Oneida County Board, Sept. 15 meeting
Accepts loan repayment, resolution to repeal shoreline zoning changes, and will consider new dog licensing fees
By Jared Raney
Reporter
At the September Board meeting, supervisors received a check in the amount of $2.7 million from Advanced Barrier Extrusions, or ABX, LLC, to purchase the land they had previously been leasing from the Oneida County Economic Development Corporation.
Through three separate investments, Oneida County borrowed $3.4 million from the Board of Commissioners of Public Land. Over the last ten years, ABX has been leasing the property from Oneida County, and at Tuesday’s meeting officially paid off the last of the $3.4 million debt with a final $2.7 million payment, also purchasing the facility.
A resolution was passed to request the repeal of paragraph 23, Motion #520, which was Senator Tom Tiffany’s controversial amendment to the 2016-2017 state budget concerning shoreland zoning policies. Several minor amendments were made to the resolution during board discussion, and it was eventually passed 14-6, with one supervisor absent, despite a motion to table the resolution that was voted down 12-8, with one supervisor absent.
Concerns by some supervisors had to do with basically supporting a piece of legislation (repealing the motion) that has yet to be written. Though most supervisors supported, as Supervisor Robb Jensen, who put forward the motion to postpone, said, “the spirit of the resolution,” the concern was acting too soon on laws that really haven’t been fully analyzed.
One county board committee, which was yet to be decided, will be taking into consideration a request by Sue Otis of the Oneida County Humane Society to raise dog licensing fees county-wide. In light of a $40,000 budget deficit, the Humane Society reached out to the County Board this month to raise the minimum licensing fee for towns and cities in Oneida County, the goal being a $10 licensing fee across the board.
Right now, Oneida County’s policy reflects the state minimum of $3, which Otis said is not a reflection of surrounding areas. Though the Board expressed support for the proposal, there are several details to iron out, such as a potential incremental increases, possible discounts for multiple dogs or higher rates for non-spayed or neutered dogs.
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