on the short list for mandate relief efforts at the State level, today the New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC) released a new report: “State Programs Funded by County Property Taxpayers” (attached).

“County elected officials remain committed to providing essential local services in their communities. However, to do this and stabilize our property taxes, we need mandate relief from the state. This report details for the first time the vast majority of mandates required by the State. This is a call to action and we need assistance from our Governor,” said NYSAC President Mary Pat Hancock, chairwoman of the Genesee County Legislature.

County governments are regional governments and, because of this unique relationship with the public, have been called upon by the state to provide state services locally. However, over time, reimbursement for these state programs and services was eliminated or drastically reduced leaving local taxpayers to make up the difference. In fact, in 2012 more than $11 billion in local taxes will be sent to the State treasury to subsidize State spending decisions in these areas.

"Last year, State lawmakers promised to enact meaningful mandate relief when they enacted a property tax cap. This report is designed to define what those mandates are, and to ensure that there is no doubt of the areas of concern. These are the mandates that the state should focus on to provide meaningful mandate relief,” said Chautauqua County Executive Greg Edwards, president of the New York State County Executives Association.

Last year, county leaders identified just nine State mandates that consume 90 percent of the entire county property tax levy collected statewide. This most recent report takes those nine mandates as a stepping off point, and identifies other major cost drivers that must be funded by local taxes each year.

In terms of Medicaid alone, counties and the City of New York will send $7.3 billion to the State in weekly installments to fund the State’s public health insurance program.

Counties are advocating for five specific mandate relief proposals, including

1. A gradual State takeover of county Medicaid costs;

2. Pension reforms;

3. Reforms to the Pre-School Special Education Program transportation costs;

4. Requiring health insurance companies to fund medically necessary Early Intervention services;

5. Timely reimbursement from the state for state services delivered locally.

“We believe 2012 is the year for State leaders to enact meaningful mandate relief that will provide counties the ability to stabilize property taxes, continue critical local services and promote the economic vitality of our communities. We cannot afford for this effort to fail and on behalf of the public, our county leaders stand ready to work with our partners in State government to make that happen,” said NYSAC Executive Director Stephen J. Acquario

Download report by clicking here (PDF)

With the ringing in of the New Year, local police agencies found themselves dealing with a bit of an uptick in domestic incident calls.

Deputy Chief Gordon Dibble said on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, for example, the Sheriff's Office responded to nine domestic incident calls and, unconfirmed, the State Police responded to six.

"I don't think it should be a surprise to anybody," Dibble said. "I haven't compared this weekend to other segments of the year, but I think there were more calls. It's a highly emotional time of the year. Things are brought to the forefront that haven't been dealt with in the year, there are financial pressures, family pressures and visitation pressures."

Dibble said law enforcement has changed a lot since the early part of his career when he was a deputy on patrol.

There is a broader range of disputes that are classified as domestics. It isn't just the husband and wife fight any longer. Disputes involving people living together, people divorced, people not married but having children together and other family relationships are classified as domestics.

And laws have changed directing how police must deal with some domestic situations.

"There are many circumstances were we must make an arrest by New York State law even when the victim doesn’t want an arrest," said Dibble, explaining the law is in place to protect victims who might be intimidated from pressing charges.

Complicating matters further are orders of protection, which include variations ranging from complete stay-away orders, limited contact and contact permitted, to no offensive conduct permitted. And orders can be temporary, long-term, canceled, reinstated and canceled again, so officers must pay attention to the details.

"Orders of protection are complicated and time consuming issues for us, but they're important issues because when things go wrong, they can go very wrong," Dibble said. "We have to be very careful with those."

A number of years ago, the Sheriff's Office along with Batavia PD and Le Roy PD, got together and drafted guidelines for handling orders of protection so that officers deal with them in a consistent way across jurisdictions.

Local law enforcement agencies, Dibble confirmed, take orders of protection very seriously.

"Is it as consistent across the state or across the country? I doubt it," Dibble said. "Within this county, it should be pretty uniform."

A caller to the emergency dispatch center reported seeing a Payloader being driven by a person who looked 12 years old with a passenger who looked 8 years old. They were last seen heading eastbound on Route 20. An officer is going looking for them. Not sure what community they were passing through when the call came in.

I've had a couple of conversations recently that reminded me how fortunate we are to live in Genesee County.

