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.

Edwin Frazier Jr., chair of the Otsego County Board of Representatives, also spoke on this decision, claiming that the choice to increase coverage led to improved response times that has already saved multiple lives.

Meanwhile, Mark Drnek, mayor of Oneonta, wants to encourage students from SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick College to stay and join the community permanently after graduation.

“Half of our population are college students and it is important they are engaged citizens,” he said.

Later, Drnek added to this sentiment, asking, “What do you want to do as a 25-year-old or someone with a young family? What can Oneonta do for you?” and said that if five to 10 percent of the student population stayed local after graduation, the impact on the local economy “would be exponential.”

“Oneonta will continue its march into an era of renaissance…we need to make Oneonta a welcoming city,” Drnek continued, saying he wanted the city to have a diversity of businesses and to be “artistic.”

“A city that thrives is typically dense,” he later said in response to a question from the audience. “You need to provide housing…you need to give [people] something they want to do.”

Most speakers specifically pointed to the need for more, better, and less expensive housing as a way to draw in additional people to join the local community and workforce.

Ellen Tillapaugh, mayor of Cooperstown, reported that the Village of Cooperstown is now officially designated a “Pro-Housing Community,” and that recent changes in zoning laws have encouraged short-term housing—such as vacation weekend homes for tourists—to become long-term rentals instead, helping to alleviate the shortage of permanent housing in Cooperstown.

As a result of the changes in zoning laws, Tillapaugh reports a 50 percent decrease in short-term rentals in the village. She noted that the Village of Cooperstown has not had an increase in its property taxes in more than 11 years.

Frazier also reported attempts to chip away at the housing crisis. He said plans are in motion to add four more tiny homes for those suffering homelessness in the local communities, bringing the total to 10 such homes. Those utilizing these structures will receive access to mental health support and job training, he explained.

In addition to the housing needs, services and “home rule” came up when discussing how to help Otsego County to grow.

Both Angelino and state Assemblyman Brian Miller, Assembly District 122, discussed the lack of parity between upstate and downstate interests.

“What works in the Bronx or Queens doesn’t work in Milford,” Angelino said, to murmurs of approval. Later, he added, “We are the fourth most populated state, [but] the budget is more than Texas and Florida combined…I vote ‘no’ a lot, and it’s all about affordability.”

“All we’re doing is taking money from your left pocket and putting it into your right,” Miller said, in reference to Governor Kathy Hochul’s plan to give tax rebates from sales taxes, which produced more money than expected last year.

Miller also commented on what he saw as “grand gestures” when it comes to environmental legislation, with goals that can’t be reached.

“We all want to take care of our environment, but it’s coming out of our pocketbooks and our projections can’t be hit,” he exclaimed.

Miller specifically referred to the rapidly-approaching deadline for the switch to all-electric school buses as not being feasible in Upstate New York.

Angelino discussed his keen interest in eminent domain, protesting that “they are taking away our home rule.”

“We are a large, rural area and you can’t continue to put solar panels on our tillable farmland,” was the example Angelino gave—particularly solar panels that he claimed will serve New York City, not the communities in which they are located.

Angelino named not only the loss of farmland, but also the construction of the lines needed to run this power to the city as disruptive to the communities affected. He stressed that, instead, roof space and space on building siding should be used by New York City to generate its own power via solar panels.

Angelino’s example drew protest from an attendee during the question and comment period. The appeal to solar farms on farmland as an example of New York City overriding home rule was called an “emotional argument,” and the speaker claimed that most of the solar power generated would be used locally, not run down to New York City.

Miller also bemoaned the focus on downstate infrastructure by the governor’s office. While Gov. Hochul recently has been discussing how to make trains into and out of New York City more efficient, Miller stressed that such infrastructure is not available to upstate residents and that local roads need attention as well.

Sean Lewis, Otsego County Chamber of Commerce president, wrapped up the event with a few words of his own.

“What we need is people filling storefronts…they pay taxes and hire employees,” Lewis stressed. “People are looking for local shops. Those types of businesses are the future of the county.”