A while ago, I promised you a link to the video of Dr. Anthony Ingraffea's presentation at Foothills last May. It wasn't available to the general public until recently, apparently, but now it is.
It's worth the time to watch it all - not the same old stuff. With some ideas for alternatives.
Remember - blog posts migrate downward, so the most recent post is at the top; the oldest at the bottom.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Enhancing the Future
There's predicting thefuture, and then there's enhancing it.
You may know that I am
pretty intently focused on comprehensive planning as a way of making
progress in areas we think are important. Here's a way to do that:
the Department of Health's 'Otsego County Health Priorities Survey.'
Help us* decide where to put our resources by telling us what areas
you think are most important.
So click the link and learn
about health issues in Otsego County, and then tell us which ones
should have priority. The results have a direct effect on policy.
Thanks!
* - I say 'we' and 'us'
because the Department of Health is overseen by the Health and
Education Committee, of which I am a member.
Predicting the Future
It's budget time again,
and assembling any budget is an exercise in predicting the future.
In Otsego County, the future – specifically, 2014 – will present
some interesting changes, which will make our budget-making task both
easier and harder.
The 'easier' part is that
we'll be seeing some one-time revenues, and we'll see some major
costs disappear permanently. The disappearing costs will disappear
when the Manor is sold; we're hoping that this happens during 2014.
The process is moving well, and this may come to pass. We will spend
about five million dollars on the Manor this year – that's above
and beyond all reimbursements the Manor receives from Medicaid,
Medicare, private pay, etc. They are taxpayer dollars subsidizing
the Manor, and next year it will probably cost more.
We won't save the whole
five million-plus next year; just the part of it we would have spent
after the day that it is transferred to the new owner. In addition,
there will be savings from services the county provides – building
maintenance, payroll, IT – which won't need to be provided any
more. There will be some legacy costs – health insurance for
retirees, interest on the bonds, for instance – but the fiscal
difference will be enormous.
Interestingly, the actual
payment we receive for the Manor will not have as massive an effect
on the budget as we might think. At the end of 2014, we will owe a
little more than 15 million dollars on the original bonds that funded
the Manor – our mortgage, so to speak. No matter how much we sell
the Manor for, we will be required to put that 15 million-plus into
escrow, and we will pay the yearly principal from that fund, until
2021, when we can pay it all off if we desire. Until then, we'll pay
the interest from the general fund. If we sell the Manor for more
than what we owe, that excess is ours to put into the financial
system. But we're not planning for that, because it is too soon to
estimate what we might get when the Manor is sold.
The one-time payments
involve MOSA. When MOSA is dissolved, the assets will be split up.
Otsego County will, by agreement, get 40% of the liquid assets
(things like equipment and real estate will probably be distributed
by common sense, rather than percentage). Depending on how we
progress with solid waste in our County, this money may or may not
have a significant effect on our finances next year.
The 'harder' part, of
course, is that we don't know how any of this will shake out. The
current version of the budget does not reflect any of this: revenue
projections don't include the MOSA money, and the expense side
includes the whole-year cost of the Manor. However, Acting Treasurer
Russ Bachman has recommended that we essentially skip the grueling
work of cutting positions and services to get to the point where
we're under the tax cap (1.66% this year, not 2%) and have about 16%
of the budget in the fund balance. He's willing to move some money
from the fund balance to make up the current deficit (which changes
every day as adjustments are made), assuming that, because of the
Manor and MOSA issues, we'll have a surplus at the end of next year.
That's a risky approach,
and the Board is mulling it over; in some ways, it sounds like magic.
And the NYS Comptroller's office, which is measuring the fiscal
stress of municipalities, will take notice of this reduction in the
fund balance, because that's the kind of thing they take notice of.
However, if everything works out, this will be a very temporary
thing, and all will be well at the end of 2014.
If everything works out.
Even though the vectors of unpredictability are generally good, it's
making me a little uneasy to predict the future with these loose
cannons involved. Sometimes, unremitting bad news can be comforting,
because it's so predictable.
UPDATE: After I finished this post, I went over to the Daily Star site and read this article about Treasurer Russ Bachman's suggestions. Nothing much to add to this, except that the raises for the non-unionized managerial and confidential staff (M&C) will be more controversial than dipping into the fund balance. I'm for it - they haven't had a raise in years - but I have to be a little more convinced that the money is - and will be - there. We'll see.
UPDATE: After I finished this post, I went over to the Daily Star site and read this article about Treasurer Russ Bachman's suggestions. Nothing much to add to this, except that the raises for the non-unionized managerial and confidential staff (M&C) will be more controversial than dipping into the fund balance. I'm for it - they haven't had a raise in years - but I have to be a little more convinced that the money is - and will be - there. We'll see.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
More MOSA, Again
This
is a somewhat ignorant and borderline-hysterical editorial from the
Daily Star, suggesting that, as its title pronounces, “post-MOSA
planning is long overdue.”
