This is a new ChenangoNY.net! Hopefully we will be able to make this site at least an occasional stopping place for all who would like to know more about Chenango County, New York.
Chenango: the land of taxes, and plenty!
Out of 1800 U.S. counties, in only 40 of them do homeowners pay higher taxes as a percentage of homeowner income than in Chenango county. Several of the 40 are fellow Southern Tier counties. No wonder this area is so economically depressed! The following text is from http://www.pressconnects.com/article...
Tier property owners have dubious distinction
Property owners in the Twin Tiers pay some of the highest taxes nationally when their tax bills are measured as a percentage of their homes' value. Where the counties rank on a list of more than 1,800 U.S. counties with populations above 20,000:
Tier county Rank
- Broome 28
- Chemung 21
- Chenango 41
- Steuben 19
- Tompkins 36
- Tioga, N.Y. 30
- Bradford, Pa. 300
- Susquehanna 334
- Tioga, Pa.: 248
SOURCE: Gannett analysis of U.S. Census data. See also this related article: New York's property tax pain: In down economy, burden soars for homeowners
Maybe the following article from The Evening Sun helps explain why Chenango County's taxes are so high (click here for a link to the original):
State completes county's ethics audit
By: Melissa deCordova, Sun Staff Writer
Published: May 12th, 2010
NORWICH – A state audit of ethical oversight in Chenango County has found inadequate provisions for hiring and supervising relatives, a lack of ethics training, loose financial disclosure requirements and insufficient monitoring of conflicts of interest.
Members of the Chenango County Safety and Rules Committee went into a lengthy executive session last month to address the findings, and on Monday, the full Board of Supervisors adopted a corrective action plan.
In the plan, Board Chairman Richard Decker countered that the existing provisions for ethics under local code are appropriate for the county’s small population:
“Many of (our) population are members of large extended families. The existing civil service related recruitment procedures and supervisory procedures are adequate to address any issues relating to family relationships. Arbitrary provisions barring family relationship would deprive the county of particularly well qualified candidates for both entry level and promotional positions.”
The audit was released in March after an investigation last year by the New York comptroller’s office, Division of Local Government and School Accountability. Officials interviewed county employees, reviewed the county’s code of ethics and evaluated oversight structure for ethics for the period Jan. 1, 2009 to Sept. 29, 2009. Chenango County was one of 31 municipalities selected last September to be analyzed in the audit.
Upon learning of the proposed audit last November, county officials quickly appointed a three-member Ethics Board, which later convened to determine a possible conflict of interest issue with the hiring of the county’s natural gas consultant. Decker stated in the county’s corrective action plan that the newly formed board would meet again shortly to address any filing deficiencies.







