But your home’s taxes may rise by more
by Robert Lynch; October 18, 2024
Sometimes, in some years, and with issues as exhausting as this, the Tompkins County Legislature commends itself with a round of applause after it votes. This week, even though Legislature Chair Dan Klein seemed to have anticipated applause, no one clapped. Instead, what followed the reading of the tally was silence—seven seconds of silence. “Very good,” Klein ended the pause with a somber voice drained of emotion. He, like everyone else in the room, was done in. The meeting went on.
Just like the rest of the country, the Tompkins County Legislature proved itself divided this week. The issue was taxes, and the margins couldn’t have gotten much closer.
By a vote of eight-to-six, the Legislature adopted Tompkins County’s Tentative Budget and sent it on to a Public Hearing near month’s end. It’s a $252 Million spending package that would increase the total property tax levy by an even three per cent.
Yet still, because home assessments have risen much faster than have those for other types of properties, an average homeowner’s tax bill next January could rise by three times that multiple.
“I’m very proud of our Legislature, even though we had such a close vote,” Budget Committee Chair Mike Lane said soberly after the roll-call had secured for the budget just enough votes to pass. “And we’ll listen to the public when they come talk to us.”
By nearly anyone’s observation—except maybe by those who actually perform the task— crafting a Tompkins County Budget is far more complex than it needs to be. Some counties attempt it over just one weekend. Tompkins County lawmakers take more than six months to finish their work.
There’s a first-step “budget retreat” held in late-April; followed by departmental conferences throughout the summer. A County Administrator’s presentation to the Legislature comes just after Labor Day. Next, there are department-by-department PowerPoint outlines during an endless parade of meetings during September. They’re capped off by a trio of marathon number-crunching sessions by a legislative committee-of-the-whole as October begins. Whew! No wonder everyone’s tired.
And out of the final of three “Expanded Budget Committee” sessions October 8th, there emerged a recommended Tompkins County Budget that would have hiked the tax levy by 3.29 per cent.
Yet when lawmakers convened their official voting meeting last Tuesday, they couldn’t leave their committee recommendation alone. They revised the tax increase once again.
“I think we’re not being unreasonable in any way by adjusting somewhat to limit the tax increase on our constituents to a three per cent level,” legislator Rich John counseled. “I just think that’s reasonable.”
To cut the tax levy by a slim fraction to reach an even number, John requested the Legislature tap $155,000 from Tompkins County’s eight-figure fund balance, its piggy bank, the account holding tax collection surpluses from years past. The debate began. And it produced another closely-divided, razor-thin vote. Not all stood in accord.
“In my view, it’s not enough,” Groton’s Lee Shurtleff said of John’s minor-scale reduction.
“I think that three per cent is still too high,” Enfield-Newfield’s Randy Brown concurred. “I think that people are really struggling, as evidenced by the lack of spending that generates sales tax revenue.” (Legislators had gotten a sour sales tax report earlier in the meeting.)
“This is just another straw on their back,” Brown said of the revised three per cent increase.
Brown also believes Tompkins County has underestimated potential investment income. “I think we’re going to be two-and-a-half Million Dollars over budget on interest income alone,” Brown predicted.
“So I just think that putting money in our own coffers versus helping the people out is the wrong thing to do,” Newfield’s hometown legislator concluded.
Randy Brown voted against Rich John’s rounding amendment and then against the budget itself. Enfield’s other legislator, Anne Koreman, also opposed the amendment, but supported the budget.
All three Republicans on the Legislature, including Brown, voted against the budget. Likewise, each opposed the amendment. Their conservative consensus held that the downward adjustment was just too small.
By comparison with what passed the Legislature this week, the same body one year ago had authorized a two per cent levy increase, and no increase at all during the two years before that.
A two per cent increase was the initial goal legislators had given County Administrator Lisa Holmes at their Budget Retreat last April. Holmes found it hard to meet the directive and at one point had recommended a budget that would have raised the levy by almost 4.5 per cent.
As County officials did the math on the fly at their meeting’s end, a three per cent increase in the tax levy would collect just over $55 Million in property taxes next year. For the hypothetical “median price home” in Tompkins County, the County portion of the tax bill would raise charges by $119.60, up to $1,441.79.
Taxpayer advocates quickly qualify that a three per cent overall increase understates its kitchen table impact. Assessment inflation has pushed up the median home’s value by 20.5 per cent this past year. The median value was only $249,000 a year ago. Now it’s $300,000. Residential assessments have risen faster than have those for other real estate. Therefore, a three per cent increase in the overall tax levy could translate into as much as a nine per cent tax rise for an average homeowner.
Joining Anne Koreman in the final vote to support the three-percent budget were fellow Democrats Rich John, Susan Currey, Veronica Pillar, Shawna Black, Amanda Champion as well as Budget Committee Chair Mike Lane, and Legislature Chair Dan Klein. Had any one of them voted differently, the budget would have lost.
To be clear, not everyone who voted against the budget—or the rounding amendment—did so because they found the tax increase too high. Deborah Dawson faulted the majority for tapping even a tiny bit of fund balance to make the numbers work.
“If you’re going to say, ‘Well, I’ll sell that principle for X Dollars,’ then the question is no longer are you for sale, the question is what’s your price? I’m sorry, but I don’t have a price on this one. I think this is a bad thing to do,” Dawson complained
“We just found out we’re probably going to be down a million dollars on sales tax alone,” Dawson continued. “And I don’t know what kind of economic circumstances we’re headed into. So, as usual, I’m a ‘No’ on this, and y’all will do what you’re going to do.”
Dawson and former Legislature Chair Shawna Black often agree on things. Tuesday night they did not. Black voted to advance the budget to Public Hearing and for Rich John’s minor adjustment.
“If this is the way that we can provide a little bit of relief… and make it a nice, even number, then we can do that,” Black reasoned.
Mike Lane reminded everyone that what had passed last Tuesday is only a “tentative budget,” not the “final” one. Only after the Public Hearing October 30th can the budget gain final adoption. History shows that the Legislature amends its proposed budget little, if at all, post-hearing. And the Public Hearing, itself, often gets little attention. In some years, no one speaks.
But of course, this budget year has proven different. Just ask anyone on the Ithaca Board of Education. This year, the ICSD first-round budget saw rejection by seven out of ten district voters.
And another fact to remember: For those of us in Enfield, the Tompkins County tax isn’t the only tax we’ll pay in January. Enfield’s Town Board October ninth handed forth a budget imposing its own 6.12 per cent increase in the tax levy. And the Enfield Fire District’s smaller levy will rise by 28 per cent.
Simply put, it’s a bad budget year, worse than most.
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