All Roads Lead to Cornithaca

“Cornithaca County is so corrupt . . .” 6

“The taxpayers aren’t the stakeholders.” Tompkins County has one of the highest median property taxes in the United States – but the formula used to determine the property tax on any one property is so complicated; that it’s not possible to condense it to a simple tax rate. • When the simple is made complicated; there’s always a reason. • In the rural northeast part of the county – there is only one Sheriff’s deputy for two towns – so if there’s criminal activity; just give them a call and they’ll come and write a report – and in the new budget, the County is making additional cuts in the number of deputies. • The problem is not that the rural towns in the county don’t have police departments; it’s that Ithaca and its suburbs do — and they don’t want to budget money for the needs of anyone else; especially people they don’t want living there. • While the formula for determining the property tax may be complicated; the formula for determining County services is simple: RURAL = LESS.