Sluggish Recovery Upstate

If you're reading this blog, chances are that you'd be interested in NYS's Comptroller, Thomas DiNapoi's, Annual Report on Local Governments. If not, here's the summary: while the state and downstate municipalities are doing better, upstate counties face a continuing set of obstacles to real recovery and growth. From the Executive Summary:

• The tax freeze and the property tax relief credit have added pressure on local governments to stay under the property tax levy limit.
• In many communities, foreclosures cases, shown to cause reductions in property values and erosion of the tax base, continue to be filed at levels considerably above those seen before the recession.
• Sale tax collection growth in 2015 has been below 2 percent across the State excepting New York City.
• Most on-going State general aid funds to municipalities have been held flat over the last few years.

Local government expenditures overall have remained largely flat since the recession, increasing at a 0.9 percent annual average rate from 2010 through 2014. However:

• Fixed costs have continued to grow, especially those related to employee benefits, with benefits increasing at a 6.3 percent annual average rate over the last four years.
• To balance their budgets, local governments have had to hold the line or reduce funding for services such as public safety, health services, economic development and roads.

Sales tax, revenue in general, and percentage increase in the tax levy have all been going down. Counties statewide depend on sales tax for about one third of total revenue, and the reduction in the price of gas has had a big impact on that. Otsego County's tax cap has been substantially below 2% for the last few years – and costs continue to rise. This year's tax levy hike won't even pay for the raises negotiated for CSEA county workers.

So we're actually doing pretty well, keeping major systems going, given that we're really cut to the bone. But the time will soon come for an adjustment: raises for upper level County staff (they've had one in eight years) and beefing up departments that have been gutted to keep tax hikes down.