Chargebacks & Tracks
Published: November 16th, 2007
By: Melissa deCordova

NORWICH – Just two of the more than 50 resolutions considered by the Chenango County Board of Supervisors earlier this week were debated: Whether to chargeback towns for property maintenance complaints and whether to spend $20,000 on a study of the New York Susquehanna & Western Railroad tracks.

Supervisor Peter C. Flanagan, D-Preston, pulled both items for further discussion.

In the first instance, while the Preston supervisor said implementing chargebacks was “a fair solution” to the Code Enforcement Department’s current $100,000 shortfall, he questioned whether doing so would open up the doors for other departments to begin charging back towns for services. No member of the board answered him.

Town of Afton Supervisor Robert D. Briggs said he couldn’t support the measure because it would be akin to paying for code enforcement services twice. All but four municipalities in Chenango County rely on the county to conduct fire and building inspections and to enforce codes mandated by state and local laws.

“When we signed on, it was my understanding that our complaints were going to be taken care of. It’s not getting done, so I can’t support this,” Briggs said. He later added, “the county’s revenue line for fees collected might drop if the towns decide to do their own code enforcement.”

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