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County Exec: Property Value Increase Due To Projects

The full valuation of assessed property value in the county has increased 2.2 percent in the 2019 tentative budget.

Last month, county officials released next year’s proposed budget that has a full valuation of assessed property value at $7,392,692,025, which is an increase of $160,032,866 when compared to the 2018 fiscal plan.

George Borrello, county executive, said even though there have been new large construction projects like the Celoron Chautauqua Harbor Hotel, which opened last month, and the DoubleTree by Hilton, expected to open later this year, the increase in total assessed property values in the county has also come from new housing construction.

“We’ve seen property value increase around the lakes, including Chautauqua Lake,” he said. “I know some people are saying property values around the lake are decreasing, but that is not the fact. There is a limited amount of land around the lake and people are choosing to knock down homes to build bigger homes. That naturally will increase the value.”

Borrello said where he lives, Sunset Bay in the town of Hanover, a lot of people are buying old cottages and turning them into year-round homes.

“That has an impact on property values as well,” he said. “You see that in a number of places. People taking seasonal homes and turning them into year-round homes.”

The new larger projects like the hotels add to the overall assessed property value for the county. However, Borrello said because of payment in lieu of tax agreements, the actual tax revenue the county will receive from these projects will be lower at first.

“The bigger projects like the Chautauqua Harbor Hotel and the DoubleTree in Jamestown, those are certainly significant projects, but they also get abatements from property taxes,” he said. “As far as property tax revenue, they are abated for a few years, but it is also where values have increased.”

In the proposed 2019 tentative county budget, the tax levy, which is the amount raised through the property tax according to the state Department of Taxation and Finance website, will increase $1,350,250 to a total of $62,374,600. If the tentative budget is passed as presented, the proposed 2.2 percent increase would be the highest tax levy increase in the county’s fiscal plan since 2012 when it rose 3.7 percent.

In other budget business, the financial plan for the first time in at least 10 years has no proposed use of unassigned fund balance, which is comparable to a savings account. Borrello said it is recommended that the county has a fund balance of between 5 to 15 percent of the total budget.

He said that the county has 6.5 percent of its total budget in savings, which is barely above the minimum recommended amount.

Other highlights of the tentative budget included Borrello discussing how he has proposed no change in the tax rate, which is $8.44 per $1,000 assessed property value. He said because the proposed budget doesn’t include any one-shot revenue increases it is a “major achievement” to have a tentative budget without a tax rate increase.

Borrello has also proposed a budget to invest $4.4 million in county infrastructure. He said county officials earlier this year had reallocated about $4 million from the undesignated fund balance over to the capital reserve account. Because of this, he said it is an opportunity to “beef up” the capital projects budget for 2019. He added that $3.4 million will be used to invest in Public Facilities Department equipment and to improve roads and bridges. Also, $600,000 will go to improve county facilities and $400,000 will go toward other vehicle and equipment investments.

The county executive is also proposing to shut down the landfill methane electric plan, which has been losing money. Borrello said in 2017 the operation lost $139,089 and this year the plant is projected to lose around $200,000. He said the proposal is to sell the methane gas as renewable natural gas. He added the plan should generate more than $1 million in profit with no investment in infrastructure.

In 2019, Borrello also wants to operate the emergency medical services program — also known as “fly-cars” — as a 24-hour, seven days a week operation. Currently, the fly-car program operates 12 hours a day, six days a week. He said the fly-car system has filled important gaps in EMS service throughout the county. However, he said sometimes there is still up to a 40-minute response time wait for EMS calls.

Overall, the $254 million 2019 budget proposal increases spending by $200,000 compared to the 2018 budget, which is less than .1 percent.

The Chautauqua County Legislature has started budget deliberations this week. The Audit and Control Committee is scheduled to make possible changes to the tentative budget Friday. To view the proposed budget, go to co.chautauqua.ny.us/Archive.aspx, go under budgets and select 2019 tentative budget.

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