The first was with a gentlemen who came into Delavan's on Friday night. He's from Ohio but visits Batavia regularly for business. He's decided to buy a small home here rather than always packing for a hotel stay.

"I love Batavia," he said. "It's a great little city. The people are friendly, the crime rate is low, there's a lot beautiful old homes around and it's a nice area."

The other conversation was with Jeff Stephen, the dairy industry expert. Stephen had no idea I was from California when we started to talk, but he began to compare Batavia to the so-called Golden State. Batavia, he said, was a great place for a company to set up business compared to California. We have good schools, the cost of living is so much lower, it's less crowded and people in Western New York, unlike California, he said, really appreciate their jobs.

San Diego, my hometown, can call itself America's Finest City, but I think where I live right now has it beat hands down.

There's a lot of advantages to living in Genesee County that are easy to forget as we go about our day-to-day business. Every community has its problems, and it's easy as we struggle to solve them to let them become bigger in our minds than they actually are, or to forget about all of the good things around us.

All of us in Genesee County have a lot to be thankful for, from the place we live, to the neighbors who are always ready to help, to the friends we stand by and who stand by us, to the families we cherish.

On behalf of myself, Billie, Lisa Ace and our correspondents, we want to thank both our readers and our advertisers for making it possible for us to live and work in America's Finest Little City. We wish you and yours the very best. Happy Thanksgiving!

The Sheriff's Office is looking for the owner of a pair of compound bows and some accessories that go with the bows.

A Good Samaritan turned in the bows after finding the items on a roadway in Genesee County.

The bows were in carrying cases.

The items apparently fell from a moving vehicle.

Also found were three water containers and a gas can.

If anyone lost this type of property, contact Deputy Frank Bordonaro, 345-3000, ext. 3229.

UPDATE 8:34 a.m., Wednesday: The owner of the bows has recovered the lost items from the Sheriff's Office.

There's a little interest brewing in the Genesee County Legislature about getting reimbursement for services provided by the county that are used by the City of Batavia and other jurisdictions.

One example, law enforcement use of the Monroe County crime lab.

The county pays $68,213 a year to Monroe County to process evidence from crime scenes. Police departments in Batavia, Le Roy and Corfu can all send evidence to the crime lab on the county's bill.

"Even if it's just $2,500, that's $2,500 we don't have today," said Legislator Robert Bausch during the Public Service Committee meeting Monday. "It's all these little charges that we don't get back that add up."

Bausch wants to see a list of "all these little charges" at a future Ways and Means meeting.  

Legislator Jay Grasso, serving his last meeting as chairman of the committee, agreed with Bausch.

"As the economy changes, maybe we can't do all the little things we used to do," Grasso said.

Legislator Ray Cianfrini first broached the issue of seeking reimbursement from the city for crime lab use.

Sheriff Gary Maha agreed to get more information on how costs might change if the use of the crime lab by other jurisdictions was taken out.

In other items from Monday's agenda:

• The committee approved purchase of a Caterpillar 140M-2 All-Wheel Drive Grader from Milton Caterpiller, 4610 E. Saile Drive, Batavia. Grasso noted the purchase was of an American-made product from a local dealership. The purchase will be paid for in five yearly installments of $40,048.33 from the Road Machinery Fund. The total purchase price is $200,241.65.
• The committee approved a resolution declaring an old railroad car surplus material. The tanker car is currently installed on rails at the Fire Training Center on Bank Street Road. Emergency Management Coordinator Tim Yaeger said the car is sitting in an area needed for a new law enforcement firing range and it makes no economic sense to move it. The car is 40,000 pounds of solid steal. It will be sold for scrap. The proceeds will be used to help pay for the firing range. The car, as best anybody knows, was donated by a railroad company more than 30 years ago for emergency training. Yaeger said the county has other resources now for similar training.

More than a dozen veterans made sure their voices were heard Thursday at the public hearing on the proposed 2012 Genesee County budget.

Repeatedly, veterans stepped to the podium and pleaded with the legislature to ensure the next veterans services officer is properly trained.

"Besides the force reduction through attrition, thousands and thousands of servicemen are about to become veterans," said Ernie Luskey, noting the plans to withdraw troops from Iraq and Afganistan in the next couple of years.

