Highlights of the 9/8/26 Expanded Budget Committee meeting

Published on September 11, 2026

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Expanded Budget Committee Chair Dawson (D-Lansing, Ithaca Town) opened the third evening of budget presentations by reminding legislators to keep questions focused on the budgets before them rather than broader policy discussions. County Administrator Korsah Akumfi noted that year-to-year increases can occur even when a department has no enhancement or Over-Target Request (OTR) because of factors such as wages, fringe benefits, contract costs, changes in grant revenue, and shifts between budget accounts.

The committee heard from the Tompkins County Soil and Water Conservation District, Recycling and Materials Management, the Board of Elections, the County Clerk, and the Department of Emergency Response.

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.

Soil & Water Conservation District

District Manager John Negley presented a 2027 county appropriation request of $315,000, unchanged from 2026 and fully included in the County Administrator’s Recommended Budget. The county appropriation supports two administrative positions, the district manager and an account clerk, while the district’s five technical staff are supported largely through state appropriations, grants, and program revenues.

Negley described the district’s work in areas including watershed protection, invasive species control, stormwater management, drinking water protection, erosion control, environmental management, and flood resiliency. The district also generates revenue through grants and fee-based services such as tree and shrub sales, stream and wetland consultations, agricultural assessment worksheets, tire recycling, and erosion-control work.

Negley characterized the district as a revenue generator, saying its goal is to bring $5 back into the local economy for every county dollar invested. He pointed to state and federal grants, including funding through the state Environmental Bond Act, as opportunities not only for Soil and Water projects but also for other county departments working on culverts, green infrastructure, and flood resiliency.

The presentation also clarified an apparent historical decline in the district’s appropriation. A roughly $200,000 difference in earlier years represented a cash-flow account used to advance contractor payments while awaiting state reimbursement; that recurring transaction ended in 2025. The current $315,000 figure represents the district’s ongoing operating appropriation.

Legislator Brown (R-Newfield, Enfield), who serves on the Soil and Water board, noted that the district recently received a positive audit and highlighted its success obtaining outside funding.

Recycling & Materials Management

Director Leo Riley and Deputy Director Kat McCarthy presented a 2027 enterprise fund budget reaching approximately $10 million, about $631,000 more than the 2026 budget. As an enterprise fund, Recycling and Materials Management is supported through dedicated fees and revenues rather than the property tax levy.

The most significant proposed change is an increase in the Solid Waste Annual Fee from $85 to $95 per residential unit. The $10 increase is expected to generate approximately $711,000 in additional revenue and is included in the County Administrator’s Recommended Budget. Department staff said the increase is intended to stabilize the fee for approximately three to five years, although the next curbside recycling contract, currently worth roughly $3 million, remains a significant future uncertainty.

The fee supports programs that cannot appropriately be funded through disposal charges alone, including recycling collection, organics management, waste reduction and reuse programs, closed landfill management, administration, and household hazardous waste services.

Major 2027 cost drivers include approximately $367,000 in increases across four major contracts, largely due to inflation and fuel; approximately $129,000 in salary increases; a new $111,000 central administration cost allocation; and a $40,000 increase in legal expenses connected to local-law revisions and the upcoming curbside recycling procurement.

At the same time, the department is budgeting more conservatively for revenue from recyclable commodities. The 2027 budget assumes an average commodity revenue of $55 per ton, compared with a 2026 budget assumption of $80. Actual revenues have been substantially lower than earlier projections; Riley said the three-year average is approximately $57 per ton.

The department requested no enhancements, although several new initiatives are incorporated into the existing budget. These include support for businesses affected by the lower state food-scraps recycling threshold, expansion of residential organics diversion efforts, an e-cigarette disposal initiative, implementation of updated solid-waste laws and revised fees.

Legislator Mezey (D-Dryden) questioned whether annual licensing fees for professional waste haulers and surcharges for uncovered loads were high enough to serve as meaningful deterrents. Department staff agreed the hauler fee could be examined further.

Legislator Packman (D-Ithaca City) asked whether the annual fee could be structured differently between residential, commercial and higher-education users. Staff explained that a previous restructuring changed how colleges and universities are assessed, so increases in the unit fee now affect those institutions as well.

