The Chemung County Legislature passed its 2025 budget earlier this month.
Public discussions on the budget have been going back and forth between the legislature and the county executive since Nov. 8.
On Dec. 5, Chemung County Executive Christopher Moss, vetoed the legislature’s amendment to the budget that eliminated a 3 percent cost of living raise for 19 elected county officials, including all 15 legislators.
In a reversal from last week, Chemung County legislators voted to keep the pay increases for county elected officials, including the treasurer, clerk, county executive and sheriff. However, legislators voted to forego their own raises in the process.
Moss said that in the 2024 budget, the treasurer, clerk, sheriff and himself did not receive a pay increase. Legislators did collect their 3 percent cost-of-living increase in 2024.
In his veto memo to the legislature, Moss said: “While I understand the optics of pay raises during a year in which there is a property tax increase, the reduction to the levy implemented by the legislature in 2022 is the primary cause for the property tax increase and full time county employees, elected, single rate or unionized, should not be penalized for that decision.”
The county executive received a 15 percent pay increase in 2023, bringing his salary to $164,000.
Chair of the legislature, Mark Margeson, said that because of the previous decision by the legislature to keep the tax levy low a couple of years ago, the county executive is adding taxes back into subsequent budget years little by little. This includes the 2.5 percent property tax levy for 2025.
“What was done is they changed the levy, and that levy continues on through life, and I felt that that was a very challenging situation to put us in,” said Margeson. “So, what's happened is, you'll notice in the budget, the county executive is continuing to raise the levy a little bit and making those changes.”
Margeson said he proposed the amendment that eliminated pay increases for elected officials to assuage voters about the impending 2.5 percent increase to the property tax levy in the 2025 budget.
“I felt that I did my job voting for no raise when we raise taxes and we increase the levy,” said Margeson. “My bottom line is, it's optics. [That's] all it is. It's the low hanging fruit. It's something for people to complain about. That's all it is, [it] doesn't affect the budget, nothing at all.”
On Dec. 9, the legislature voted to accept the county executive’s veto. Pay increases are now back in the budget for some elected positions.
Addressing the full legislature, Legislator John Burin said the total amount for the raises for the initial 19 positions was $24,500. He said that is “peanuts” compared to the rest of the multi-million dollar budget.
“It's the responsibility that goes along with sitting in each one of these seats,” said Burin. “And I gotta say this, some of us around here, most of us around here, if not all of us… work very hard at what we do to try to keep the best interest of the taxpayers in mind every day.”
Burin mentioned the rising costs of state-mandated expenses and the ballooning price tag of a sewer district consolidation project as top areas of focus for concern.
State-mandated programs include Medicaid, special education and pre K, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, probation and indigent defense funds budgeted at $46.3 million.
The sewer consolidation is a $275 million project. The county’s 2025 budget includes $5.8 million for Sewer District #1 and $7.5 million for the Elmira Sewer District.
The county expects to see a deficit by the end of the year. More than $8 million of unassigned fund balance will be used to close the budget gap, according to officials.
The next full meeting of the legislature is Jan. 13, 2025.