Those veterans will have their benefits jeopardized if there isn't a properly trained, credentialed and accredited veterans service officer working for the county, each speaker said.

"There are just too many laws, rules and regulations for a veterans services officer to pick up on the fly," Luskey said. "He has to be trained."

After the meeting, County Manager Jay Gsell said the new veterans services officer will be trained.

Hal Kreter retires from the job in August (he and his wife plan to move to Twentynine Palms in California). Gsell said his replacement will be hired in July or earlier and there are training classes available in August and September.

There is money in the social services budget to accomodate the training, Gsell said.

Gsell said there are other changes coming in the proposed budget, most significantly, the tax rate is going to be reduced.

Adjustments have already been made to reduce the rate from the originally proposed rate of $9.95 per $1,000 of assessed value to $9.92.

Gsell said the direction he is getting from the legislature is to reduce it further -- to $9.85 per thousand. The current rate is $9.82.

The county is struggling with cuts to local programs while seeing state-mandated costs -- particularly pension contributions and Medicaid expenses -- skyrocket.

Taken together, the increases in those two programs push the expenditure beyond what the county could generate in property tax revenue, if the legislature raised taxes as much as it could under the recently enacted 2-percent property tax levy cap.

Medicaid alone costs the county more than 42 percent of county's tax levy, or $10 million.

Gsell said New York is one of only three states in the union that makes local taxpayers shoulder any part of Medicaid expenses, all while also providing recipients with a "Maserati" level of numerous services, and with less oversight.

"Medicaid is the entitlement with no ceiling and minimal controls as far as case management and disease management and health-living metrics are concerned," Gsell said. 

If the state took over Medicaid costs, property taxes in the county could be reduced by about $3 per thousand.

"Contrary to what Gov. Cuomo has alleged himself or through his stalking horse, Lt. Gov. Duffy, we counties are not whining or asking to be 'subsidized,'" Gsell said.

"The state put counties in this unprecedented and unenviable position 30 or 40 years ago, with no local control or discretion to fund a benefit that the state and federal governments totally orchestrate. The state alone has the power to gradually and strategically extricate the counties from this fiscal morass."

Total proposed appropriations for 2012 are $142,098,429. That's up 1.10 percent from 2011.

Anticipated revenue for the fiscal year is $112,015,617. The deficit will need to be made up either through more cuts in spending or an increase in the property tax rate.

Gsell said cuts will be made and the rate increase will be lessened when the revised budget is brought forward on Nov. 21.

Top photo: County Manager Jay Gsell; inset, veteran Paul Gaylord; bottom, legislators Esther Leadley, Robert Radley and Hollis Upson.

The proposed county budget for 2012 will cut local, non-mandated spending by $1.1 million, but because of increases in state mandated spending, the legislature will be asked to approve higher property taxes.

The rate would go from $9.82 per $1,000 of assessed value to $9.95.

This would boost the county's tax levy by $884,000, a figure believed to be below the recently approved tax cap.

The total spending plan of $142,098,429 would eliminate 21.5 county jobs, including many through layoffs.

The budget also includes a new fee on local auto registration to help pay for road and bridge repair.

Even though county departments are cutting spending by as much as 5 percent, state mandated costs are out pacing local cuts.

County costs are being driven up by state mandated expenses, particularly in social services and physically handicapped preschool children's/early intervention budget categories.

The Medicaid weekly share payments are expected to go up by $280,000 and the county's contribution to the New York retirement system will go up $703,000.

In his budget message, County Manager Jay Gsell hits Albany and Gov. Andrew Cuomo hard on the issue of mandate relief, saying that the state Legislature has reneged multiple times on promises of mandate relief and assuming the cost of the state's $53 billion Medicaid program (the county's share is $9.8 million).

A state takeover of the Medicaid burden, Gsell said, would allow the county to lower its tax rate by $3.75 per $1,000 of assessed value.

Gsell said Cuomo has called the state takeover of expenses of this state-mandated program a "subsidy" to local governments.

"His convenient re-creation of the facts of how and why New York State counties are involved in Medicaid benefit funding is one of the most egregious, disingenuous political maneuvers I have witnessed in 18+ years as the Genesee County budget officer," Gsell wrote in his budget message (pdf). 

To help balance the budget, the county will tap into its $9.76 million undesignated fund reserve for $2.6 million. Of that, $1.37 million will help pay for the nursing home.

