Archive: Opinions

The retrospective issue is always surprising, because I get to look at the impact a whole year has had on our community, not just week by week.  This time the past year seems more than ever a predictor of the coming year, at least where taxes are concerned.  The impact on Lansing taxpayers and Tompkins County taxpayers as a whole is looking somewhat bleak, although there are some bright spots in the overall picture.

Legislators will tell you that the more people there are to pay the tax levies, the less each individual pays.  They also note that increasing business in a municipality is good for property taxpayers because businesses pay the taxes with fewer draws on resources.  And of course more business produces more jobs, and if those people live in the municipality where they work that brings more tax revenue.  So attracting business to Tompkins County is a good thing for everyone, especially if that business is something that residents want for its products or services.

For Lansing, the other piece is this: the Town's largest taxpayer, AES Cayuga power plant, has long been the basket that the Lansing Central School District in particular has placed all its eggs in.  About a year or two ago the company signed a Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) agreement with Tompkins County that both allowed the company to plan five to 20 years into the future, but was also very beneficial for the Town, County, and especially the school district.  Then last year the PILOT was renegotiated and it was a lot less beneficial to the taxing authorities.  It is currently under negotiation again, and Town and school officials who have been attending the meetings say that the prospects do not look promising.

The way to make up for this major shortfall is to attract a variety of businesses to the town.  If any one business goes away for whatever reason, it can easily be replaced, unlike a tax-behemoth like AES Cayuga.  Any investment counselor worth his salt will tell you that it important to diversify to guard against just what has happened to Lansing and Tompkins County in this case.

On the plus side, Town officials have actually been proactive about attracting new business and keeping established firms here.  I'm not saying their record is perfect, but in general it has been very good.  They facilitated a sewer on Warren Road largely to accommodate Transonics Systems, Inc., which is now doubling its plant space.  That will not only keep 100 jobs in Lansing, but could add an additional 100 jobs.  It is working on a standalone sewer solution for the town center area that will not only help attract new business, but will also potentially solve the septic challenges the schools are currently facing.  And it has worked successfully with new businesses like the Lansing supermarket that is to be constructed at Triphammer and Town Barn Roads.

The Lansing supermarket is a win-win-win.  Here's why:  First of all, I haven't spoken to anybody in the Town of Lansing that doesn't want a local supermarket closer to home.  Secondly, all the investors are either Lansing people or relatives of Lansing people, so the money stays local.  The Tompkins County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) granted a PILOT to the project that allows the investors to get the market built and start its operations during the first few years of low cash flow, and gradually raises the property's value to full value as the business begins to stand on its own two feet.  The County and Town get more taxes in the very first year, and that incrementally rises over the life of the PILOT.

The minus side is daunting.  The Lansing school district in particular is facing the triple whammy of reduced state aid, reduced income from AES, and the federal stimulus well drying up.  Superintendent Stephen Grimm characterizes this as a 'funding cliff' that all school systems are being pushed over.  Add the sluggish economic recovery and you get a fourple whammy!

Make that a fiveple whammy.  State legislators evidently think they can be heroes to property taxpayers by applying a property tax cap to local municipalities.  But those municipalities say, and the Tompkins County Legislature is in the lead on this, that because of unfunded state mandates that a tax cap would be impossible.  The amount they could tax would hardly pay for mandates let alone things localities want to fund.

I agree with both: I want a tax cap and I want all state mandates to be lifted.  Let's get real.  It's not as if New York State Legislators are fiscally responsible.  Who are they to tell local governments how to spend money?  If they hadn't gotten us into a multi-billion dollar deficit a lot of these problems wouldn't be facing us now, including high taxes and school aid drops.

The Town reduced its tax levy and rate this year, but some people still complain that Town taxes are too high.  Meanwhile County taxes when up nearly 6%, kind of sickening in the current economy.  And even with over a million dollars in cuts last year school taxes are very high.  In fact school board members are already worrying about how many more jobs will be cut.  School Board member Glenn Cobb said near the end of 2010 that most of what can be cut (other than jobs) has already been cut.  It seems certain that there will be more layoffs this year, including teacher layoffs, possibly more than last year.  If that is true, district employees are going to have to figure out how to continue delivering a high quality education with fewer people and resources.

That brings me to the BJ's item.  Last month the IDA voted not to grant the part of the project that would have provided a tax abatement to benefit 12 senior housing units that were part of the mixed-use project approved by the Village of Lansing.  I've been thinking about this a lot since the vote, and have talked to some of the principals on both sides of the debate, as well as a lot of folks in the community.  It seems to me that even if both sides are absolutely right in terms of the most extreme arguments for or against, that the benefits of helping the project to go forward far outweigh the reasons the County shouldn't support the project.

It would immediately bring about $400,000 to the County, increase sales tax revenue to most Tompkins County municipalities, an instant property tax rise to the Lansings and the County.  It would attract trade to other local businesses, and especially in this lousy economy provide a local discount shopping spot for struggling families.  Even granting the opposition's reasons for voting it down as 100% legitimate, which I am willing to do, the pros really seem to outweigh the cons.  It ain't perfect.  What is?  I think the developer of the project is a very smart guy, and I think a lot of people are hoping he has something else up his sleeve to keep the project alive.

County officials have long talked about increasing affordable housing so that more people who work in the county can live here, but developers say the cost of building affordable housing isn't really.. well... affordable.  Meanwhile the constant increases in taxes on the local level as well as the State level are sure to drive more and more people away from Lansing, Tompkins County, and New York State.

So last year paints a picture of what 2011 will bring.  Unfortunately the velocity of the challenges is far greater than the progress of the solutions.

What is the solution?  I am not optimistic that there really is one.  I want to say it's our fault for continuing to elect people who don't understand how to balance a checkbook.  But that's too easy an answer.  The momentum of existing government programs, the tendency of departments to protect themselves and grow, the extreme difficulty of evaluating programs every year and getting rid of some when they are no longer really needed...  is it progress or entropy?  At election time politicians sound good.  But things aren't better.

On a small, local scale we have to support efforts like the Town of Lansing's town center project as best we can.  That kind of thing attracts business, increases density in planned areas, promotes community, positively impacts the tax outlook, and spreads those proverbial eggs among many baskets.  Whether that will be enough to counterbalance the disaster that is New York State and the issues challenging Tompkins County remains to be seen.

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