Legislature Addresses Back Taxes, Office of Energy Development

2/21/2013 (Updated 2/22/2013 1:01:42 AM)

"We have been through the ringer," said Volodymyr Kurylo.

Volodymyr Kurylo's family can once again call this home on Arthur Avenue in Binghamton their own.

At Thursday's Broome County Legislative meeting, a resolution passed to allow several properties to be bought back by their owners. The owners must pay back tax payments, interest, penalties and administrative fees.

Kurylo says he will fight to reduce the fees.  He and other legislators believe some of the charges should be dropped since he offered to pay the back taxes in December, soon after he discovered he was behind.  Kurylo says he went from owing $13,000 to $16,700.

Also at Thursday's meeting, the legislature approved a contract to bring back a retired Willow Point Nursing Home administrator to help manage care while more sprinklers are installed.

"Since 2006, for whatever reason, we were mandated to have a sprinkler system in the nursing home. For whatever reason, it never got done and now we're here at the eleventh hour--we have patients that need to be moved," said Jerry Marinich, Chair of the Broome County Legislature. 

Marinich says the former administrator would be a familiar face for patients. However, some legislators don't believe the extra position is needed.

"I don;t know why we need to pay another $30,000 to a former administrator to oversee this project," said Daniel D. Reynolds, District 19 Legislator.

"We think it can be done in house.  We have a facility manager.  We have a nursing home administrator and thought it was kind of a waste of tax payer dollars to pay some of the retirement and then pay them to be a consultant afterwards.  We have the personnel to do it," says Jason Garnar, District 14 Legislator.


Despite a petition signed by nearly 200 local residents --many of them active anti-frackers--the legislature voted "yes" to resolutions to create and fund the office of energy development.

"This is again, marketing energy to businesses, to people, to whoever wants to listen.  We're going to try to do this and get it done right," says Marinich.

Reynolds believes it's a waste of tax payer dollars.

"It's kind of a diversion of saved limited tax payer funds in my opinion its unnecessary," says Reynolds.