This action will make it harder for the county to manage its cash flow to meet monthly payout obligations, especially at a time when the state is often slow to pay what it owes to county governments.

"In the private sector, this fiscal position could be akin to bankruptcy, and it could require temporary borrowing by the county just to meet our usual and customary obligations within our 12-month fiscal year," Gsell wrote.

The budget includes a $5 to $10 vehicle biannual registration fee to help fund bridge and road repairs. The fee is expected to generate $234,000 in 2012 and up to $312,000 in subsequent years. Agricultural vehicles would be exempt from the fee.

There is no salary or merit raise increase for non-union/management positions in the budget.

A tractor-trailer rear-ended one vehicle, rolled and slammed into another today on Route 19 in Le Roy, seriously injuring one driver.

The truck was driven by 44-year-old Howard Mcintyre, of Vestal, and was hauling a gravel product from Dolomite Aggregates in Le Roy. Mcintyre was northbound, going over the I-90 overpass, when a red 2008 Mazda driven by 22-year-old Gregory Wodzicki slowed in front of him.

Mcintyre was unable to stop his truck and rammed the Mazda, forcing it off the roadway. Then as he tried to correct, his wheels caught a deep culvert on the west side of Route 19. The truck flipped and landed on its side, skidding long-side-first down the roadway.

That's when 55-year-old Patricia Ireland, southbound in a 2006 Chevrolet Impala was struck. Ireland's car took the brunt impact of the flying stone product and the swinging trailer. Her vehicle's front end was destroyed and the car pushed back about 150 feet.

Ireland became entrapped in her mangled vehicle and had to be extricated. Le Roy Fire Chief Mike Sheflin estimates the extrication took roughly 12 minutes from responders' time of arrival. Ireland was Mercy Flighted to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester with serious injuries. 

Meanwhile, the truck partially left the roadway and burst into flames. Mcintyre was able to escape the flaming wreckage, but suffered internal injuries. He was taken to Strong via ground ambulance.

The driver of the Mazda, Wodzicki, and his passenger, 23-year-old Jason Hightower, both of Rush, suffered minor injuries and were transported via ambulance to Strong.

No charges have been filed. The investigation continues this afternoon. Route 19 was closed for about four hours, but has been re-opened.

CLICK HERE for video coverage from WBTA News.

A car was reportedly heading eastbound on the westbound lanes of Route 490 and is now into Monroe County. Monroe County tells Genesee dispatch it has received numerous calls about the wrong-way driver.

Press release:

County delegates from across the state recently elected the Chair of the Genesee County Legislature Mary Pat Hancock to serve as president of the New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC) during their annual meeting.

“Chairwoman Hancock has proven to be a wise voice on the NYSAC board and a committed advocate for counties. We are pleased our members have elected her to serve in this leadership capacity,” said NYSAC Immediate Past President William Ryan, a Westchester County legislator.

“I am honored to serve as president and to continue the work which is necessary to address the serious challenges we face,” said the Honorable Hancock. “Implementing an effective property tax cap, redesigning Medicaid and improving the process for State reimbursement to counties for delivering state services locally will be our top priorities.”

Hancock has served on the Governor’s Task Force on Local Government Reform, and is a 2002 recipient of the New York State Senate Women of Distinction Award. She currently serves on the Genesee Finger Lakes Regional Planning Council and is chair of the Genesee Transportation Council.

“New York county leaders are facing unprecedented challenges in governing and we are fortunate to have Mary Pat Hancock of Genesee County to dedicate her talent, passion and commitment in a leadership position,” said NYSAC Executive Director Stephen Acquario.

The New York State Association of Counties is a bipartisan municipal association serving all 62 counties of New York State, including the City of New York. Organized in 1925, NYSAC’s mission is to represent, educate and advocate for member counties and the thousands of elected and appointed county officials who serve the public.

When it comes to roads, there isn't much good news for the county, according to Tim Hens, highway superintendent.

There simply isn't money available for basic maintenance and with the cuts expected to the county budget, the county may not have the manpower this winter to operate snow plows.

The past several years, the towns have assisted the county as part of a shared services agreement, but the patience of town supervisors is wearing a little thin, Hens told the Public Services Committee on Monday.

"At the last meeting I got some blow back that enough is enough," Hens said.

