CLICK FOR TODAY’S PRESENTATION Ruffles Uses CHIPS, Plus Low-Cost Debt, To Balance ’21 Budget County Treasurer’s Model May Provide A Roadmap For Reps By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – Otsego County’s roads are paved with gold, County Treasurer Allen Ruffles has discovered. And that gold can balance the county’s 2021 budget and keep the tax-rate increase under the state-mandated 2 percent next year, Ruffles told the county board’s Budget Committee today. In unveiling a preliminary county budget…
Online home of The Freeman's Journal and Hometown Oneonta
Advertisement
meg kennedy - Page 6
CLICK FOR THIS YEAR’S WINNERS Again, Pioneer Patio Wins Beautification Contest 1st By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – One, it’s good business strategy. “We use them for advertising,” said Pioneer Patio proprietor, “to pull people down the alley” – Pioneer Alley, where the back of Main Street buildings aren’t much of a draw. Two, “it’s a labor of love, that’s for sure,” said Kathy, his wife and business partner. Three, it’s become a perennial prize-winner in a competitive…
County Board Moves Toward Lifting Tax Cap Action Possible At Sept. 2 Meeting By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – Facing a fiscal crunch, the county Board of Representatives today took the first step toward freeing itself from the state’s 2 percent property-tax cap in preparing its 2021 budget. At its August meeting, county board Chairman David Bliss, R-Cooperstown/Town of Middlefield, “put the law on the table,” and freshman representative Clark Oliver, D-Oneonta, seconded it. As County Attorney…
STATE HOLDS ON TO MONEY Reps Updated: All Financial News Bad By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – As at every meeting since the coronavirus threat arrived, all the financial news was bad when the county Board of Representatives met this morning. As state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli emphasized when he spoke to the county board last month, the state has yet to decide what funds will be sent out from Albany this year. Reporting on a presentation by…
EDITORIAL Testaments Tell Us: We CAN Do Better At first, the “Defund the Police” initiatives surfacing nationwide seem like a truly awful idea: a blunt instrument to dissect a complex challenge dramatized again by George Floyd’s May 25 death while being taken into custody in Minneapolis. But drilling down, benefits surface. It’s only a slight exaggeration to say that all organizations in Otsego County – local governments, non-profits, churches, businesses large and small, even newspapers – are rethinking operations in…
PROTESTS INSPIRE TALK OF REFORM After Protest In Cooperstown, Oneonta Mayor Wants Review By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com After “Justice for George Floyd” rallies in Oneonta, then Cooperstown, the focus is turning from talk to action. Local chapter Vice President Michelle Osterhoudt advised Mayor Gary Herzig of the NAACP’s four-point “We Are Done Dying” program, including a ban on chokeholds, opening police disciplinary records, and citizen review boards. Paula DiPerna, the Cooperstown climate activist, said she has asked…
JULY MEETING HELD TODAY County Board Retreats From Threatened Cuts To Promotion Agency By JIM KEVLIN ׇ• Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – After tabling the measure two weeks ago, the county Board of Representatives today rallied behind Destination Marketing of Otsego County, with nine reps rejecting a resolution to reduce funding for its promotional arm from 15 percent to 24 percent. Rep. Andrew Stammel, D-Town of Oneonta, proposed the larger cut for DMCOC, saying, “With the present state of the…
EDITORIAL Action Needed, And Responsible Majority Acted 9 ACCEPTED IMPERATIVE; 5 DIDN’T Sometimes things have to be done. Imperatives, they’re called. Such is the regrettable layoff of 59 county workers, a decision made May 20, a week ago Wednesday, by the Otsego County Board of Representatives. The layoffs go into effect Monday, June 8, the day county government is allowed to reopen. The vote was 9-4-1, with the nays all Democrats: a veteran county rep, Andrew Stammell, Town of Oneonta,…
59 LAYOFFS ENACTED BY COUNTY REPS Union Rejects ‘Olive Branch’ As Board Seeks To Ease Pain By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO..com COOPERSTOWN – After a 2½-hour executive session, the Otsego County Board of Representatives emerged this afternoon to vote, 9-4, with one absence, to lay off 58 employees, saving $1 million in the face of plummeting revenues caused by the coronavirus threat. The meeting, the second this month, was called specifically to decide on layoffs. Four Democratic county…
(new) NORMAL ARRIVING OTSEGO COUNTY ABOUT TO ENTER PHASE 1 OPENING In Week, Debate Over Baby Step Turns Into Big Forward Strides By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com For Otsego County businesses (and local governments that depend on the sales taxes they generate), it was the week the iceberg cracked. Just last Wednesday, May 6, the county Board of Representatives heatedly debated a mild resolution nudging Governor Cuomo to “reopen” Otsego County as soon as he could, please. “Leave…
