City Newspaper Archives - 12/2007
COUNTY: Budget passes along party lines
Published by Jeremy Moule on Dec 12, 2007
The budget is the first to include the Medicaid intercept, where the county gives a portion of its sales-tax revenues to the state which, in turn, covers the county's share of Medicaid costs. Because municipalities lose money in the deal, the budget sets aside $90.5 million to make up the difference. Suburban school districts, however, are not included, and will lose a total of $28 million - each district loses about 2 percent of its budget.
Not included in the budget: a 5-percent increase in library funding, a lowered threshold for families to qualify for child-care subsidies, and the elimination of salaries for Monroe County Water Authority board members. Those were all Democratic amendments shot down by the Republican majority.
A Democratic amendment to implement charge-backs for the sheriff's road patrol, with expected cost savings used to restore the $28 million for school districts, was stopped on procedural grounds. Majority Leader Bill Smith, who called the proposal a "dagger poised at the heart of every town in Monroe County with its own police department," argued that state law prohibits the action.
