Cortland County released on Monday a proposed $130.5 million budget for 2025 that increases spending 5.8%.
The proposed property tax levy of $40.55 million would be up 3.25%. It’s supplemented by a projected $40 million in sales tax revenue, up from $38.5 million, of which the county’s share would be $22.4 million.
Cortland County Administrator Robert Corpora noted in his budget message that the numbers might look a bit different than last year, when the county adopted a $155.9 million spending plan, but that’s because the budget adopted for 2024 included a number of funds, such as for the landfill and recycling, that are enterprise funds, meant to stand on their own without tapping the property tax levy.
The budget proposal shows the landfill would spend $2.03 million, up from $2 million. Recycling would cost $780,178, up from $763,452.
Among the points Corpora made:
•Spending for the sheriff’s office will be up 9% to $19.6 million, driven largely by rising payroll and other personnel costs.
•Spending for seniors remains relatively stable. A 10.5% increase in spending for the Office for Aging, up $120,000 to $1.5 million, would be offset by a 3.6% drop in spending for nutrition programs, down $110,000 to $1.35 million.
•The county expects to spend $10 million for infrastructure projects, but that would be funded almost entirely from state and federal grants, such as the state Consolidated Highway Improvement Projects fund.
•Medicaid costs, which account for about a quarter of the county’s spending, is largely funded by the state and federal governments, but the local share is expected to rise to $10.3 million.
Property tax rates in each community are difficult to project, Corpora said, because the equalization rates in several communities are declining. The lower they are, the less the assessments reflect the actual market value of the property.
“Cortland County faces several long-term fiscal challenges, including the rising costs of state-mandated services, an aging population and the structural difficulties of relying on sales tax and property tax revenue in a rural economy,” Corpora wrote in his budget message.
