matt landers

Sometimes, it’s the unspoken words that take center stage during something like a public budget hearing.

And the silence of no one who signed up to speak after Genesee County Manager Matt Landers presented his proposed nearly $1.9 million budget for 2025 indeed said something to Legislative Chairwoman Shelley Stein.

“The silence is meaningful because, as everyone is aware, all of our local government leadership is aware that sales tax revenue is down, and we aren't going to even make what we have budgeted for this year. And that was the pot of money that we had that was available to share,” Stein said after the hearing Wednesday at the Old County Courthouse. “But something that we do do is we make available to each community the opportunity to have the county pay for and provide a grant writer. So our communities are taking advantage of that, and you will see some of the recent wins that we've had in those communities. So, you know, a little bit of seed money that brings other people's money into the county has greater value than what we could do by giving an extra dollar of revenue distribution.”

In the last couple of years, at least one or two town supervisors have asked if the county could loosen the purse strings and allow more sales tax to be shared amongst the municipalities. During his talk, Landers explained that a lack of sales tax was a major challenge in creating this coming year’s budget.

So, as it stands, the proposed plan is a 3.4% increase, or $6,264,607, from this current year’s adopted budget. Reasons for the increase include a $1.9 million increase in preschool supportive health services program costs, $1.5 million in state retirement system cost increases, $727,000 increase in medical expenses, and $200,000 more in the 730 court-ordered competency evaluation costs, he said. 

“We were able to hold the line for a couple of years, but just the second year in a row where we have sweeping cost increases on the medical side. This chart basically shows you know there's, we believe, no end in sight for mandate relief,” he said. “Over 95% of our property tax money goes directly to New York state-mandated costs. It'll be something that we continue to watch in the future. One of the fears we have is when the New York State Budget starts to go when it starts to become more challenging, and they do show how the reports that we get from NYSAC (New York State Association of Counties) indicate years of pledge deficits. There's always a fear that that just basically ends up resulting in a mandate push down to the counties. So when we're already at over 95% of our tax levy already on mandated services, there isn't much room to grow.”

With a shiny new $70 million county jail, that comes with $3.8 debt service payments in the general fund, plus operational, utility and contracted medical cost increases for the facility, he said.  

“At this point, water expenditures continue to be funded with water revenues. But there is a looming $150 million Phase 3 of the water system that has us turning over every stone to try to minimize future general funding,” he said.

He has recommended using a property tax levy of $33,630,739 toward the budget, an increase of $908,362, or 2.78%, from this year. Due to increased property assessments, he said, the tax rate will decrease by 51 cents per $1,000 assessed value, lowering the current rate of $8.08 to $7.57 per $1,000 assessed value.

If the county Legislature adopts this budget, it would mean an annual bill of $757 for a property assessed at $100,000, versus this year's tab of $808, for a decrease of $51 if a homeowner has not had a property assessment increase.

However, if a home's value went up from $100,000 to $125,000, it would mean that a home that cost $808 yearly would now cost $946.25, for an overall yearly increase of $138.25 due to that increased assessment. 

Landers wants to offset expenses by $2.5 million out of the county’s fund balance and $639,653 out of the Medical Reserve Fund. The budget would include $1 million for infrastructure spending on large span culverts; one full-time public works project manager and a part-time program assistant for the county park; 10 full-time corrections officers for the new county jail; and one each part-time financial clerk typist and discovery clerk for the Sheriff’s Office.

Infrastructure investments also include $4 million in capital projects for airport upgrades, building maintenance, information technology upgrades, Sheriff’s Office equipment upgrades — tasers, body cameras and guns — highway equipment replacement. 

Annual payments of more than $500,000, per previously signed contracts, are also included for Mercy Flight and Le Roy Ambulance to provide dedicated ambulance service to the county, he said. 

Listing three pages of budget challenges, Landers reviewed the rising employee retirement and medical costs, unfunded mandate increases, which include assigned counsel and 730 mental health restorative costs, and reduced sales tax — the first time since 2000 that sales tax revenues have declined year over year and falling under budget for 2024, he said.

