ITHACA - Two-and-a-half months after the process began, the Tompkins County Legislature tonight adopted the County’s 2010 budget and the County’s capital program for the next five years.  The budget, which changed only slightly from the amended tentative budget approved by legislators at the end of last month, increases the County tax levy by 3.99% and the countywide average tax rate by 1.1% to $6.00 per thousand.  Local spending in the budget has decreased by nearly a quarter of a percent.

The budget passed by a vote of 8-5. 

Only three amendments were added to the budget before passage.  $10,600 in maintenance-of-effort target funding for Human Services Coalition agencies was once again restored to the budget through an 8-6 vote, the only change that affected the tax levy.  Legislators, by a vote of 11-3, also restored an account clerk-typist position in the Health Department, at a net expense of $32,054, funded through one-time rollover funding, and by a 9-4 vote added $2,000 in one time funding to the County Historian’s budget to support the county’s Civil War Commission.

Budget committee chair Jim Dennis characterized the 2010 spending plan as “a hopeful budget,” demonstrating the hope that the State, through the Governor and Legislature, does not require the County to support additional expenses in 2010.  Both he and County Administrator Joe Mareane thanked department heads, legislators and staff for enabling the County to address substantial challenges in a very difficult year, through hard work and good faith exhibited throughout the process.