GAYLORD — The Otsego County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved a slight reduction in recycling use and approved the 2023-2024 budget for the Otsego County Commission on Aging.
County residents currently pay a 0.35 mill property tax through the recycling program. This figure will drop to 0.25 ppm in early December.
“Through our recycling fund, we have built a healthy balance sheet with lower-than-expected costs for recycling contracts and services. The district has determined that we can use a portion of this fund balance for the 2024 operating year,” said Mel Meyer, the district's chief financial officer and deputy district superintendent.
Voters first approved the property tax in 2012 to create a land improvement program.
Meanwhile, commissioners approved a 2023-24 budget for the county Commission on Aging of about $2.29 million and spent about $65,000 on new software for the prosecutor's office.
John Deming, Otsego County emergency manager and director of emergency medical services, reported to the council on the state of the county's emergency services.
Due to a general shortage of emergency medical technicians and paramedics, EMS, or EMS, is short 27 employees instead of the proposed 36, Deming said.
Subscribe. Check out our latest deals and read the local news that matters to you.
Deming said the state will have more than 5,000 ambulances this year, or an average of one ambulance every two hours.
Finally, as a procedural step to correct a minor violation of the open meeting law, the commissioners reconvened the courts and other government functions before J. Richard Will will approve moving the Alpine Center to a new building built on approved development land. Gaylord owned land between Otsego and Illinois avenues. For the construction of the building, the country will spend up to 3.5 million dollars from the funds of the American Rescue Program Act (ARPA).
— Contact Paul Welitzkin at pwelitzkin@gaylordheraldtimes.com.
This article originally appeared in the Petoskey News-Review; The county's recycling volume is down because of a healthy fund balance.