Monroe County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo says the budget she presented today to the Monroe County Legislature continues a 20-year-tradition of holding property tax rates flat at $8.99 per $1,000 of assessed value. She proposes $1.2 Billion of spending for 2018, for an increase of 1.3 percent, which is below the rate of inflation.
As usual, Dinolfo says 85 percent of the county’s spending is mandated by the state and federal governments. The county directly controls only 15 percent of every dollar it spends.
The budget puts significantly more money into protecting young children after several well-publicized cases including the death of Brook Stagles.
As already announced, it hires 30 more Child Protective Services caseworkers and gives them a salary boost to deal with serious understaffing in that department. Dinolfo says it also puts $1.6 million more into daycare for children of working parents thanks to a new state grant. She says that brings county spending on child care for low income working families to $45 million a year.
For the first time, the budget includes a full listing of all county programs and services benefiting local children and families. It’s more than 40 percent of the county budget, or more than $500 million.
The budget also adds toxicologists to the Office of Medical Examiner to speed up toxicology reports in the area of the opioid drug crisis. Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley calls that “great news.” There are also new programs to encourage people to buy, rehab and live in “zombie houses” to fight neighborhood blight, and new adult job training programs.
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Democrats on the Monroe County Legislature have summarized their budget priorities in a letter to County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo.
The Democrats support Dinolfo’s increases in Child Protective Services staffing and salaries, but say they hope it doesn’t come at the expense of other programs that support children and the poor. They also want an increase in child care subsidies so families that work but are near the poverty level can take care of their kids during the day. They say it will reduce the number of people on food stamps and other benefits. The Dems have been pushing for more daycare coverage for the past decade.
The Democrats want a solid county investment in early childhood intervention programs like the Youth Family Partnership that get children started right and get them early support where they need it.
Finally, they want to address understaffing of the county Probation Department to address the problem of people released on parole committing new crimes.