“The taxpayers aren’t the stakeholders.” Tompkins County has one of the highest median property taxes in the United States – but the formula used to determine the property tax on any one property is so complicated; that it’s not possible to condense it to a simple tax rate.
When the simple is made complicated; there’s always a reason.
In the rural northeast part of the county – there is only one Sheriff’s deputy for two towns – so if there’s criminal activity; just give them a call and they’ll come and write a report – and in the new budget, the County is making additional cuts in the number of deputies.
The problem is not that the rural towns in the county don’t have police departments; it’s that Ithaca and its suburbs do — and they don’t want to budget money for the needs of anyone else; especially people they don’t want living there.
While the formula for determining the property tax may be complicated; the formula for determining County services is simple: RURAL = LESS.