1,500 Revelers Evoke COVID-Spread Fears By LIBBY CUDMORE • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com NEW LISBON – County Treasurer Allen Ruffles arrived on the scene Thursday, Oct. 8, to issue a friendly advisory to organizers of the 23rd annual NY Harvest Fest & Freedom Fair/Political Rally. “We told them they couldn’t stay there,” said Ruffles, who was accompanied by county Sheriff Richard J. Devlin Jr. The day before, the county had seized the 144 acres for back taxes, he told owner George…
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County Treasurer Ruffles Has Way Out Of Crunch At 194 Main St., Cooperstown, the seat of Otsego County government, there’s been wailing and gnashing of teeth since COVID-19 arrived six months ago. Revenues dried up. Fifty-nine jobs were chopped. The county board waited fearfully as state and federal mandarins declined to pay back money spent on mandated programs in 2019. The county reps pondered raising taxes above the 2 percent state cap, political hari kari. County Treasurer Allen Ruffles cut…
County Sales-Tax Loss Largest Across NY State ‘Baseball, College Students’ Among Culprits COOPERSTOWN – Only two counties in New York State saw their sales tax drop in the most recent report – Hamilton in the Adirondacks and Otsego, county Treasurer Allen Ruffles reported to the county Board of Representatives this morning,. “It was very disheartening,” said Ruffles.…
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…
CLICK TO WATCH VIDEO LIVE County Treasurer Ruffles Set To Unveil His Version Of Tax-Hike Free ’21 Budget https://www.facebook.com/102347451408765/videos/369948947720001 Follow County Treasurer Allen Ruffle’s presentation of a proposed 2021 Otsego County budget, including recommendations for how to avoid a tax increase, when the county board’s Budget Committee convenes in a few moments. Click on video to listen live.…
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…
RUFFLES REPORTS: May Sales-Tax Check Here: 26% Lower Than Last Year By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – The May sales-tax check arrived at 197 Main St. today, and County Treasurer Allen Ruffles reports it is 26.9 percent lower than last year’s May check. That is a reduction of slightly less than $600,000, he said, but higher than the 25 percent NYSAC estimated. The sales-tax allocations are issued every other month, and Otsego County’s largest ones will be…
OTSEGO COUNTY BOARD, 5-6-20 2nd May Meeting Planned To Decide Extent Of Layoffs NYSAC Expected We’ll Lose Equivalent Of Twice Tax Levy By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – Today started with bad news for Otsego County’s 14 representatives and ended with worse. When the county board’s May meeting convened at 10 a.m. via Zoom, the county reps thought they were struggling with an $11 million deficit from coronavirus-related cuts. When it end, that had doubled to $22…
20% State Aid Cut Possible, Ruffles Tells Towns, Villages At Weekly Telephone Briefing By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – The county, town and village governments are facing a possible 20 percent reduction in state aid/reimbursements from Albany unless the federal government steps in to help, County Treasurer Allen Ruffles, county Coronavirus Task Force chairman, said today. Ruffles included that news in a transcript he prepares each Monday to brief local officials on impacts of the continuing coronavirus…
