chemung county legislature

Public discussions on the budget have been going back and forth between the legislature and the county executive since Nov. 8.

The chair of the legislature proposed eliminating the raises for the county executive, treasurer, clerk, sheriff and legislators.

County officials presented a budget earlier this month with a 2.5 percent increase to the property tax levy.

The law would have placed fines on people in "unauthorized campsites" of up to $1,000 and one year in jail, depending on the number of violations. Oftentimes, the campsites in question are created by people who are homeless.

The Chemung County government is embroiled in a dispute over its 15-year-old software system used to process requests for legislative actions.

The Chemung County Legislature passed a resolution last month approving a salary increase for the county executive. That’s the second pay bump for the position this year. But county residents have until September 11 to petition for a referendum on the November ballot, if they want to put the pay increase to a vote.

"The cost of this lawsuit, both in terms of money and time spent, is extremely unfortunate."