Highlights of the 9/24/26 Expanded Budget Committee meeting

Published on September 30, 2026

Watch the video recording

The Expanded Budget Committee held its final evening of departmental budget presentations on September 24, hearing from the Sheriff’s Office, Probation Department, County Attorney, Office of Human Rights, and County Administration.

With the fact-finding portion of the process complete, legislators will next hear from residents at the Oct. 1 Public Forum before beginning voting on proposed amendments to the Recommended Budget (see schedule at the end).

The table below provides a snapshot of the budgets presented during the meeting, followed by summaries of the presentations and key discussion. “Local share” is the portion of a department or agency budget supported by county dollars after outside revenues such as state and federal aid are applied. Comparing local share helps show how each budget affects the county’s overall funding needs and property tax levy.

Approximately $569,000 in additional local share is equivalent to a 1% increase in the county’s property tax levy. Budget figures shown below are rounded.

Sheriff’s Office - Road

Sheriff Derek Osborne presented the law enforcement budget, which supports road patrol, investigations, civilian response teams, Sheriff’s clerks and CARE Team functions, civil and records operations, and the STOP-DWI program. The 2027 staffing plan reflects 59 FTEs.

Osborne explained that the 2026 budget appears significantly larger than earlier years for several reasons. Positions associated with the Reimagining Public Safety initiative, including the CARE Team and Sheriff’s clerks, were incorporated into the regular budget; road patrol salaries increased following settlement of a labor contract; and Special Patrol Officer costs were shifted from Corrections to Law Enforcement. Revenue also declined after administration of the GIVE grant moved to the City of Ithaca.

The committee also discussed the STOP-DWI reserve, which has accumulated approximately $400,000. Osborne said costs declined after he assumed STOP-DWI coordinator responsibilities as a collateral duty rather than maintaining a separate full-time position. The reserve is restricted to eligible STOP-DWI purposes and requires state approval, but potential uses could include eligible portions of law enforcement equipment or staffing that directly supports DWI enforcement.

Sheriff’s Office – Corrections

The Sheriff described operation of the jail as a mandated county responsibility, with the department responsible not only for safely housing incarcerated individuals but also for providing medical care and other services intended to stabilize people before their return to the community. Medical costs can vary significantly from year to year because the county is responsible for necessary care provided to incarcerated individuals.

Corrections staffing is fully staffed at 49 FTE. The department has also increasingly used retired Sheriff’s Office employees as Special Patrol Officers to conduct inmate transports. That allows correction officers to remain at the jail rather than leaving the facility for transportation assignments.

The department submitted two OTRs that were not included in the County Administrator’s Recommended Budget: an upgrade to the jail’s video management system and a second full-time registered nurse.

Second jail nurse

The jail currently has one full-time RN. The Sheriff’s Office said it has had difficulty filling per diem nursing coverage, leaving periods when no medical professional is on site. A second nurse would provide more consistent coverage for new intakes, medication management, and medical assessments and would reduce the reliance on correction officers to distribute evening medications.

Undersheriff Jennifer Olin said the State Commission of Correction has repeatedly identified the single-nurse staffing level as a deficiency during annual medical reviews. The committee discussed whether an LPN or part-time position could provide a less costly alternative, although staff noted that an LPN would have a more limited scope of practice than an RN. Administration is also exploring whether OASAS funding or additional coordination with Whole Health could offset some nursing costs.

Legislators asked whether adding a nurse could also reduce emergency-room and transportation costs. Administration agreed to provide historical information on ER visits and associated correction-officer overtime before voting, while noting that many serious medical cases would still require hospital treatment regardless of on-site nursing coverage.

Video management system

The jail’s current video management system is aging, and its software has reached end-of-life status. A full system replacement was estimated at approximately $538,000. The Sheriff’s Office proposed taking a multi-year approach, including replacing two or three priority cameras each year. Approximately $12,000 was requested for cameras and installation, but staff explained that newer cameras cannot provide their full functionality without an upgrade to the underlying video management system. The Sheriff’s Office has also applied for up to $250,000 through a law-enforcement technology grant to help fund the camera system.

