Allegany County Legislature to vote Nov. 12th on $100K funding deal for Wellsville Airport

The Allegany County Legislature meets November 12th and will vote on an agreement to provide the Wellsville Municipal Airport with $100,000. This is the resolution lawmakers will vote on:

Intro. No. 259-19 RESOLUTION NO.  
APPROVAL OF AGREEMENT WITH WELLSVILLE MUNICIPAL AIRPORT FOR THE PROVISION OF AN ALLOCATION OF FUNDS; BUDGET TRANSFER FROM CONTINGENCY; AUTHORIZING BOARD CHAIRMAN TO EXECUTE SAID AGREEMENT

Offered by: Ways & Means Committee

 

Pursuant to Local Law No. 3 of 2019

 

RESOLVED:

 

1. That the two-year Agreement between the Town of Wellsville and the County of Allegany for the provision of an allocation of funds for the Wellsville Municipal Airport is approved.

 

2. That an allocation payment of $100,000, representing a $50,000 payment for 2019 and a $50,000 payment for 2020, to the Town of Wellsville for the Wellsville Municipal Airport is approved.

 

3. That the sum of $100,000 shall be transferred from Account No. A1990.429 (Contingency) to A5610.465 (Airport – Contractual).

 

4. That the Chairman of this Board shall execute said Agreement.

 

Last month, the Ways & Means committee voted to approve the deal, although not everyone was happy. According to the meeting minutes, Legislator Brooke Harris (R-Alfred) remarked that for him personally, it seems like really bad optics to increase the County tax rate while simultaneously creating a new expense. Legislator Gary Barnes (R-Wellsville) stated that the request from Wellsville is nothing more than a department asking for a grant. They are asking for the money to help maintain their facility, and we don’t have a single employee that doesn’t end up costing us more than $50,000 a year. Legislator Janice Burdick (-Alfred Station) countered that we are not a granting agency to anybody. The airport did not budget for the $50,000 from the County, and she would object to helping them in 2019. Wellsville Deputy Supervisor Mike Miller stated that the Airport budget must be balanced every year, and it is taken directly from the town. They did not budget for the $50,000 because they did not assume that they would be getting it. District IV Legislators (Barnes, Graves, Havey) spoke in favor of the request noting that it benefits the entire County.