The legal system is costing the county quite a chunk of money, to the tune of that extra $200,000 for the 730 mental health court and an additional $123,530 for assigned counsel costs, for a total spending of more than $1.8 million.

What is the 730 mental health court?
When a criminal suspect with mental health issues enters the justice system following an arrest, that defendant has a constitutional right to understand the proceedings, whether the defendant eventually ends up accepting a plea offer or facing trial.

In New York, that right is also protected by statute in Article 730 of the Criminal Procedure Law. The purpose of Article 730 is to ensure that a defendant is able to understand the charges against him or her and participate in his or her own defense.

Officials in Genesee County have wanted to see the law changed because it is outdated and getting increasingly more expensive with less efficiency than more contemporary options for dealing with a defendant's mental health capacity.

What is assigned counsel, and why are costs going up?
Assigned counsel costs "have been increasing drastically," primarily due to the state increasing the pay for assigned counsel attorneys from an hourly rate between $60 and 75 (depending on whether the offense was a misdemeanor or felony) to $158 an hour, more than doubling the cost of representation, Landers said. 

“This is for people that both meet the financial criteria for publicly paid for representation and have a conflict that prevents representation by the Public Defender’s Office,” he said. “In 2022, the county spent $624,336 between Criminal Court and Family Court assigned counsel.  In 2025, that budgeted figure has increased to $1,828,800.”

He thanked staff and department heads for the “team effort” to deliver an on-time budget that falls under the tax cap.

“I’m very happy that the legislature provided clear guidance. I feel like any time that I could reach out and communicate issues, this was my toughest budget because I didn't have a sales tax to help offset us … I felt like it was a team effort that department heads worked with me, delaying, pushing out costs in future years, if possible,” Landers said. “At this point, the budget is in the hands of the Legislature. Future budget meetings will be held to arrive at a consensus with the Legislature and make changes as recommended to manage the budgets. I hope for full adoption at the November 25 meeting, and feedback and input from the community is always welcome.”

Since the budget was just turned over to legislators, they would be reviewing and discussing it, Stein said, however, “when you have 98% of your tax levy as mandated services, it is really hard.”

“There’s almost nothing left to cut, and those things that we would cut are the highly valued quality-of-life issues such as our county park, such as our participation with our outside agencies of GO ART!, Cornell Cooperative Extension, our Workforce Development folks; those are not meaningful cuts, and so we appreciate the value that we can bring to our community through those, but also through our partners in our town, in our villages, in our city, where we offer them opportunities to participate with us, and they take advantage of that,” she said. “So we are happy to be a good partner, and we look for good partnerships because shared services is the only way that we’re going to get through what we have ahead of us today.”

For the full proposed 2025 budget, go HERE. 

Lagging sales tax growth was the biggest challenge in drafting a proposed Genesee County budget, Matt Landers says. For 2025, the budget has tacked on $6.2 million more from this year’s total to accommodate several cost increases.

The county manager has carved out a budget of $189,249,435, which includes a tax rate of $7.57 — a 51-cent decrease from the current rate of $8.08 due to increased property assessments, he said this week.

“Large drivers of the increased budget were New York State retirement increases, health care cost increases, jail operating cost increases, preschool supportive health services program cost increases, assigned counsel cost increases, just to name some,” he said Monday to The Batavian. 

A budget presentation will be held at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Courthouse Chambers of the Old County Courthouse, 7 Main St., Batavia. 

The budget increase is 3.4% more than from the 2024 adopted budget due to those increases and a lack of sales tax growth “to help offset the various cost increases,” Landers said.

If this budget is adopted by the county Legislature, it would mean an annual bill of $757 for a property assessed at $100,000, versus this year's tab of $808, for a decrease of $51 if a homeowner has not had a property assessment increase.

However, if a home's value went up from $100,000 to $125,000, it would mean that home that cost a yearly $808 would now cost $946.25, for an overall yearly increase of $138.25 due to that increased assessment. 

A brand new $70 million county jail on Route 5 has meant a debt service for several years to come, and those payments began in 2023. However, there are other considerations to go along with the larger size and responsibilities of the facility, Landers said. 

