WSKG question on taxes

 

WSKG: What is your tax policy for the county and how will you implement the policy while maintaining services to residents in your district? 

A: If we really want to lower taxes for residents, we need to work harder on creating shared services between the county and the municipalities, especially Elmira. Years ago, there had been a joint county-city committee formed with the idea of finding ways to cooperate and save each other on costs. That committee was killed by the county executive. I think it’s time to bring it back. There are still some shared services agreements between the county and Elmira, but we can do better than this. So, one of my first actions would be to request that this committee be reestablished. 

WSKG question on Flock cameras

 

WSKG: What role do Flock-type cameras, AI-powered license plate readers and automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) play in public safety in Chemung County and what is the overlap, if any, with citizen privacy rights? Do you support the county’s current use of Flock-type cameras, AI-powered license plate readers and ALPRs and any expansion of such devices in the future?

A: The Elmira Police Department has Flock cameras, but the Chemung County Sheriff’s Department does not. As I understand it, they have a couple of pole cameras, used on a temporary basis for critical incidents. If the sheriff’s department were to consider Flock-type cameras, I would have issues and questions. 

• How long of an agreement would we have with the company? 

• Do the companies that provide the cameras own the data?

• How do we ensure the data is not being exported to outside agencies or groups?

• How can this data be misused? What safeguards can be put in place to ensure our right to privacy and the right to not be stalked?

• How reliable is this technology for identifying people for arrest?

• Do the law enforcement agencies have the training to double-check the information to make sure the technology has not identified the wrong person. 

There might be a value for law enforcement, but the heavy reliance on AI leaves it open to being misused, abusing our rights and leading to unsupported prosecutions. Is there a way to use a less-smart technology that would be useful to the police while protecting our rights?

WSKG on businesses

 

WSKG: How will you build and maintain businesses in the county and Legislative District?

A: We need to help people who already live here and love the area to start their own businesses. They already have the incentive to grow, hire workers and stay. I started my small business in 2019 with the help of an agency called Incubatorworks, which has since been brought into Chemung County to run an entrepreneurship center in Elmira. Full disclosure, I work part-time on an as-needed basis as IW’s makerspace coordinator and also assist in giving business presentations. IW helps aspiring business owners get started, guiding them around all the classic traps and pitfalls, teaching them about finances, product development, legal obligations, marketing, customer discovery, etc. I think this is key to turning things around in Chemung County. Let people pursue their dreams and create their own opportunities. Entrepreneurs become small businesses, which become bigger businesses and possibly large businesses. We may help create the next big thing. So, Chemung County needs to continue to help small businesses find the missing pieces that will lead to success.

WSKG on the Industrial Development Agency

 

What role, if any, should the county play in appointments to the Chemung County Industrial Development Agency (CCIDA) board and public information regarding business opportunities and contracts in the county through the CCIDA? How will you maintain transparency at the CCIDA? What are projects spearheaded by the CCIDA that should be kept from the public?

A: What I would do is ask that the IDA make a presentation to the legislature on how their efforts have been going to date. We have data from the NY State Comptroller’s office from 2024 on Chemung County’s 49 active projects. These companies are given generous tax-incentives to bring jobs to the community, and the public deserves to scrutinize the success of these deals since they impact our tax burden.

Some challenges and questions we are facing:

• There are 106 other active IDAs in this state and Chemung County is competing with all of them. What advantage sets us apart from the rest? If we don’t have one, how do we create one?

• Are we getting the best bang for our buck by drawing the types of companies that create the jobs we need?

• Are we always sure that an IDA deal was the only way a project would go through? 

• How many businesses leave before the end of their IDA deal?

• How many businesses become full, tax paying partners in the community after the conclusion of their IDA term? How many simply demand an extension or threaten to leave?

Other thoughts, raising questions beyond Chemung County’s control:

• The IDAs are an idea created in the 1960s to give municipalities a tool to draw business and jobs to their communities, but there was not much thought going into what happens next. Perhaps there needs to be a successor program, available to businesses after they have completed their initial IDA agreement. 

• If the hope is that the IDA results in a long-term relationship with a company that stays in the community and eventually pays full taxes, perhaps IDA terms should not have fixed rates for the entire length of the agreement, but to slowly phase in the tax increase over time. 

WSKG on state mandated programs

 

WSKG: What actions should the county take to mitigate the cost of state mandated programs that are not reimbursable and passed on to the taxpayers? 