Board of Elections

Commissioners Stephen DeWitt and Alanna Congdon presented the Board of Elections budget. The department administers elections for municipalities, maintains the voter-registration database, and provides technical support to school districts, fire districts, and other local entities.

Although the overall budget was described as generally consistent with recent years, Legislator Hubbard (D-Ithaca City, Town) noted that the 2027 local share increases by $108,337, or 8.6%. She pointed out that a department can have no OTRs while still experiencing a meaningful year-to-year increase because of salaries, fringe benefits, and changes among individual operating accounts. Program supplies decrease by approximately $74,000 while service contracts increase by approximately $31,000. The commissioners explained that some of the service contract increases are simply a reclassification of expenses previously shown under program costs. Election expenses also naturally fluctuate depending on the election calendar.

The committee discussed reimbursement for elections conducted on behalf of other jurisdictions. School districts and villages pay for their elections, while certain municipal election costs are charged back on a delayed cycle. The commissioners noted that the 2028 budget is expected to increase because of the presidential primary.

Legislators also recognized the Board of Elections’ recent work on election security and preparedness.

County Clerk & DMV

County Clerk Maureen Reynolds presented her final budget before retirement. Reynolds said the department met its fiscal target, expects strong real estate-related revenues to continue into 2027, and continues to seek efficiencies through technology.

At the beginning of the meeting, County Administrator Akumfi highlighted a roughly 26.6% increase within the County Clerk’s motor vehicle budget, attributing much of it to replacement scanners and a new DMV camera system.

The presentation emphasized customer service at both the Clerk’s Office and DMV. Reynolds said DMV customer-satisfaction results are typically 96% or higher and highlighted positive public feedback about speed and service.

Legislator Hubbard asked about mortgage recording taxes and transfer-related revenues. Reynolds and administration explained that much of the revenue collected through the Clerk’s Office does not remain in the department’s operating budget; it is transferred to unallocated county revenues or other designated purposes. Mortgage recording tax, for example, does not directly offset most Clerk’s Office expenses.

Emergency Response

Department of Emergency Response (DoER) Director Michael Stitley and Deputy Director Jessica Verfuss described the department’s five divisions: 911 dispatch, the public safety communications/radio system, emergency medical services, emergency management, and countywide security. The department has approximately 55 FTEs, with no new positions proposed for 2027.

Administration identified Emergency Response as having an approximately 13.8% increase in local share. The significant factor is the conclusion of a $300,000 grant that previously supported the Rapid Medical Response (RMR) program. In 2027, local dollars will fully cover the cost of maintaining the existing RMR service level. A separate potential expansion remains contingent on a pending grant and is not included in the 2027 budget. The department also has increased responsibility for the countywide security program.

Department staff explained that grant budgeting has also changed. For multi-year grants, the budget now includes only the amount expected to be spent in a given year rather than recording the full award up front. The department recently received approximately $2.2 million in new grant funding over the next five years, but those revenues will be distributed across the applicable budget years.

The only enhancement request is approximately $4,700 to reclassify an existing public safety officer position to a supervisory role. The position would provide backup supervision for the countywide security program and assume responsibility for access-control and video-surveillance systems now managed by Emergency Response. Department leadership said the change would create greater operational depth as the security program expands.

Department leadership also said some requested amounts for 911 overtime, tower-site fuel, and electricity were reduced in the Administrator’s Recommended Budget. They believe the department can likely operate within those amounts, although actual use, particularly overtime and utilities, remains difficult to predict.

The committee also discussed a proposed expansion of peer support services that is not included in the County Administrator’s Recommended Budget. Stitley said DoER had developed the staffing and cost information for the proposal but understood that the position might be advanced through another department. Administration said the proposal had been discussed with Human Resources and Whole Health but was not included in the 2027 Recommended Budget because of fiscal constraints. Legislator Weiser (D-Caroline, Danby) requested the cost information so the proposal could be evaluated as a possible EBC amendment.

The Expanded Budget Committee will continue its review of the County Administrator’s Recommended Budget on September 10, hearing from the District Attorney, Veterans Services, Planning, Tourism, Transportation Planning, Workforce Development, and Airport.