“The proposed budget has ten new correction officer positions created for the new county jail,” he said. “The medical costs at the jail are increasing due to the utilization of an additional contracted nurse in the 2025 budget.”

Which department raised the most concern in terms of cost?
“Jail, preschool supportive health services cost increases in which the county Public Health Department oversees, assigned counsel cost increases and 730 mental health restoration costs are all areas that continue to be closely monitored,” he said.

As an example of the increases, preschool program costs have gone from the 2024 budget of $2.7 million to the proposed 2025 budget of $4.6 million due to the program's rising demands and related costs of transportation, personnel, and benefits.

During his annual report to the Legislature in February, Public Health Director Paul Pettit discussed how transportation, in particular, was driving up pre-school costs, projecting a tab of nearly $1 million for busing alone in 2024.

Transportation and center program costs have been rising as an "underfunded mandate," Pettit had said.

“One of the drivers that’s really expensive is that more kids get referred.  You probably saw on the governor's proposal she's proposing a 5 percent rate increase across the board. And then there's a 4 percent rider for rural counties, which we would fall under that bucket. So that'd be a 9 percent rate increase for early intervention,” he said. “And this is one of those programs that, again, we don't have a lot of control over the services that are provided.” 

Landers has earmarked $1.14 million for preschool transportation in 2025. Mental health court is slated for an extra $200,000 in 2025, for a total of $500,000.

How is the water project fitting in -- debt service, the planning for work to be done this next year? 
“Besides the annual $515,000 General Fund contribution to water from sales tax, which has been taking place for 20+ years, all operations of the water fund continue to be paid for out of operating revenues of the water fund,” he said. “Planning continues for Phase 3 of the water system.”

Circumstances may not have been perfect, but Landers is pleased with what he plans to present on Wednesday, he said.

“I am happy with the efforts made by my department heads and staff to deliver responsible budget requests that meet the demands of the community while providing quality service and do so in an efficient manner,” he said. “I would say the reduction in sales tax is a challenge that doesn’t present itself very often, which makes this budget a little more unique.” 

The Legislature will meet on Nov. 13 to discuss the budget and include any public feedback to make further recommendations if necessary. The Ways & Means Committee will then review the budget and refer it to the full Legislature for vote. A vote to adopt the budget is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Nov. 25 in Courthouse Chambers. 

Matt Landers wasn’t quite ready to go on record with an official comment about a nearly $15 million settlement of two opioid-related lawsuits, but both cases will mean some money for Genesee County, he said.

Landers was hesitant to count those proverbial chickens before finding out exactly how much the county would be receiving as part of a national class action lawsuit against each, the national Big Box retailer Target and Henry Schein, a worldwide distributor of medical and dental supplies, including vaccines, pharmaceuticals, financial services and equipment. 

During Wednesday’s Ways & Means Committee meeting, county Attorney Mark Boylan briefed the group that both cases had been settled and that the county would receive a portion of the $900,000 settlement from Henry Schein and $14 million from Target.

“So this was part of the class action suit. I think every county in New York State is involved, as well as municipalities, towns, and villages,” Boylan told The Batavian, answering about a potential timeline for payment. “I would expect all the agreements have to be executed by all the municipalities before those wheels start to turn and checks are issued, so I would say probably in the next six or eight months.”

Genesee County is one of 62 counties in New York State likely to be sharing in that pot of $14,900,000.

The lawsuit alleged several causes of action against distribution defendants Target and Henry Schein based on claims that each company contributed to the opioid epidemic by failing to comply with their obligations under the Federal Controlled Substances Act and the New York Controlled Substance Act in order to implement adequate measures to prevent diversion of the prescription opioids that they distributed to pharmacies, all of which contributed to a public health crisis in the County of Genesee.

Genesee County Manager Matt Landers had asked county departments to submit their needs as part of the 2025 budget process and the response included 10 additional corrections officers, a public works project manager, two sheriff’s office financial positions, a district attorney student intern and HR temp clerk.

All totaled, the county could have a gap of about $1 million, Landers said.

