The Seneca County Board of Supervisors will consider returning fuel sales taxes to a percentage basis and restoring a public works commissioner position when committees and the full board take up proposals Tuesday.
The tentative committee and special-board agendas list a 6 p.m. start, with the county calendar placing committee meetings in the third-floor Board of Supervisors Room at the County Office Building, 1 DiPronio Drive, Waterloo.
The special-board resolutions are marked as pending committee approval. They include the fuel-tax change, three senior hiring measures, a probation software agreement, Waterloo floodplain services and Operation Green Light recognition for veterans.
Fuel taxes and federal relief balances
The fuel-tax proposal would repeal the county’s 2006 cents-per-gallon election and return affected gasoline and diesel transactions to the county’s otherwise applicable percentage-based sales and compensating use taxes beginning Dec. 1. It would direct the clerk to complete state notification and filing requirements.
Ways and Means also will review a proposed $366,387.87 reallocation of American Rescue Plan Act money before the Dec. 31 spending deadline. The plan would reimburse $170,148.03 in contingency spending for Office for the Aging and Three Bears renovations and assign $196,239.84 to water-and-sewer director wages and benefits for 2025 and 2026.
The funding table shows an earlier $189,718.30 transfer for airport taxilane paving, followed by $442,367.39 available before the new transfers and $75,979.52 afterward. The proposed transfers would draw on remaining Willard redevelopment and consulting funds, $3,315.06 from Grow Seneca and a $9.78 vehicle-purchase balance. The resolution says the state has not provided a timetable for transferring the Willard campus to the county.
Other budget amendments would move $504,959 into child care from Medicaid-management and Safety Net accounts, shift $35,000 between human-services programs and $45,000 from trial counsel to claims and settlements, and replace $2,151,540 in tax-reduction-reserve revenue with prior-year sales-tax revenue.
Department leadership and hiring
The public works proposal would restore a commissioner position abolished in 2020. Beginning Jan. 1, the position would oversee county highways, facilities and code enforcement, require a professional engineer’s license and carry a proposed salary range of $100,650 to $133,483.
A separate resolution would permit recruiting the next human services commissioner at $129,939 on the 2027 management schedule, effective Jan. 1. The current commissioner plans to retire Jan. 30. Another would authorize filling the vacant head jail nurse position at $74,144 to $89,499 after recruitment difficulties.
Human Resources also will consider replacing a mental health clinical therapist position with a senior therapist title to support Medicare services and clinical supervision. Committee-only vacancy requests cover a substance abuse counselor, a child-welfare caseworker, three cleaner positions, three deputy sheriffs and two correction officers.
A jury-duty policy amendment would retain up to 30 days of regular pay for eligible full-time employees and provide part-time employees their scheduled wages up to $72 a day for the first three days, with court-payment reimbursement rules for full-time staff.
Treatment services and weatherization
Proposed 2027 mental health and addiction-service contractor agreements total $994,166 for 8,156 hours, covering nursing, psychiatry, nurse practitioners, interpretation and other clinical and court-related services.
A separate $1,869,888 package would fund provider-agency services through state aid and del Lago gambling-contract revenue, with no mandated local share. Listed organizations include Lakeview, Aspire Hope NY, Glove House, Unity House, the Council on Alcoholism and Addictions of the Finger Lakes, United Way, the sheriff’s department and veterans services.
An amendment for psychiatric nurse practitioner Brianne En would add 226.5 hours and $27,180, bringing the contract to $123,180 to meet demand while the clinic’s full-time practitioner is absent.
Weatherization officials seek acceptance of a $492,944 State Weatherization Program contract for Nov. 1 through April 30, 2028, with no local match. Proposed allocations are $64,315 in 2026, $300,000 in 2027 and $128,629 in 2028 for energy-efficiency work in eligible homes.
The health committee also will consider reappointing Dr. Timothy Ryan as medical director from Nov. 1 through Oct. 31, 2028.
Requests for state policy changes
Agriculture and Environmental Affairs will review support for the Harmful Algal Bloom Monitoring and Prevention Act, including statewide data, monitoring and grant assistance. Appointment proposals would retain Elisabeth Freier as the Farm Bureau representative on the Soil and Water Conservation District board through 2029 and name Michael Reynolds and Jeffrey Trout to one-year terms in 2027.
Health resolutions would seek state controls on synthetic, adulterated and high-potency kratom products, including testing, labeling and child-resistant packaging while preserving stronger local protections. Another would seek fully funded, age-appropriate fentanyl and counterfeit-pill education from middle school through high school, with state-supported materials, training and evaluation.
Government Operations will consider requests for state relief from mandated costs, protection from SNAP cost shifts and state-funded tools to improve SNAP payment accuracy. The proposals treat payment errors separately from fraud and call for statewide interview assistance, wage verification and better access to reporting systems.
Other requests would increase the state’s Flexible Fund for Family Services to $1.014 billion and Code Blue shelter funding to $40 million, improve child care funding and distribution, and preserve support for county services without shifting additional costs to local taxpayers.
Public works, airport and service contracts
A proposed highway purchase is a 2027 Ford F-150 from Van Bortel Ford for $46,998.50. ProCarpet agreements would replace probation-office carpeting for $36,062.28 and flooring at the Finger Lakes Fire and Police Training Center in Romulus for $37,992.15.
The airport proposal would establish lease and rental rates for county-owned buildings and hangars and let the airport manager negotiate terms for Public Works Committee approval, county-attorney review and execution by the board chairman or county manager. A surplus auction would cover vehicles, equipment, office furnishings and the STOP DWI simulator through Auctions International.
Public Works resolutions also would seek predictable federal grant administration, clearer cooperative-purchasing rules, state funding of court facilities and higher procurement thresholds. Proposed state advocacy includes $75,000 for purchase contracts, $150,000 for public works contracts and a $2 million upstate Wicks Law threshold, with competition and accountability protections retained.
Public Safety proposals would seek state financial support for probation officers’ 25-year retirement option and predictable, upfront Raise the Age funding separated from property-tax-cap decisions. A 2027 paralegal-services agreement with Tricia Mirras would cost $60,265.
The special-board agenda includes a two-year Catalis Caseload Explorer agreement costing up to $10,740.35 in year one and $11,384.77 in year two. Another resolution would let county code enforcement administer the Village of Waterloo’s floodplain rules under an agreement running through Dec. 31, 2030.
Elections, historic markers and tourism
Two election grants would provide $9,354.58 for eligible operating expenses and $8,094.01 for mail-ballot costs incurred from April 1 through March 31, 2027. Neither requires a local match.
Historic-preservation items include $2,175 to repair and repaint the Memorial Day marker in Waterloo’s LaFayette Park and acceptance of a $2,100 Pomeroy Foundation grant for a Morehouse Boat Factory marker on Cayuga Lake.
Economic Development, Tourism and Housing will consider $5,000 for the It’s a Wonderful Life Museum and Festival in Seneca Falls in December, subject to the county tourism-grant reporting requirements.
File photo of the Seneca County Office Building.
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