At its last meeting, the Otsego Town Board reviewed the recent New York legislative rule that gave local taxing authorities the option to grant a 10 percent property tax exemption to qualified volunteer firemen and EMT workers. After a lengthy discussion, the board voted to table the issue pending further review by the town’s attorney, Will Green.
At the meeting, Green pointed out that volunteers would have to make a choice between receiving the $200.00 per year tax credit to which they are already entitled and exercising the option for the tax exemption. Because the difference between the credit and the amount that would result from taking the exemption was so great, it would make no economic sense for any volunteer to exercise the option when applied to the town’s real estate tax liability on the average house, Green explained.
Nevertheless, as Supervisor Ben Bauer noted, if the other taxing authorities—such as the school district and the county—passed a similar law providing for the exemption, then the total might be sufficiently high enough to have the exercise of the option make sense, but only if applied to a very high real-estate valuation.
It was the general consensus that the real intent of the state was to shift the cost of the volunteer tax credit from the state to the localities. However, rather than not passing the law, it was decided any final decision should await future developments. Since any option would have no effect until the 2024 tax year, there was no time pressure and the issue could be tabled until some future date.
Last Sunday the annual Sugaring Off celebration, heralding the evasive but long-hoped-for beginning of spring, made its first appearance of the season at The Farmers’ Museum. This event, which runs for four Sundays, offers maple syrup and everything that goes with it to myriad visitors; the village and farm buildings are open for exploration, and the animals are eager for a pat on the head. Sugaring Off Sundays anticipates the April opening of the Farmers’ and Fenimore’s doors and gates for the 2023 season.
The reason for this activity is local maple syrup, provided by the Otsego County Maple Producers. The syrup, boiled down from sap tapped from 30-year-old sugar maples, is an ancient and local phenomenon first produced by Native Americans in the mid-16th century.
Over the last couple of weeks, two well-known public figures have selected to seek hospice services. One is former President Jimmy Carter and the other actor Tom Sizemore. Sadly, Tom Sizemore just died with a relatively short hospice stay, while President Carter remains on hospice. We at Helios Care believe that the longer one is on hospice, up to six months or more, the greater the benefits of the multidisciplinary approach to the patient and the family. We provide nursing, social workers, chaplains, and home health aides to support patient and family, as well as bereavement support for the family following the passing of their loved one.
The New York State Emergency Medical Services Council’s “2023 EMS Agenda for Future,” released last month, inspected challenges involved in supplying EMS delivery by creating topic-specific subgroups to study agencies, education, government, support, operations, hospitals and staffing.
The Center for Public Safety Management’s recent “EMS Services Delivery Report” did the same by analyzing data from the computer-aided dispatch system at Otsego County’ Emergency 911 center. Among the many challenges examined by these studies, the two main issues identified—which are not isolated to New York State—are the existing systems of funding and changing communities.
OTSEGO COUNTY Children ages 11 through 13 throughout Otsego County have an opportunity to win a free week at a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation summer camp through a special lottery offered by the Otsego County Conservation Association. The lottery is open through the month of March, with winners announced on March 31, OCCA officials said.
“For over 75 years, DEC summer camps have offered young people so many wonderful educational experiences in the great outdoors,” said Amy Wyant, OCCA’s executive director. “We are pleased to be able to once again offer this opportunity to children in the area.”
I have been following the movements of the Board of Representatives and the 911 director over the last two years in regard to the county’s paid EMS program that the constituents of Otsego County never approved. After reading last week’s article on AllOtsego.com, I have many thoughts to share and questions to be answered.
The Board of Representatives, including prior members, has never aggressively helped fire/EMS volunteerism in Otsego County. They have never offered county-wide incentives that made a substantial difference in volunteers’ lives. To that point, I have watched regulations get jammed down volunteers’ throats while telling them they need to pay for their own courses, they need certain certifications which they must also pay for, they must have certain levels of expertise—all without any form of incentive or financial assistance to do so.
By TED MEBUST OTSEGO COUNTY The Milford and Schenevus branches of Community Bank NA will permanently close their doors on Friday, April 28, the organization announced. The decision came due to a recognition that “branch business has slowed,” according to Sarah Doud, the bank’s public relations representative.
“This is not a decision we make lightly,” said Doud. “We need to continue to serve the people of Schenevus and Milford through nearby locations and through our online and mobile services.”
Inside an ambulance owned by the Cooperstown Emergency Squad, just one of many volunteer-based EMS agencies working alongside the county service. (Photo by Ted Mebust)
By TED MEBUST OTSEGO COUNTY In December of 2021, the Otsego County Board of Representatives, at the recommendation of its Public Safety and Legal Affairs Committee, implemented a 24-hour, county-based advanced life support ambulance service, buying two ambulances and staffing 16 full-time and 10 part-time paramedics. Previously, pre-hospital emergency medical services had been largely carried out by the 17 volunteer-based EMS agencies serving the county, most associated with local fire departments. However, these first responders had reached a breaking point and were the first to sound an alarm.