“It’s a challenging budget right now, as I said in the budget meeting, where the gap, and what I call the gap, is the difference between my revenues and expenses, countywide, it's about $415,000. There's some known expenses, based on recent meetings with departments, that'll increase that to probably around $600,000, and then there's anticipated cost increases, because we're going through a salary study process right now that could raise that up to $800,000 to a million,” Landers said to The Batavian after the second budget meeting for the season. “So now I'm looking at different avenues that I can potentially close that gap through one-time funding opportunities like fund balance or reoccurring revenues, and looking at things like our interest earnings, sales tax, things like that, that I can try to close the gap or potentially reducing certain projects and costs. 

“And so this is the part of the process that takes the longest, but I am optimistic that by the time I finalize the budget in two weeks that I will deliver a budget that is well under the tax cap, which was the direction that the legislature gave me.”

Legislator Gary Maha asked about the sheriff’s request for jail personnel.

“The 10 extra CO’s, did that come from a staffing analysis?” Maha said.

Yes, Landers said, there was an analysis, but something more detailed is to be coming.

“But what I’ve asked for, and what they’re working on, I’ll get to see is basically a visual representation of where the posts are for every line, A line, B line, C line, where they are, where I can better ask questions,” Landers said. “It’s not set in stone with the 10, because I myself have asked for a visual representation of where the posts are. There was, I think, a misunderstanding at the last meeting, because that wasn’t available. 

“They've got now two CO’s in the control room versus one, and that was something that, hindsight is 2020, where our consultants thought that one would be adequate, and I think the CO’s even thought it would be adequate, but now that they're running it, it doesn't appear to be adequate. But at the same time, as a layperson myself, I asked the question, well, do they need it staffed for the overnight when there's less activity. They claim there is, but this is the kind of visualization that I look forward to seeing,” he said, answering the legislator about the analysis performed. “And there is an argument, because the overtime costs for this place is going through the roof, where we're budgeting an extra $100,000 in overtime costs from last year, even with the CO’s, the extra CO’s, just because the amount of people that’s needed, like I said, the analysis that was provided at the early stages, versus now, it's off a little bit. And I want to better understand this, because I want to make sure I go back to the consultant and just basically help them understand, for future reference, where they may have been off a little bit, and then other impacts.” 

An upside, he said, is that the five of the CO’s will be hired in April 2025, which saves some money for the first four months of the year, and there are six single ($18,834) and nine family ($25,112) medical insurance plans for additional cost savings, he said.

There are other impacts to the new jail facility part of the analysis that also may not have been considered, he said, such as maintenance costs and how long it takes a cleaner to actually walk through the building. There are several security doors and the cleaners have to wait for each one to slowly open by someone in the control room, and then to completely shut behind the cleaner before proceeding on with the task at hand. That adds 20 to 30 minutes to each job.

In the Public Works Department, the commissioner has requested a new, full-time project manager position at an estimated $80,000 plus benefits of about another $40,000. This is due to the amount of construction projects in progress and coming up, including at Holland Land Office Museum, the Animal Shelter, Engine House, and many bridges, Landers said. 

Landers was in agreement with the district attorney’s request for a student intern, at a small salary of $3,000, and with the hopeful payoff of putting people in the pipeline for future assistant DA positions, he said. 

It’s a balancing act of trying to cut as much as possible while being able to remain functional. Landers said it's a balance of trying to be conservative and aggressive at the same time.

"The motto or the theme that I've been telling these departments, because we've been cutting a little deeper, and I reassure them that this doesn't impact their ability to operate. It may require them to shift funds amongst their accounts,” Landers said. “But if they need to run the jail, they do have to run the jail effectively. If they need funds to do that and they can't shift, then that problem becomes my problem, and that's why I have a contingency line and other pots of money that I can pull from as well. But every dollar that we can shave out of their budget is one less dollar that I have to take from taxpayers to fund their operations.”

The county’s Agricultural Society and Genesee Orleans Council on the Arts each asked for a funding increase, which isn’t likely to happen, Landers said. All agencies were forewarned that funding would probably stay flat this next year, he said.

