LOCAL FALLOUT FROM EMERGENCY Jobless Claims Soaring; Sales-Tax Dip Expected By LIBBY CUDMORE • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com ONEONTA – In an average week, Alan Sessions, CDO Workforce disability resource coordinator, might field 25 calls about unemployment insurance. “In the last week, we’ve received 25 calls a day,” he said. “Sometimes the wait to talk with someone is an hour.” The majority of the calls, he said, are waitstaff, kitchen help and retail workers suddenly jobless as Governor Cuomo ordered stores and…
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DiNAPOLI: ADD $4B TO NY DEFICIT State Could Raid Counties’ Coffers To Fill Budget Gap Medicaid Shortfall Alone May Cost Otsego $1M, Ruffles Fears By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – As the State of New York begins to assess the impact of Governor Cuomo’s emergency declaration, issued Thursday, the chairman of Otsego County’s Emergency Task Force is fearful of the impact on the county budget. An initial assessment by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, posted in letter form…
HERE’S LIST OF ‘ESSENTIAL BUSINESSES’ HERE’S ‘STATE ON PAUSE’ PRESS RELEASE CUOMO ORDERS ‘NON-ESSENTIAL’ BUSINESS SHUT Cutoff Set For 8 p.m. Sunday; Soldiers, Police May Enforce It By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – The County of Otsego is seeking, first, to understand today’s “New York State on PAUSE” executive order directing a wide range of businesses to close by 8 p.m. Sunday and, second, to helpfully collaborate where it can. That was the message that county board…
CORONAVIRUS EDITION Local Governments Send 50% Of Staff Home By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – Following Governor Cuomo’s directive, Otsego County’s government and Oneonta’s City Hall took steps Tuesday, March 17, to send half of their workforce home. Cooperstown Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh Kuch said, because of the size of the village’s workforce, only “One or two” employees will be sent home. “We’re required to do this,” said county board Chairman David Bliss, R-Cooperstown/Town of Middlefield. “We’re not…
TASK FORCE SETS PRIORITIES Ruffles To Lead County Response To Corona Threat COOPERSTOWN – County Treasurer Allen Ruffles has been appointed to chair the task force that county board Chairman Dave Bliss convened this morning to implement the response to the coronavirus threat. The task force identified the following components that need to be addressed: Employee safety in the field – meeting state mandates and best practices. Limiting exposure at work Potential changes to work schedules and related labor issues…
EDITORIAL If Not Allen Ruffles, Someone With SOME Of His Qualities The question was, “Do you think THEY will let the county administrator do the job?” They, of course, being the county Board of Representatives. But the question misunderstands how the new county administrator job is envisioned. Judging from discussions surrounding the new job’s creation, the county representatives aren’t looking for someone to tell them what to do. They’re looking for someone who will allow them to do what THEY…
COUNTY TREASURER HOME Assigned To Djibouti, Ruffles Trained Rangers, Dodged Elephant Herd By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – Only once did Allen Ruffles feel he was in any danger. A sergeant in the 403rd Civil Affairs Battalion, Army Reserves, he was living in a small wooden house in Uganda, training local wildlife rangers in anti-poaching techniques. One morning, Ruffles – Otsego County treasurer in civilian life – heard a rumble and looked out the window at a…
Out of Africa County County’s 2020 Budget Under Tax Cap, Over $120M By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – The 2020 tentative Otsego County budget is done, by way of Uganda, Burundi and Tanganyika. It is under New York State’s tax cap, and Otsego County continues to be “one of the lowest taxed counties in the state,” County Treasurer (and Sgt.) Allen Ruffles reported Monday, Nov. 18, in a Zoom-enabled videoconference from his quarters in Djibouti, where he…
CLICK FOR TENTATIVE 2020 COUNTY BUDGET 2020 County Budget Would Top $120M COOPERSTOWN – The Otsego County Treasurer’s Office today released a tentative budget for 2020 that, if adopted as is, will cross the $120 million mark for the first time, by $200. If approved, the tax levy would rise 3.73 percent to $12,144,437. The public hearing on the budget is at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 26. The budget must be adopted by mid-December.…
LETTER from DAN CROWELL In September, Budget Is Always Out Of Balance; By Year’s End, Balanced To the Editor: I hope all is well in our hometown! I saw your article (“Treasurer Warns Of Overages, But Chair Unruffled,” Sept. 20 on www.All- OTSEGO.com) on the budget gap. For what it is worth, in some ways the county treasurer and county board chair’s perspectives are portrayed as divergent. However, from my experience, they are both right. There is no black magic…
