By a narrow margin earlier tonight, the Genesee County Legislature voted in favor of a resolution that removes authorization from the county treasurer to make revenue distribution payments to towns and villages until further notice, thus rescinding agreements forged in 2018 and 2019.
Five legislators – Chair Rochelle Stein, Marianne Clattenburg, Andrew Young, John Deleo and John Hilchey – voted “yes” and four legislators – Gregg Torrey, Gary Maha, Christian Yunker and Gordon Dibble – voted “no.”
Legislature Clerk Pam LaGrou announced that the measure passed with a weighted vote total of 172, eight more than the 164 needed for approval.
Earlier, an attempt to table the resolution also failed, with the weighted vote number to table at 154. The four legislators who voted “no” to the resolution were the ones who voted “yes” to hold off.
Just prior to the final vote, Stein made a brief statement in an attempt to quell town and village officials’ fears.
“I would just like to offer that I have been having a conversation every week with our leaders and there is every intent to ensure that they are not left behind, and we are all in this together,” she said. “There is the opportunity for all of us to work through this together and make sure we successfully come through. There is intent to continue to provide support for towns and villages as we have demonstrated before and that will continue.”
After the vote, Vickie Almquist, a Village of Bergen trustee who was signed into the Zoom videoconference meeting said, “Thanks for nothing.”
The resolution to rescind the authority to make the quarterly payments has caused quite a stir throughout the county (see an earlier story from today below, headlined, Legislature chair asks towns, villages to 'stick with us and hold tight' as county deals with loss of revenue).
Clattenburg said that the resolution was necessary because the county realizes it is unable to make the payments (which include sales tax receipts) “at the level of 2018, so this takes away the treasurer’s ability to make those payments at that level.”
Her statement prompted another question from Almquist: “For ever and ever?”
Dibble, who represents the towns of Pembroke and Darien, then proceeded to make a motion to table the resolution, explaining that “such actions could be delayed without the loss of options currently available to us.”
“I’m confident that the towns and villages fully understand the negative potential this situation has created and that a significant loss of revenue is certain,” he said. “I ask that we table this resolution before us to take advantage of the additional weeks such tabling would afford us.”
Yunker seconded the motion, and that was followed by Almquist asking, “So, you’re going to do this forever then, huh?”
Then a man, identified as Elba Village Mayor Norm Itjen (see comments below), asked why he wasn’t allowed to speak, mentioning that he raised his hand at the beginning of the meeting and “was passed over.”
“This will show in a vote,” he said, and was followed by Almquist's comment, “Really, you’re never going to give us any money ever again.”
“I hope you guys get voted out next time,” Itjen said, before the duo were muted out of the meeting.
The three other legislators who voted against the resolution spoke prior to casting their ballots, reasoning that they could use the time before another round of payments was due (in July) to receive more information and provide more clarity.
Maha said he was going to vote against the resolution “because after listening to our representatives from the towns and villages, I understand their frustration and share some of their concerns with the language that’s in this resolution.”
“We have plenty of time – two months – to rescind this resolution. I think we can get together and craft some language so it isn’t so strong. At the end, it says we’re going to discontinue these payments until further notice. I think we can change some of the language that would satisfy our towns and villages and show our support for them, and allow us to continue making distribution payments to them without any specifics … as to how much.”
Torrey said he worked closely with the three towns that he represents (Alexander, Bethany and Pavilion) and the Village of Alexander when the current agreement was crafted.
“I’m not comfortable leaving them in a vacuum during this very difficult time,” he said. “I think we have time to get more clarity and draft a replacement agreement that will better serve the county and our partner towns and villages.”
Yunker, who represents the towns of Elba, Byron and Bergen, said that rescinding the treasurer’s authority to make the payments leaves the villages with “no clarity and zero commitment, and without a replacement (document).
“All we need to do is act like they are our partners and come up with a resolution, committing something to them,” he said. “I believe we have time – a distribution doesn’t need to be made for several months -- and we can work with our partners … to see what comes out of the federal stimulus, and see what comes out of the state budget and use the time. There’s no rush, so I’m going to vote ‘no.’”
In other action, legislators:
-- Passed a resolution calling on the Congressional delegation to provide counties with direct federal aid to support counties’ COVID-19 response and reopening economic activity efforts, further stating that counties outside of New York City can expect to lose between $1.5 billion to $3.5 billion in local revenue and state aid.
-- Passed a resolution accepting a grant of $74,261 from the New York State Board of Elections’ NYS HAVA CARES Act program to implement measures necessary for responsible, safe, and fair elections during the COVID-19 pandemic, for a contract term beginning March 28, 2020 through Dec. 31, 2020.