County Manager Jay Gsell is asking all the departments in the county to cut spending by 5 percent.

For the highway department a five percent cut -- after years of trimming -- means layoffs, Hens said. That's all there is left to cut.

"Technically speaking, our staffing will be three people short of what we need to respond to a snow or ice event," Hens said.

Even if the county raises the property tax levy 2 percent, as allowed under a new state law, the increase won't even cover the anticipated rise in the county's retirement and medical expenses for 2012.

Without money to resurface roads as needed, the county has been sealing and patching cracks, Hens said, but many of the roads are well beyond these patchwork repairs.

"It's gotten to the point where even the public knows it's not the right treatment for the road," Hens said. "We get phone calls about it, but it's not like we don't know what we're doing. We have no option. There's no money and we're trying to stretch it as far as we can."

Among the cuts in the upcoming budget will be reduction painting pavement markings on county roads.

“That’s a service that people out on rural roads really depend on on a stormy night," Hens said. "That’s getting cut out."

This summer a bridge on Arnold Road in Elba had to be closed because one of the supports had completely rusted away. Funds from other bridge repairs had to be diverted to pay for the bridge to be replaced.

Several county-owned bridges now have weight limits on them that prevent fully loaded school buses from driving on them.

"Our snowplows really shouldn't be on them," Hens said.

It wasn't all bad news for the county that Hens delivered to the legislators, though.

Revenue is up about $100,000 at the county airport because of record fuel sales, and all the new hangars are leased and there's a waiting list for hangar space.

Also, a new online reservation system for county parks will make it easier for residents to book pavilions for parties and picnics.

The automated system will end the need for people to drive to the highway department facility on Cedar Street to make reservations and save about two hours per day of staff time to deal with reservations.

It might be a bit of glasnost in the Genesee County Legislature, a weakening of the hard line legislators have taken against a tax increase for the past few years.

The oft-repeated word by the nine legislators during an impromptu budget discussion Wednesday was "tweak," as in, "tweak the current rate just a little bit."

"I think all of us have an interest in keeping the rate the same," Legislator Hollis Upson said. "One thought I have been pondering though is that with the 2-percent tax cap, I could be persuaded to let some expansion take place just a little bit. I'm not so worried about this budget, but the lack of control we have on mandates and what that means in future years. I'm a little concerned about holding the line so close that it puts us in a straitjacket or requires large cost cuts that must come from somewhere.

"I've got to the point," Upson added, "where I can tolerate a little bit of a tweak, as little as possible, and only after exhausting every other opportunity to cut costs."

Several other legislators also said a "tweak" might be exceptable, some even after taking a hardline stance in favor of cuts and against any tax increase.

"I still say there's room among our labor force to where there is still fat that can be cut," Legislator Jay Grasso said.

Grasso expressed concern that some department heads haven't been willing to step up and say what cuts they would be willing to make to help the county trim as much as 5 percent in spending.

"As much as I support public safety, that has to be looked at as well," Grasso said. "If we look at aggressive, across-the-board cuts, everybody feels the pain. If there are cuts, no department should be spared."

While offering tepid support for "tweaks," he also said he was concerned that any rate increase would send the wrong message to Albany -- that Albany can keep pushing unfunded mandates on counties knowing that if they must, counties will just raise taxes.

If a "tweak" means staying under the 2-percent tax cap, then the county could only generate only $500,000 in new revenue. Several legislators and County Manager Jay Gsell acknowledged that's just a drop in the bucket compared to the potential shortfall the county is facing.

"We need to get to $136 million (in spending) and even I think that is highly unrealistic," Gsell said.

The county has cut spending by 30 percent over the past few years. But with about 90 percent of the county's budget going to unfunded mandates, and costs rising year after year on those mandates -- primarily Medicaid and pensions, it's getting to the point where the only cuts left to make are to essential services. 

"As a former mayor of Oakfield, I'm very conscious of our aging infrastructure," Legislator Ray Cianfrini said. "We're still wrestling with our water tower issue. If we keep putting off spending on infrastructure, we're only kicking the can down the road and putting of the inevitable. 

"When I look at the damage caused by Hurricane Irene and the roads washed away and the bridges collapsed, I think 'that can happen to us.' Our bridges aren't safe and our roads barely meet standards. If we don't have the money to (take care of infrastructure), then I would not be opposed to tweaking the rate to see if we can generate some money for that."

