By Roger Seibert
The Oneida Daily Dispatch
ONEIDA, N.Y. — Oneida City Supervisor and Madison County’s Finance, Ways and Means Committee Chair Matt Roberts spoke to issues at the recent Oneida Common Council meeting regarding New York’s green energy policies, the state of the county’s ambulance services, and county budget hearings.
Roberts said the county budget hearings involve reviewing approximately 230 pages of budgets. “It’s too early to determine the tax rate or any changes at this time,” he said. “Madison County, like the city of Oneida, is facing significant fiscal pressures.”
Roberts said the biggest countywide current issue is EMS services. Many local ambulance providers have folded, and Madison County is taking over coverage.
“This is a nationwide problem, not unique to Madison County, and will create ongoing costs,” he said. “We are lucky to have Vineall Ambulance, but the other ambulance services are facing problems.”
New York State has seen a drop in active EMS providers, from over 40,000 in 2019 to about 33,000 in 2022. The reasons include a 17.5% decline in active EMS responders, underfunding where Medicare and Medicaid don’t keep pace with costs, the difficulty in making EMS a sustainable career, and a lack of resources for local governments to address these issues.
Roberts said county sales tax revenues are up over 7% year-over-year, but because Madison County shares 45–47% of its sales tax with towns and villages, only about 3% of the increase remains with the county to offset rising costs.
In New York, 46 out of the 57 counties outside of New York City share a portion of their local sales tax revenue with towns, villages, and other municipalities. The remaining 11 counties retain all their sales tax revenue.
Madison County had one of the largest delegations present at the New York State Association of Counties annual meeting in Niagara Falls, which marked NYSAC’s 100th year.
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