A lengthy discussion identified a discrepancy in how the software request is displayed in the budget. Corrections Captain Lauran Harrison said its existing Black Creek maintenance agreement costs $75,556, with a $42,691 enhancement for the upgraded system, totaling $118,247. The online budget presentation did not clearly distinguish the existing support cost from the enhancement. Administration and the Sheriff’s Office agreed to reconcile the figures before EBC voting.

Probation & Community Justice

The Probation Department provides court-ordered intake, investigation, and supervision services. It also operates two discretionary alternatives-to-incarceration programs, community service and day reporting, that use restorative-justice principles and can help individuals complete supervision and, when appropriate, receive early discharge.

The department has 32 full-time employees, including 23 sworn peace officers and nine support staff. 18 of the sworn officers carry regular caseloads. The department submitted a maintenance-of-effort budget with no enhancements or OTRs for 2027; most of the year-to-year increase is attributable to salary and fringe costs. Probation has not added staff in several years and lost one probation officer during the 2021 COVID-related budget reductions.

Probation Director Dan Cornell focused much of his presentation on increasing caseloads. Before COVID, the department averaged approximately 583 active supervision cases per month from 2017 through 2019. Caseloads dropped to a low of 386 in September 2022 but have since risen steadily. By September 2026, the department had returned to approximately the caseload level it carried when COVID began, while also having fewer staff available for general supervision.

During the lower-caseload period, Probation also took on additional responsibilities, including serving as the sole case-management agency for Ithaca Wellness and Recovery Court and participating in the GIVE initiative. Cornell said the department expects to manage through 2027 without additional staffing but cautioned that additional capacity may be needed in 2028 if caseload growth continues.

The 2027 budget eliminates a $20,000 contract with BOCES for GED instruction at the Day Reporting Program. Cornell said equivalent GED services are already available free of charge nearby, during both daytime and evening hours, as well as at other locations and online. Probation will continue referring clients to those services.

Cornell also flagged a longer-term organizational concern. The department has operated for roughly 15 years without a supervisory position contemplated under state regulations, requiring the deputy director to directly supervise line staff in addition to administrative duties. He said that arrangement has become increasingly difficult as the department’s responsibilities grow and may need to be addressed in a future budget.

County Attorney

County Attorney Maury Josephson identified four principal areas of work: legal advice to county government, Family Court and juvenile-justice prosecution, civil litigation, and Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) administration. Staffing remains unchanged for 2027, with three attorneys and two support/paralegal staff.

One of the office’s largest workload pressures is FOIL. Josephson said the office had handled approximately 475 requests so far in 2026, with requests not only increasing in number but also becoming more complex. The JustFOIA system implemented earlier this year has helped staff track requests, although the office continues to devote substantial staff time to reviewing records.

Asked whether artificial intelligence could help manage FOIL requests, the County Attorney said AI-assisted searching may have potential but could also generate large volumes of irrelevant records that staff would still have to review, potentially increasing rather than decreasing workload.

Office of Human Rights

County Administrator Korsah Akumfi presented the Office of Human Rights budget, describing the office as a point of access for residents seeking information and assistance related to discrimination, education and outreach, and referrals to organizations such as the New York State Division of Human Rights.

Akumfi said the office has been largely inactive for approximately two years because of vacancies. The former Human Rights director resigned in late 2024, a part-time education and outreach position was eliminated in 2025, and the receptionist has been out since late 2025. The county has now hired a Human Rights Program Manager, who was expected to begin work the following week. Administration described the change as an opportunity to rebuild and reassess the program. The new program manager will report to the County Administrator and work with the Chief Equity and Diversity Officer and community organizations to determine the office’s future direction.

For 2027, the director and receptionist positions are not funded; the new program manager position is funded instead. Total recommended expenses decline from approximately $249,000 in 2026 to $123,000 in 2027, primarily because of the staffing changes.

