Tax Issue Continues to Trouble Endicott

9/25/2012 (Updated 8:41:15 PM)

A day later, Endicott trustees pleaded for Broome County to give them more sales tax revenue in order to close a $1.8 million budget gap.

A candidate running for the village board has a message for those trustees -- to look in the mirror.

Much of the shortfall is due to a lower assessment of the Huron Campus which is comprised of the old IBM properties.

But Republican Beverly Townsend points out that the deal was years in the making, and trustees should have been planning for the consequences.

"If somebody comes up to you and says, 'I'm pregnant', you know in nine months something is going to happen. They have known on the books for ten years that something was going to happen. And they've dragged their feet," said Townsend.

Townsend says she would offer retirement packages across the board in the village, then cross-train the remaining workers in order to save costs.