Elected Officials Report on State of Otsego County

By MONICA CALZOLARI
ONEONTA

The Otsego County Chamber of Commerce held its annual State of the County breakfast on January 18. Roughly 200 people gathered at SUNY Oneonta’s Morris Hall to hear a panel comprised of Cooperstown Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh, Oneonta Mayor Mark Drnek, Assemblyman Brian Miller, Assemblyman Joe Angelino, Assemblyman Chris Tague, and County Board Chair Edwin Frazier address the current climate of Otsego County.

Former Senator Jim Seward was among the special guests. Senator Peter Oberacker was expected but unable to attend due to illness.

Cooperstown Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh was the first panelist to speak. She provided a summary of the Village of Cooperstown’s accomplishments for 2023 and a glimpse into plans for 2024. Tillapaugh oversees a $7 million annual budget, which supports 1,752 Cooperstown residents. Cooperstown’s fiscal year runs from June 1 to May 31, so the village was two-thirds of the way through its cycle when she spoke.

Tillapaugh acknowledged that tourism is both an “economic engine” as well as “a burden” for the village’s small budget. Grants are the major way in which Cooperstown supports its improvements, she said. The village was awarded a $4.5 million New York Forward grant last year and is awaiting the final determination as to what projects will be funded. The village also generates $400,000.00 in paid parking revenue annually, according to Tillapaugh.

The need for more housing at affordable prices was mentioned by most of the panelists. Tillapaugh discussed three proposed housing initiatives that would benefit Cooperstown with apartment-style housing. The development at 10 Chestnut Street is expected to be completed by late spring. A housing development on Averill Road initiated by the Templeton Foundation on behalf of Bassett Healthcare Network has experienced some delays. Another 50 units are planned for Main Street.
Oneonta Mayor Drnek reported that “in these past nine months, excluding college students, more than 300 new residents have joined us as neighbors in the city.”

This success corresponds to what Drnek referred to as a “twin strategy of increasing the density of our population and capturing and expanding local and visitor engagement. In short… we need to put feet on the street,” he said.

In addressing the need for more housing in Oneonta, Drnek announced a “re-engagement with RSS, Rehabilitation Support Services, for the development of 50-60 apartments, three-quarters of which will be priced for the workforce: people making $18,000.00-$60,000.00 a year.”

Drnek called for a renaissance in Oneonta.

He said, “The growth of the city and the town is not a binary, ‘one-or-the-other’ choice. As the town becomes an ever-greater magnet for development, and the city transforms into the area’s center of attraction, entertainment, niche shopping, and eclectic dining, all of Oneonta wins.”

Drnek emphasized the need for “holistic and collaborative solutions.” On February 6, Drnek will be unveiling a “Downtown Renaissance Program” that includes a state-of-the-art transit hub, enhancements to Market and Dietz streets, a community “maker space,” expanded activities on Muller Plaza, growing engagement in the visual arts, and new opportunities to embrace the 6,000 students in what he referred to as “our college town.”

County Board Chair Edwin Frazier summarized 2023’s major accomplishments in three buckets: 1) the opening of Oneonta’s The Gathering Place, which serves all local seniors; 2) the one-year anniversary of the county ambulance service, which has reduced response times and saved lives; and, 3) completion of the county’s Building Assessment Study, which resulted in a 4-inch-thick report detailing the inspection of every building in Otsego County.

Frazier said the county is in “good fiscal and financial” shape, with $25 million in fund balances “all earning interest in Otsego County banks.”

Assemblyman Brian Miller, representing the 122nd Assembly District, kept his remarks short in order to attend a doctor’s appointment with his pulmonary specialist. Miller shared that back in 2020, he contracted COVID-19 and spent two weeks on a ventilator and 35 days in an intensive care unit. He acknowledged that then-Senator Seward had also suffered from COVID and spent a week on a ventilator as well.

Miller addressed the newly proposed $233 billion state budget and accused Governor Kathy Hochul and the State of New York as being “on a crash course of unsustainable spending.” He explained the ripple effect of the governor’s promise for “no new income tax.” He said, the “trickle-down effect” is for the state to “increase fees at the county, town and city level.”

Assemblyman Chris Tague, representing the 102nd Assembly District, also criticized the governor for her rosy portrayal of the State of the State, agreeing with Miller. Tague said that when he took office, the state budget was $168 billion and the proposed $233 billion budget for 2024 was proof that state spending is out of control.

Tague said, “New York has the eighth highest gas taxes in the nation and tens of thousands of regulations.”

This creates a climate that is unfavorable for businesses, Tague contended.

Tague said New York received the grade of “F” on a list of best and worst states for doing business. He said “manufacturing jobs increased by 12 percent in the U.S., while New York lost 6 percent of its manufacturing jobs.”

“We have a workforce development and housing problem,” Tague added.

Assemblyman Joe Angelino recalled that when he was police chief and also fire chief in Norwich, he was “responsible for about one half of the city’s entire budget.”

Angelino educated the crowd, saying there are only 150 state assemblymen and that approximately 100 of those represent New York City while only 48-50 represent rural upstate New York. The challenge is that New York City gets the lion’s share of the attention, he said.

Angelino emphasized that “one size does not fit all.”

New York City has a subway stop every six blocks, while a resident of upstate New York may have to travel 40 miles by car to reach a hospital, he said.

One assemblyman pointed out that there are 11,000 bills proposed by the state Assembly each year and only about 1,000 bills get passed annually.

Oneonta Town Supervisor Randy Mowers ended things on a positive note. He reminded the crowd that “there is enough for everyone. We’ve got to embrace tourism.” Mower encouraged the audience to visit the racetrack in Davenport. Angelino also made a plug for the Northeast Classic Car Museum in Norwich.

All six panelists agreed that we should be promoting upstate New York so that downstaters who visit our region say, “I think I want to move there.”