From a County Legislator
by Walt Johnson
Tioga County Legislator, District 4

 The Legislature and the people of Tioga County will be discussing the size, cost and design of the new county office building in the next few days. Some of the issues and my positions are:

• Why isn't the 124,000 square foot building the best choice? 
Tioga County simply does not need a building that large. The county has a historical courthouse and an administration building (56 Main Street) that are serviceable. It would be a mistake to discard these structures. Furthermore, Tioga County's taxpayers cannot afford to pay for a $29 million dollar structure.

• Who wants the biggest building? 
Two factions want the larger building. The first, obviously, are the architects and engineers associated with its construction. Their fee is related to the size of the project. They have grandiose ideas . . . in their plans for the largest building, the foyer alone was 4300 square feet, almost three times the size of my whole house. The second, not so obviously, are three "legacy" legislators who continue to this day to advocate a $29 million  building on Route 434 to solve a $15 million dollar problem on Main Street. 

• What size building does Tioga County need?
Using the Sutton Associates report of November 1996 where they assessed the actual needs of all the individual departments within the county, a structure to hold Social Services, Public Health, Mental Health, Tioga Employment Center, Veterans Services, DMV, and Information Technology will require about 60,300 square feet. This size will have a smaller parking requirement as well.

 Some people advocate a larger building for "future growth" of government. Let me point out that "growth" in government is always accompanied by "growth" in taxes. I'm an advocate of reduced government and its accompanying reduction in taxes.

• What size building can we afford? 
The county has approximately $14.7 million dollars in the capital projects account. This includes about $8 million of the tobacco settlement funds. With this funding, the county can afford to build a structure of about 60,000 square feet.

• What is a "campus" approach?
Think of a college campus, where English is one building, Math another, and the sciences in yet another. Tioga County's Administration building at 56 Main Street, with proper maintenance is fine for the legislature and administrative support staff. People rarely go to Social Services and the Legislative Offices on the same day. Even more important, the Social Services will be within walking distance to many of their clients. 

• Isn't it smart to borrow money now when interest rates are low and money is "cheap"? 
If you need to borrow money, now is indeed a good time to do so. However, low interest rates are never an excuse to borrow money unnecessarily. The principal always needs to be repaid. The tax burden on the county's taxpayers is high enough without adding more debt service to the load.

• When we built the new jail, we built it bigger than we thought we would need. Why not now? 
In 1994 the economy was strong, and the county's finances were healthy. Additionally, the larger jail space is revenue producing as we board prisoners from other counties across New York State.

• A four-story office building is not consistent with the neighborhood
. The current structure has been in the neighborhood for about 100 years, and it is three stories of offices and an attic on top (4th story) for storage. A smaller office building also may not require four stories and perhaps could actually present a smaller structure than the one currently in place.

• Why do I always hear about "taking" 16 homes?
With all due respect to the media, they only heard that one idea. Since it was "sensational" and brimful of "human interest" it has been included in almost all of the news stories. I have maintained since before I was elected, that I would only support the smallest building possible and "buy" (not "take") homes only from willing sellers.