The story of Otsego County
and post-MOSA planning is long and complicated. I'm going to
try to sum it up concisely. A couple of years ago, the Board passed a
resolution signalling its intent to shape a public/private system to
address solid waste. That was quite a while ago. This
resolution makes it clear that conversations and research had been
going on a long time previous to the time when this resolution was
developed. In fact, that direction was the recommendation of Hans
Arnold, our consultant on solid waste. The Board had engaged Mr.
Arnold to help us with – all those many years ago - “post-MOSA
planning," among other solid waste issues.
If the decision had been
to let the private sector take over the solid waste system, then
there would have been little need for planning: we'd just let the biggest dog
sweep in, put the locals out of business, and enjoy their monopoly.
This is an approach that I'm especially unwilling to see come to
pass, and apparently the majority of the Board agrees with me (or
did, when the resolution is passed).
The demise of MOSA has
been long and unnecessarily painful, mostly due to the intransigence
of MOSA itself and, to a lesser extent, Schoharie County. And
Montgomery County only recently truly came on board for an clean and
equitable result. Otsego County – really, Board Chair Cathy Clark
and Representatives Linda Rowinski, James Powers and Keith McCarty,
with the invaluable assistance of Planning Directors Terry Bliss and
Karen Sullivan – has taken the lead from the beginning, working
hard to find the path toward a new and better way to handle our
trash.
Even so, it was only
recently – with the last couple of months – that progress in
defining the end of MOSA has been made. Right now, things seem to be
falling quickly into place, with all three counties (finally) working
together. Before this point, more detailed planning was impossible,
because we didn't have any idea of what the post-MOSA environment
would look like. For instance, Otsego County did not know if we would
end up with the two transfer stations (in Cooperstown and Oneonta),
and even if we did, whether we'd retain any of the equipment and
machinery associated with those stations.
The New York State
Legislature has to pass a law allowing the Authority (which the
Legislature created) to be dissolved – and this hasn't been done
very often, at least in recent history. Apparently, folks from all
over the state are watching our progress, as we invent a new way to
deconstruct an Authority which has been established by the
Legislature. This job isn't easy.
And post-MOSA planning –
meaning long, intense conversations among people who have a history
with MOSA and solid waste – continues, as it has for a number of
years. We still retain Hans Arnold as our consultant; in fact, in a
three-hour meeting yesterday that was mostly about post-MOSA
planning, the Solid Waste/Environmental Concerns Committee
recommended extending his contract (here's
a link to the minutes of all the SW/EC meetings this year). Options
are being developed and considered, now that we have a better idea
what we'll be working with. We are building this rocket ship as it is
taking off, and believe me, we're working hard on the post-landing
plan.
We All Need to Get Out and Vote
How much difference a
month can make!
The 'expensive blitzkreig'
I mentioned in the previous post, which caused all thousand-plus
signatures on Russ Bachman's petitions to be examined under a
microscope (unprecedented in recent history), resulted in enough
disallowed signatures that Russ will not be able to run at all. You
probably read about this in the Star.
And so Dan Crowell has
reorganized his plans for the future again, and has agreed to run for
the seat he's held for four years. He has no control over when, or
if, he is ever called up again for military training; he has been
engaged in special-ops training, and the security clearance for that
kind of thing can take any amount of time, including years. That's
why he had to leave on relatively short notice in February.
Dan is tremendously able
Treasurer. He's not only fully qualified to fulfill the job
description, he is also an articulate and committed teacher. This
quality is essential because we, the County Reps, are not qualified
to fulfill his job description. The County financial system and
budget processes are unbelievably complex and convoluted, and it's
very important that decisions made at every point be made responsibly
by a fully informed Board. In my time on the Board, Dan has led us
through these processes clearly and carefully. He has been available
for consultation on any County financial matter, and has worked
energetically to streamline systems and move managers and legislators
toward a more long-term, responsible view of County services.
“Hometown Oneonta” did a good job recently of describing his work
as Treasurer, in an almost-endorsement (I'd link to it, but their
website is a mess).
So it's still as important
as ever to get out and vote. It's important for Dan to remain the
Treasurer of Otsego County, because noone has done as good a job as
he has for a very long time. Although the County is in good fiscal
condition, times are still very tough and the work of planning for
the future in a wise and responsible manner is essential. I, for
one, want it to be Dan that helps us move through this time to a
(hopefully) more prosperous future.
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