Tompkins County Legislature Begins Budget Process, Hears Capital, Department, and Agency Budgets
Legislator Mike Lane (D-Dryden), who chairs the Expanded Budget Committee (EBC) detailed the intent of Tompkins County’s “committee of the whole” budget process approach; it allows all Legislators to participate in the preparation of the budget whereas in other communities a smaller committee brings the recommended budget to the full body.
Regarding the process, Lane stated, “The first few EBC meetings are given over to presentations by Administration, county departments and agencies… Responses to the presentations by Legislators are limited to asking clarifying questions, and not making speeches or engaging in debates about particular topics. That happens later during the voting sessions.”
Lane added, “The 2025 budget will not be an easy one—they never are. There is always a lot more will than there is wallet. It will be full of best available data, best estimates, best guesses, and a few hunches. It rests on a summer’s worth of hard effort by our County Administrator, while working with our Director of Finance, and their staffs. The whole EBC process could not go forward without them. The work of our Legislature Clerk and her staff, in scheduling meetings, attending our meetings, and keeping records is vital. We rely on our Public Information Director to keep the public apprised, and to make our process a true example of transparency.”
Understanding the 2025 Recommended Tompkins County Budget
- The recommended 2025 Tompkins County Budget was prepared by the County Administrator and delivered to the Legislature on September 3. The recommended budget totals $252.3M, with revenues made up primarily of local property taxes (levy), sales tax receipts, and State and federal funding.
- The proposed total property tax levy is $55.7M, which is $2.3M, or 4.34%, higher than 2024. If passed, this would result in a $138 increase in the property tax bill for the owner of a median-priced ($300,000) home.
- Departmental and agency budgets can be found in the 2025 Recommended Budget or in the links in the title of each section below.
- As part of this budget development process all departments and funded not-for-profit agencies were asked to submit a budget with a 5% reduction due to cost increases and constraints on available funds for one-time use.
- Departments and agencies can make over-target requests as part of the budget process, which they detail during presentations to the Expanded Budget Committee. Over-target requests are detailed in departmental and agency budgets in the online budget system (links above and below). Some over-target requests are included in the recommended budget, others are made for the Legislature to consider when voting on the budget.
- Highlights below focus on the over-target requests or significant changes proposed by departments and agencies during the budget process.
- For more detail, read the County Administrator’s 2025 Budget Message.
Tompkins County Administrator Lisa Holmes detailed the Capital Plan budget, which covers facilities and other physical infrastructure owned by the County. $5.9M is included in the County’s proposed 2025 budget to fund current debt service obligations on past projects.
Ongoing and new projects were detailed, including several under the highway department, various sustainability-related programs, the Public Safety Building, and a future Center of Government building and emergency shelter.
In the recommended budget, $900,000 would be spent to address facility maintenance priorities related to employee/client safety, code compliance, and deterioration of facilities. $1.4M was requested by the Facilities Director to address the organization’s facility maintenance needs, though only critical or priority projects were recommended for funding.
The second phase of the County’s Green Facilities program requested $7.5M as part of the Capital Plan, but no funding was recommended in the 2025 budget due to constraints and the totality of other projects in progress. Several Green Facilities-related projects may be funded through outside State or federal grants or utility rebates, including a boiler replacement at the Human Services Building and a solar canopy project.
$1M is recommended to be used from a capital reserve fund in the recommended budget to support the schematic design for a potential new Public Safety Building.
Holmes spoke about a capital plan-related decision the Legislature will need to make regarding the emergency shelter; whether to fund the anticipated $2M local cost with capital reserves or securing financing with BANs or Bonds with an estimated annual payment of $150,000 over the life of the debt issuance.
Tổ chức Cornell Cooperative Extension
Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE), a not-for-profit agency supported by Tompkins County, presented their County-supported budget and over-target requests. 14% of the agency’s budget is funded by Tompkins County, with an additional 9% accounted for by contracted services from Tompkins County.
