EDITORIAL Much To Be Proud Of In Response To COVID-19 Despite the chilling toll – 3,483 COVID-19 cases and 54 deaths – Otsego County people, our neighbors, friends and family, have a lot to be proud of as we ended The Year of The Pandemic on Monday, March 15, we found in revisiting the last 52 editions of this newspaper. Throughout, there was worry, dismay and grief in the face of the implacable and mysterious foe, but little panic. In…
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Editorial In COVID Year, Leaders Did Step Up The choice of Heidi Bond, “General in the Fight Against COVID-19,” as we put it, has been seconded by many since the “Citizen of the Year” edition appeared last week. She and her team at the Otsego County Department of Health rose to the challenge. All of us thank her for her tireless contributions in 2020. Otsego County has been lucky in leadership this year. Here are four other individuals who shone,…
PLAN STAYS BELOW TAX CAP Public Hearing Held On ’21 County Budget…
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…
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…
