MAYVILLE – Chautauqua County lawmakers are hoping that some mid-year cuts can be made on government operations to help offset two recently revealed shortfalls in the $256 million 2016 budget.
The Post-Journal is reporting Friday that the county’s audit and control committee met on Thursday and discussed a $495,000 shortfall in the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as another $128,000 shortfall due to a reduction in the PILOT payment from the NRG power plant in Dunkirk. Together the shortfalls total $623,000 – about a quarter percent of the total budget.
The shortfall is the result of the county’s Medicaid payment to the state, which was set at $30.64 million for the 2016-17 state fiscal year. That means the county has to make a weekly payment to the state in the amount of $589,191 – starting in May and continuing through April, 2017. Health and Human Service administrator Valerie Lis told the committee the department did expect the change and as a result is under budget by $495,000.
During the committee meeting the members considered a $495,000 allocation to the department from the county’s fund balance, but it was voted down unanimously, with committee members saying they would first prefer to department work to identify cuts to offset the shortfall.
Despite being voted down in committee, the reallocation request will still go before the full legislature next week because it was approved in the Human Services Committee.
NRG Power Plant in Dunkirk
The county will also be facing a $128,000 shortfall due to the NRG power plant in Dunkirk cutting its Payment in Lieu of Tax (PILOT) for 2016.
Last year NRG announced it would cut its payment in lieu of taxes to both the county and school district by 85 percent. For the county, that means a loss of $643,000 in revenue for 2016. The recently approved state budget does include some emergency state aid to offset the loss, which is 80 percent of the amount the county won’t receive, which amounts to $515,000. That creates a difference of $128,000 that the county will have to cover either but cuts or new revenue.
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