Restoring the agency’s 5% cut, totaling just over $37,000, was presented as the agency’s top priority over-target request. If cuts are not restored, the 4-H and climate change/workforce program would see less funding. $25,000 to support the final year of a three-year ask to add administrative capacity at CCE, $25,000 for the second year of funding for the Food Systems Plan, and $50,000 to complete the final year of three years supporting the Student Resource Navigator Program are recommended within the County Administrator’s budget. $50,000 in additional administrative support funding, $67,000 for transportation to and from youth programs, $71,000 for an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion staff member, and $65,000 for a philanthropic development coordinator were requested but not recommended in the budget.
Tompkins County Workforce Development
The Tomkins County Workforce Development Department presented their over-target requests to restore a 5% cut to funding for programming and adding a new “transition workforce specialist” position. The programming reflected in the 5% cut ($23,558) includes two work placements for residents to gain employment experience and three less trainings for participants to attend. The requested $96,470 for a specialist position would “help decrease wait times” and add more dedicated time for “outreach, detailed documentation, and workshops at the Career Center” according to the department’s director. Neither request was recommended in the County Administrator’s budget, citing other priority areas.
Tompkins County Finance Department
The Tompkins County Finance Department proposed reducing its roster by one account clerk position and ending a practice of paying for auditing services for the Tompkins County Public Library and Soil and Water Conservation District as part of its 5% ($73,893) reduction.
Over-target requests for necessary auditing services ($25,000) and additional higher-level accounting staff to better serve all departments ($147,419) are included in the recommended budget. $84,565 for additional purchasing staff and $21,000 for software to replace processes in Microsoft Excel were not recommended by the County Administrator.
Soil & Water Conservation District
The Tompkins County Soil and Water Conservation District, an agency that assists the community with the management of soil, water, and related natural resources, presented its budget of $335,434, including a $17,654 (5%) reduction. A $200,000 over-target request to establish a restricted fund balance to better manage cash flow and accounting for the agency was made but not recommended.
Tompkins County Youth Services and Recreation Partnership
The Tompkins County Youth Services Department detailed the 5% reductions made in its budget including $19,821 from operations (including professional development, travel to area youth recreation activities, and professional services) and $48,137 from funding to local agencies who support youth programming. Over-target requests to restore the 5% cuts and fund an urban youth outreach program ($30,000) are not recommended in the budget, citing a lack of available funding for restorations and a low number of program participants.
The Recreation Partnership, an intermunicipal program managed by the Youth Services Department, presented its County-supported budget. 25% of the Partnership’s budget is supported by County funds. Full restoration of $7,614 is recommended in the budget to maximize funding for youth programs across municipalities.
Legislators Discuss Fund Balance and Future Decision-Making Processes
This budget process is the first year where the Fund Balance Policy requiring 25% of the last year’s actual expenses to be held in savings as well as several reserve funds for unexpected expenses have been in place. That has created a strain on the amount of fund balance left to pay for operational expenses – functionally $0 for the 2025 budget.
$3M in one-time funding requests are recommended as part of the 2025 budget. This year’s requests will be funded by property tax levy and some funds freed up by strategic use of reserves to cover other expenses.
Faced with funding constraints, Legislators have begun discussing the best way to analyze the impacts of policies and procedures related to fund balance and reserves. Legislator Rich John (D-Ithaca) requested a breakdown of what the process might look like if the reserve funds were not established and the 2025 budget was able to access general fund balance the way it had in the past.
Legislator Deborah Dawson (D-Lansing) spoke about the challenges with using actual fund balance numbers from the end of the previous fiscal year (in this case, 2023) to make budget decisions for the next fiscal year (2025). Dawson explained the need to have more timely numbers based on any point in time, not just a number that may be outdated and not reflect the actual current position.
Legislator Shawna Black (D-Ithaca) spoke about the many over-target requests funded by the Legislature over the past several years, commenting that it has added around $4M in target funding over that time. Black said the Legislature needs to take a harder look at what’s working or not and make adjustments accordingly.
Further discussion on fund balance and reserves may occur later in the budget process if deemed necessary.