On June 24, Cayuga County Legislature Chairman Jonathan Anna detailed the budget crisis the county faces this year.
This year? Hell guys, how about every year? They initially proposed to override their property tax cap.
However, the resolution to override the tax cap isn鈥檛 dead yet just because it was tabled.
They may still exceed the tax cap if they don鈥檛 find additional places to cut spending. It could become real ugly depending on how much they exceed the tax cap.
Mr. Anna said they can cut spending or raise taxes. Again, what else is new?
He listed a few stressors 鈥 one of which was expenses related to the closure of the Cayuga County Office Building.
In his analyses, Mr. Anna never did let the public know how much of the proposed 2026 budget was in the hole or how much the total costs to clean up the asbestos in the shuttered building are聽鈥 which I presume are large.
If 鈥渓arge,鈥 then one must assume that the remediation of the vermiculite containing asbestos is being accomplished by tearing open the walls, etc. and removing the vermiculite.
If that鈥檚 the case though, according to previous Legislature chair Aileen McNabb-Coleman, the building鈥檚 air does not contain asbestos fibers.
So why close the whole building and why tear up the walls and remove the insulation covering the pipes and not just cover the walls and pipes in the basement that contain asbestos? But then, we really don鈥檛 know how it鈥檚 being done. Why is that, Mr. Anna?
It appears that it would be prudent for the county to take another real good look at covering the walls and pipes instead of tearing up the place, which I assume is being done now.
If so, why did the county decide to do this in the first place if the building鈥檚 air does not contain asbestos fibers?
Yea, I know: picky, picky, picky.
Bill Balyszak lives in Fleming.
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