County Administration

County Administrator Korsah Akumfi and Deputy County Administrator Norma Jayne closed the departmental presentations with the County Administration budget. Administration coordinates implementation of legislative policy and oversees functions including budget development, operational oversight, contracts and compliance, risk management, employee health and safety, public information, equity and diversity, and FOIL appeals. The department also administers broader county obligations including insurance, unallocated revenues, debt service, contingency, interfund transfers, community-college chargebacks, and the opioid settlement fund.

Administration cautioned that its gross budget fluctuates significantly because ARPA and other countywide funds have flowed through its accounts. To provide a clearer picture of actual county-supported operations, the presentation identified an approximately $2.4 million target and an approximately $2.6 million recommended local share. The department currently has 12 FTEs and is proposing two additional centralized positions. A $50,000 Communications request for a community survey consultant and a $4,500 Risk Management training request were not supported.

Communications Specialist

The Recommended Budget includes $89,000 for a Communications Specialist. Administration said the position would provide backup for emergency and day-to-day public information work and during absences, while creating capacity for longer-term work involving website accessibility, public engagement, and other countywide initiatives. The proposal also centralizes a communications position in support of all departments that had previously been dedicated to Workforce Development.

During discussion, a legislator asked what would not get done if the position were postponed. Communications Director Monika Salvage explained that the principal impact would be on longer-term strategic work that is repeatedly displaced by daily operational demands, including implementation of strategic-plan objectives, website governance and accessibility, and other projects requiring sustained work across multiple departments.

Grants and Contracts Coordinator

Administration is also proposing a new Grants and Contracts position intended primarily to help departments identify and apply for outside funding while also providing backup for contract and compliance work. The county currently has one staff member responsible for more than 1,700 annual county contracts. Administration said the additional position would also help departments better account for allowable administrative and indirect costs when applying for grants and projected that, over time, additional outside funding and recovered costs could offset the position’s expense.

A legislator asked whether contract responsibilities might consume the new employee’s time and limit grant-seeking work. Administration said grant development would remain the primary focus, while the broader skill set would provide backup during absences and help strengthen grant budgeting and compliance.

Other Administration items

The Recommended Budget also includes approximately $363,000 in opioid settlement funding for the Sheriff’s Office CARE Team.

Other countywide items discussed include a $630,000 contribution to the insurance reserve, an increase in the contingency fund from $1.3 million to $1.5 million, and an increase in the outside-community-college line (cost for residents attending community colleges outside the county) from $450,000 to $520,000, based on recent actual costs.

Legislators also asked about centralized software spending. Administration said approximately $25,000 in the Public Information budget supports shared tools such as SurveyMonkey and Canva, with licenses distributed to departments. The county is increasingly consolidating software where enterprise licensing can reduce costs or provide needed security and compliance features, including Adobe products and tools under consideration for countywide artificial-intelligence use.

Chair’s closing remarks

At the conclusion of the final round of departmental presentations, EBC Chair Deborah Dawson noted that legislators had now “heard from all the witnesses” and were moving from gathering information to considering amendments to the Recommended Budget. She encouraged residents to participate in the October 1 Public Forum, emphasizing that legislators need to hear directly from constituents about both the county services they value and what they are willing to pay for.

Dawson also urged legislators to keep affordability in mind as they prepare amendments, noting that while legislators understand the costs of maintaining county services, they must also consider the financial pressures facing residents. She asked legislators to weigh proposed changes carefully.

What’s next?

Public Forum

On October 1, County Administration will hold a Public Forum at 5 p.m. in the Legislature Chambers. Residents are invited to comment on the Recommended Budget either in person or via Zoom. County Administration will provide a brief overview before public comment.

Voting meetings

With department and agency presentations concluded, the EBC will move into budget deliberations on October 5 and 8, both beginning at 5 p.m. A third voting meeting is scheduled for October 13 at 5 p.m. if needed. During these meetings, legislators may propose amendments to the Recommended Budget. The EBC will vote on those amendments, and any that pass will be forwarded as recommendations for consideration by the full legislature.