2.5% property tax increase outlined in Chemung County proposed budget

ELMIRA, N.Y. (WENY) -- Chemung County Executive Chris Moss and his team unveiled the county's proposed 2025 budget in the Big Flats Community Center Thursday night.

The planned budget comes with a price tag of $289,140,902, a 12.9% increase from last year. To pay for the larger budget, the county plans to raise property taxes by 2.5%.

If approved, the new tax levy will cost taxpayers $4.92 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. The current tax rate is $4.80 per $1,000 of assessed value. County officials say the increase is due to the cost of welfare programs, previous tax cuts and rising payroll and benefits costs.

"We have the same cost increases that other municipalities have. We have cost increases for our employees. Inflation has impacted operating costs, and also the cost of unfunded mandates, which not every municipality does have. The county takes on the largest burden of that," said Deputy County Executive Jennifer Furman.

Chemung County estimates it will spend over $46 million on New York State required programs like medicaid, special education, pensions, child welfare, probation programs and more. $76 million in additional funds are also earmarked for other social services. The county is also planning to spend $13.5 million on local payrolls and pensions.

Another $45 million will go towards capitol improvement projects, with planned upgrades to the Elmira Corning Regional Airport, nursing facilities and various roads.

The county is also pricing into the budget additional funding earmarked towards paying off loans secured for its sewer consolidation project.

RELATED: Chemung County Sewer Rates on the Rise, Due to $275M State-Mandated Construction Project

"We're escalating a reserve to start to pay those user rates when we have to pay them. Rather than hit people with a gigantic increase in the year that we start paying the debt," Furman said.

The county is also pulling over $8 million from its reserve funds to pay for the planned budget. Part of why they have to pull from the reserve is due to the United States Supreme Court case Tyler v. Hennepin County, in which the justices ruled unanimously that counties cannot keep profits made by auctioning off foreclosed homes. At the presentation Thursday night, officials said they are missing out on $1 million worth of revenue because of the ruling.

"We do have a revenue shortage right now in our budget. So, we're trying to spend down our fund balance responsibly, and come up with other revenue sources, which includes the property tax [increase]," Furman said.

The majority of the money that Chemung County plans to spend in this year's proposed budget comes from property and sales tax revenue, as well as federal and state aid. The county expects to receive $1 million less in state aid this year than it did in 2024, but that also comes with a sizable increase in federal assistance. Officials are expecting aid from Washington D.C. to jump up by a little under $13 million.

Even though property taxes are expected to increase, they are still down from 2022, when Chemung County drastically cut rates in that years budget.

Chemung County will present the proposed budget to the County Legislature on Tuesday. The legislature will look at it through a series of budget workshops and then present any changes to the County Executive that will either be approved or vetoed.

A public hearing will then be held on Nov. 25. The finalized budget plan will go for a final vote on Dec. 2.