A: This is a good reason to support the passage of the New York Health Act. This bill, perpetually stalled in committee for decades, would create a simplified, streamlined health care system. Rather than going through a profit-driven system bloated with corporate bureaucracy, residents would pay a much smaller amount based on income. For example, a self-employed worker making $62,400 a year could pay only $214 a month, as opposed to the thousands of dollars we all pay each year in co-payments and deductibles. This would not only save the county on health insurance for its employees, but it will significantly cut down the $24 million a year the county is paying in Medicaid, the single biggest part of the unfunded mandate. https://ebondny.blogspot.com/2026/08/its-time-to-bring-single-payer-health.html

WSKG on the legislature vs. county executive

 

WSKG: How important is the working relationship between the county legislature and the county executive? What will you do to address conflict and keep the county residents informed of progress or challenges in the county and Legislative District 5?

A: The current executive has blocked and bypassed the legislature in many ways, to the point that county department heads are not allowed to talk to legislators. This makes no sense to me. Legislators need to have complete information so that they can make the best choices when they vote. Otherwise they are voting in the dark. At the very least, the executive and department heads should routinely appear at legislature meetings to explain the resolutions being voted on. I often wonder if someday the Chemung County would be better served with a county manager system. 

As to informing the public, a primary job of any legislator is to make sure the residents of their district know what the government is going to do before they do it. Give people a chance to have input, keep open the lines of communication. This could be done with a variety of methods such as social media, email newsletter, website posts or even public forums. 

WSKG interview: Most pressing issue

 

WSKG asked me to fill out a candidate's questionnaire for a voter guide. I'm posting my responses here as well.

WSKG: What is the most pressing issue facing Chemung County and Legislative District 5?

A: It all revolves around the economy. We need better jobs. We need better opportunities. Creating our own opportunities is a big part of resolving the problems we face such as homelessness, the cost of social services, unemployment, crime, etc. As I will discuss, we should focus on helping more residents of Chemung County start their own small businesses and help those already in business to survive. This would get us on the way to recovery. 

Time running out for Chemung County

Driving around Breesport in the 5th District after an afternoon of door-knocking, Amy and I came across a county-owned cemetery and then a curious, abandoned red-brick building, which I later learned had been part of the Breesport Almshouse for the poor. 

The original poorhouse had been built in 1837, and the red-brick building had been built in 1888 to provide medical care.  The need for poorhouses in this country slowly declined with the establishment of the Social Security Act of 1935, and the services provided were divided among federal, state and county agencies. In 1971, the last 100 residents were transferred to the recently built Chemung County Nursing Facility and the building was closed and abandoned. 

Star-Gazette article

But seeing the Breesport Almshouse was a reminder of the county's legacy of providing care to those existing at the very bottom rung of society. Changes at the federal level will put the county under ever increasing pressure to provide that care. 

Providing social services has been a key part of the county mission, but also one of the biggest challenges. Under the 2026 budget, the county is paying $45 million in for a range of services such as Medicaid, child welfare, special education, etc that are required by state or federal law but without reimbursement. An additional cost is on the way.

SNAP, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, provides food benefits to low-income families to supplement their grocery budget. About 13,000 Chemung County residents (about 16% of the population) are on the program. The program is administratively run through the counties, but until now the benefit costs had been split 50-50 between the federal government and the states. Typically, SNAP benefits are worth about $332 a month to recipients.

Under the "Big Beautiful Bill," the federal share will drop to 25%, leaving the states to pick up the rest. And it appears NY state will be passing along that extra expense to the counties.

If nothing else is done, this extra cost of $780,000 will hit Chemung County in the Fall of 2027. U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer and other Democrats have been lobbying to include a two-year delay on the SNAP transition into this year's Farm Bill. But the Senate version only includes a one-year delay, and it is unclear whether any delay will be included in a final version, which will likely not be resolved until after the mid-term elections in November. 

This squeeze is especially difficult for Chemung County, which has a high poverty rate for such a small county. With 80,000 residents, Chemung County is 29th in total population among counties (counting NYC as one.) But it is 20th in amount of SNAP benefits received and 22nd in number of residents receiving SNAP benefits. 

But if the county does not pick up the extra cost:

• More people will struggle for food, pushing them closer to homelessness and destitution. This creates a worse problem for the county to solve.
• More kids will go without enough food. This will impact their education, development and potential for success as adults. 
• Local grocery stores will take a hit in revenue.

The federal and state government have stepped back, as if by spending less on SNAP will make the need for SNAP go away. But the county still has an obligation to care for those at the bottom of the ladder.

One of my followers on Facebook writes: "Rather than lament the lack of funding from 'above', the county ought to be making an attempt to raise more Chemung County residents OUT of poverty....thus reducing the NEED for social services expenditures."

Yes, well-paying jobs are the answer, but the county has been struggling with this question for years. It would be difficult to find the answer before these cuts hit. 

Somehow we need to turn Chemung County into the kind of place that higher-paying employers would want to locate to. We need to draw companies here for reasons better than offering a tax deal. I don't know what that would be, but finding the answer to that question would solve many of the issues facing the county. 

But in the meantime, we need to do what we can to save those dangling from the precipice. To let them fall, would mean our recovery as a county will take that much longer.