“After COVID-19, I had a number of squad captains calling me, begging us to do something because they couldn’t handle the load anymore. Essentially, you’ve got the same six, seven people who are pulling all the work. They’re spread thin and they just can’t do it anymore,” said Dan Wilber, chair of Otsego County PSLA, District 10 representative, and 47-year EMS volunteer. “EMS was receiving calls from people who were dying on the phone when they were calling for help because we could not get them emergency medical care.”
This photo from the filming of “A Roadhouse Coup” shows, from left, Otsego County District Attorney John Muehl as Agent Williams, Cooperstown Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh as Prohibitionist Mrs. Crandell and Isaiha Jones as Fitz the paper boy. In this scene, they are awaiting the train at the Cooperstown and Charlotte Valley Railroad station in Milford to take them to the execution of Eva Coo. (Photo by Josh Jones)
Folks throughout the area have asked me at least a thousand times, “How did you get all those leaders of Otsego County to be in your film?”
Here’s the “Reader’s Digest” version.
I first met former Oneonta Police Chief Douglas Brenner while working on another project. The introduction went something like this: “Hi! My name is Lori. You don’t know me, but I’m going to make a movie here, and I may need your help. By the way, here’s a cake I bought for you, and my contact information.”
Why he didn’t pull a weapon and chase me away, I’ll never know.
Jade Olinsky, a CCS eighth-grader, spends time with Murphy and Fish during their visit.
THAT’S WHAT HEROES DO Sweethearts & Heroes, a student empowerment and empathy activation team that aims to prevent bullying and suicide—with a focus on social-emotional health—returned to the Cooperstown Central School District on Tuesday and Wednesday, January 10 and 11. For more than 15 years, Sweethearts & Heroes has presented a program they refer to as “the stop, drop and roll of bullying” to more than two million students in school districts from New England to Hawaii. “We go where we’re needed. That’s what heroes do,” said Sweethearts & Heroes Director Tom Murphy, himself a Cooperstown Central School alumnus.
This Thursday, February 9, the Susquehanna Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is hosting a Community Cat Forum at the Foothills Performing Arts and Civic Center in Oneonta. The event begins at 4 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
“Community cats” is a term used by the American SPCA to describe outdoor, unowned, free-roaming cats. They can be friendly, feral, adults, kittens, healthy, sick, altered and/or unaltered, and may or may not have a caretaker. A caretaker is a person who monitors and provides care to a community cat, but who is not the legal owner. The only outdoor free-roaming cats who are not community cats are those who have an owner, by the ASPCA’s definition.
ONEONTA Otsego Now, the umbrella organization of the Otsego County Industrial Development Agency and the Otsego County Capital Resource Corporation, is set to launch the county’s first Innovation and Acceleration Center, the primary focus of which will be bringing a booming tech and manufacturing industry to the region.
According to a recent press release, during the COVID-19 Pandemic, the IDA witnessed a devastating economic loss due to the lack of tourism. The hospitality industry currently makes up 25 percent of the industry sector in Otsego County. When the tourist sector was forced to shut down, the county’s sales tax dropped 30 percent and bed tax dropped by 50 percent. Roughly 60,000 tourists stopped coming to Otsego County. After witnessing this, the IDA identified manufacturing as a growth sector to the local and surrounding economy.
In a press release issued this morning by Brian Pokorny, information technologies director for Otsego County, indicated that the majority of the Otsego County buildings’ landline telephones are currently down. The telephone provider is working to fix the issue at their data center and hopes to have the issue resolved by 1 p.m.
This issue does not affect 911 calls, Pokorny said.
By DAN SULLIVAN RICHFIELD SPRINGS Our area’s newest barbecue restaurant, Maplewood BBQ and Spirits, takes its name from that given by original owner John Tunnicliff to the mansion built on his estate in 1760, which included a huge tract of land covering what is today parts of Otsego and southern Herkimer counties. At that time, Maplewood was in Tryon County; Otsego would not be formed until 1791.
Restaurant owner John Yule, also a partner in the Knotting Hill Farm wedding venue in Jordanville, has done his research on the mansion that houses his new eatery.
“The fireplace was part of the original kitchen. And the crane to hold pots is also original,” he pointed out.
Community Foundation of Otsego County Executive Director Jeff Katz welcomes representatives from more than 50 Otsego County nonprofits. (Photo by Larry Bennett)
On November 9, the Community Foundation of Otsego County, in collaboration with SUNY-Oneonta, brought 50 nonprofit organizations together in one room for its first “Nonprofit Breakfast” networking opportunity. The goal of the breakfast was to engage a diverse group in conversation about the future of Otsego County.
After an introduction from SUNY President Alberto Cardelle that highlighted the significance of our countywide charitable organizations—and an update from Danielle McMullen, chief of staff to the president, on microcredential programs at the college and how they can benefit nonprofits—CFOC Executive Director Jeff Katz explained to the enthusiastic audience what the goals were for the morning session.