Cianfrini also expressed concern about some funding inequalities creeping into the budget. For example, he said, the DA's office now has the same staffing levels as the public defender's office. However, the DA's office handles 100 percent of the criminal cases in Genesee County, while the public defender's office only handles cases for clients who can't afford a private attorney.

The County Clerk's office also came under scrutiny.

Last year, County Clerk Don Read argued that since his department creates revenue for the county, it should be exempt from cuts. Cuts, he argued, would diminish his department's ability to generate as much revenue.

"Why shouldn't they be asked to do more with less and then generate more money that might be applied someplace else," Legislator Bob Radley said. "Just because you pay your way shouldn't mean that you shouldn't be asked to help us along the way."

Radley is also worried about the county continuing to subsidize the nursing home at $2 million per year.

"Something needs to be done about that," Radley said.

Legislator Ed DeJaneiro said that while he supports holding the line on the tax rate, he is concerned about the damage being done to the county.

"It will get to the point where we're lessening the quality of life in our community via our nursing home, our health and safety and our infrastructure," DeJaneiro said. "Our infrastructure will be compromised if we don't stay on top of what we can do and our law enforcement will be compromised."

Only Legislator Bob Bausch spoke at length about ways to raise revenue other than a tax increase. His idea -- a marketing campaign to encourage people to spend more of their dollars locally instead of in neighboring counties.

"I have suddenly become very aware of where the heck I buy my gas," Bausch said. "I buy a lot of gas every week for my personal car and my company cars. If I'm going from Bergen to Perry or from Batavia to Perry on my typical runs, I'm buying a lot of gas."

Bausch suggested if more people who travel out of county were conscientious about buying their gas closer to home, it could help generate a good bit of extra money for the county government, taking pressure off the legislature to raise taxes.

"These things start to add up," he said.

"I'm the last person who is going to tell my wife not to go to the mall in Rochester or Buffalo and not to buy clothes," Bausch said. "I fear for my own life. But when you look at the day-to-day things we buy, it starts to make a difference. We need to get that word out there."

When a property in a town or village is seized in a tax lien foreclosure, by law and by courtesy, the county ensures towns, villages and school districts receive the back taxes owed those jurisdictions. 

The county also reimburses some related expenses the local jurisdiction might incur, including, up 'til now, demolition costs on condemned buildings.

But that can get expensive, so County Treasurer Scott German proposed to the Genesee County Legislature on Wednesday that the county stop guaranteeing towns and villages that demolition costs will be covered.

German is asking the legislature to pass a resolution, followed by a letter from County Attorney Charles Zambito to mayors and supervisors, declaring that the county will no longer cover the cost of demolition on tax lien foreclosed buildings.

Some costs could be covered, German said, if the property fetches more at auction than is owed in delinquent taxes, but for parcels without buildings, that rarely happens.

German told the Ways and Means Committee that, for example, on a parcel that is less than an acre, it might bring $3,000 at auction, but the demolition cost on a building might be $20,000.

The way things have been, the county ends up paying the entire bill, even though it had no part in contracting for the demolition.

"Who can blame them for going in and taking care of demolition, but it shouldn’t be a county cost," Legislator Mary Pat Hancock said.

Under state law, the county must reimburse school districts and towns for taxes owed when it forecloses on a property, and the county has provided those reimbursements to villages, even though not mandated by law.

The city takes care of its own tax lien foreclosures.

In May, the county's share of sales tax was up $116,000 over May 2010, according to County Treasurer Scott German. So far this year, sales tax revenue is up $755,000.

German presented the figures to the Ways & Means Committee on Wednesday afternoon, and Mary Pat Hancock, legislative chairwoman, was quick to point out the county shouldn't start rejoicing just yet.

The year isn't over and most of increase stems from the run up in food and gas prices, two inflationary factors that may yet reduce consumer spending in other areas.

"There's going to be some pain associated with it," Hancock said. "Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm not going to depend on that continued upswing."

County sales tax revenue still hasn't caught up with 2008 levels, German said, when the total exceeded $34 million, but his best guess -- and he emphasizes it's just a guess -- is that 2011 revenue will be more than $33 million, which would beat the 2009 figure of $32 million.