Officials Discuss 'State of the County'
Population Decline, Housing Top Among Local Concerns
By SARAH ROBERTS
ONEONTA
On Thursday, January 16, around 70 Otsego County residents, business owners, and community leaders met in the Morris Conference Center at SUNY Oneonta to listen to state, county, and town representatives give their annual “State of the County” addresses.
The meeting opened with New York State Assemblyman Joe Angelino, Assembly District 101, discussing his goal to stabilize population loss in Upstate New York.
“The [number of] people coming from New York City is not enough to offset population loss,” he said.
The loss in population—and the impact it has on the size of the local workforce— was a recurring theme.
“The pandemic on all levels was bad, but especially for our workforce,” said Steve Wilson, Otsego County administrator. “The [Otsego County Board] has been trying very hard to get vacancies down [in service and workforce].”
Specifically, Otsego County does not have sufficient police or EMS coverage, according to Wilson.
“The board has made the difficult decision to fund 24/7 police coverage with property taxes,” he said.
“They struggled with this,” Wilson continued, “but ultimately decided that it was for the best. However, [the board] wants to keep property taxes low so that we’re not an impediment for housing,” he added.
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