“It's not a major secret. I had requested in my my letter of funding request that I sent to the outside agencies that this was going to be a difficult budget, to expect flat funding. Most of them put requests in at flat funding,” he said. “A couple of them have small requests of increases. So yep, we will keep them at flat funding, so we're not going to be able to honor the increase that they've requested. But you know, as I said in the meeting, I love it when we have the opportunity to provide these agencies some additional funding, because they can do a lot of the things the county can't do or we're not good at doing, we're not experts in, and we are happy to see these funds go to so many outside, worthwhile organizations that do a lot of good for our community.”

The major departments of Sheriff’s Office, Mental Health Department and Social Services will be meeting with Landers and legislators and more budget sessions are scheduled before a final budget will be presented for a final vote and adoption.

There was a cute petting zoo at one house on Allanview in Batavia Monday evening.

However, the creatures looked like they hadn’t eaten in a while — they were nothing but bones.

The display was part of a Landers’ family Halloween extravaganza. From the front archway, towering villain, graveyard, and seasonal blazing orange and purple hues, the county manager’s home screamed all hallow’s eve.

“We’ve been doing it for years, my daughter’s 16 now, and we probably started it 10 years ago when she was six,” Landers said as darkness fell Monday. “I was actually thinking of scaling back, and the kids said no, dad, you’ve gotta do it.”

Placing blame on the kids aside, Landers admitted that he’s “a Halloween nut too.” 

“I love all the scary movies, I love the genre in general, I’ve got to admit,” he said.

Although he didn't don a monster mask to coordinate with the outside setup, he and wife Melissa took a peaceful dive back to the Summer of Love with tye-dye, headbands and free-flowing hair for both.

Photos by Howard Owens.

We're planning on talking with Matt Landers, county manager, at 1 p.m. We'll talk about the status of county government, tax revenue, COVID-19 response, and other topics.

At 2:30 p.m., we're scheduled to talk with Rachael Tabelski, interim city manager.

Yesterday morning, Matt Landers was sworn in as county manager for Genesee County, replacing Jay Gsell, who retired Friday after 26 years and 364 days of service.

Reader-submitted video.

Press release:

At the Feb. 26th Legislature meeting, County Manager Jay Gsell announced his plan to retire as of Aug. 14. He will have 27 years as county manager and a total of 45 years working in government.

In addition to announcing his retirement date, Gsell shared details of the succession plan, which includes Assistant County Manager Matthew Landers' appointment to the position of County Manager.

Upon earning his bachelor’s degree from the College of William and Mary, Gsell immediately went on to American University earning his Master of Public Administration degree.

In the late 1970s and through the 1980s, he served as assistant or city manager in the cities of Trenton, Norton Shores, Eau Claire, Winchester, Cumberland, and Marshalltown. In 1993, after rising to the top of 70 applicants from a national search, Gsell was appointed county manager by the Genesee County Legislature.

According to Legislature Chair Rochelle Stein, he has completely immersed himself in Genesee County, a place he and his wife, Ann Marie, call home.

“Jay wears many hats; county manager and budget officer, family man, member (and past president) of Rotary, United Way board member and chair of the county’s comprehensive plan committee to name a few,” Stein said.

The Legislature has met with Landers and look forward to a seamless transition.

Landers brings nearly 10 years of municipal experience beginning with a three-year stint as director of real property tax services before a promotion to deputy treasurer and in 2014 assistant county manager.

Matt and wife, Melissa, are lifelong Genesee County residents.

He attended The College at Brockport where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Master of Public Administration. He’s an active member of Kiwanis Club, Leadership Genesee graduate and is a certified public accountant.

Landers can been seen coaching daughter Katie’s softball team or working on the fields at Lyons Park or pitching to son, Ben, at batting practice.

“We are well-positioned to maintain quality administration of our county and look forward to promoting homegrown Matt Landers to county manager,” Stein said.

CORRECTIONS: A source provided the following corrections to the press release: Landers has 16 years of municipal government experience.  He was deputy county treasurer from 2004 to 2014. During that time, he was also director of real property for three years.