MONTICELLO — To make way for the county's upgraded emergency communications system, WJFF may have to leave the tower from which it's transmitted the past quarter-century.

“There is the weight factor,” Public Safety Commissioner Dick Martinkovic told legislators on Thursday. “We're at 97 percent capacity on the tower.”

“You want to almost be at 50 percent if possible,” added E-911 Coordinator Alex Rau. “... You never want to stress a tower, especially one that is over 20 years old.”

They were talking about what the weight load will be on the tower - located high above Liberty on a promontory called Elk Point - when the new emergency communications equipment is installed next year.

At no charge, WJFF has leased space on the county-owned tower for its entire broadcast history, and its board and staff are hoping to keep transmitting from that site.

It's not so much about the cost of moving - though that could be significant - as it is the reach of radio waves from that location.

“It's kind of important we stay where we are,” WJFF Board President Sonja Hedlund told legislators. “If we move, we change the listenership.”

That amounts to more than 20,000 households, she said, who depend on the station for emergency information, school closings, weather updates, and an enormous variety of community programming (including the Youth Radio Project, funded by the county's Youth Bureau).

WJFF's engineer and the county's engineer are meeting to see if the tower can be strengthened (or if WJFF can install lighter equipment), but after Thursday's Public Safety Committee where the matter was discussed, Rau told the Democrat there's another consideration for the county and its future needs.

“We don't want to box ourselves in if we want to expand,” he noted.

Although there's space nearby, building a new tower could be prohibitively expensive for the public radio station, which relies heavily on private donations. (Rau estimated the replacement cost of the county's tower would be upwards of $300,000.)

Alternatively, WJFF might be able to rent space on an existing, privately owned tower in the area and is exploring that option. Martinkovic believes the station has a bargaining chip in that scenario: a recently donated emergency generator, which could be valuable to a company whose tower has no electrical backup.

But Hedlund indicated WJFF may be willing to pay the county to stay on the existing tower.

Rau said he and other county officials continue to work closely with WJFF.

“I personally know moving towers is not an easy experience, so we want to make sure they have time with that,” he explained to legislators.

Public Safety Committee Chair Cora Edwards seconded that.

“I only found out last week that WJFF was asked to come off the Elk Point tower by spring of 2015,” she told the Democrat. “I did not know that a radio tower upgrade project would mean that a public radio station would need to find alternative tower space from a county-owned tower. We need to help find solutions that work for everybody.”

Rearranging the budget

Legislators were gratified to learn Thursday that sales tax revenue for 2014 is trending nearly $1.7 million above this time last year, but they remained steadfast that the 2015 property tax levy increase on county taxpayers will not exceed the state-mandated cap.

The tentative increase is at 1.7 percent, but legislators are still tweaking the budget.

Thus, the leaders of a variety of county-funded divisions and offices have had to work out compromises with legislators when it comes to staffing requests.

Sheriff Mike Schiff, for example, had asked for five new deputy positions for 2015 but got two in the tentative budget released in October.

During Thursday's Management and Budget Committee meeting, he pressed for a third budgeted position, which would cost the county around $80,000 in salary and benefits per year.

“For 1,000 square miles [the size of Sullivan County], there's not a lot of police out there,” he argued, adding that the heroin epidemic has strained resources further. “... It gets a little thin.”

He was asked if he could cut down on costly overtime as a result, but Schiff said, “It's a hard question to answer, because as things come up, we have to respond to them.”

Though the- Sheriff's Office's ranks have grown by five in the past year thanks to the Legislature, three of those deputies are assigned to (and paid for by) local public schools, only leaving them free during the summer months.

Legislators appeared amenable to finding money in the to-be-adopted 2015 budget for a third new deputy.

“I know the importance of the road patrol,” said Legislator Alan Sorensen. “And with the heroin epidemic, I see the need is there.”

Nevertheless, Schiff frankly predicted he'll need even more deputies in the future, especially if casinos are built locally.

The trend continued as the meeting progressed, with legislators listening to Real Property Tax Services Director Ed Homenick's and Public Works Commissioner Ed McAndrew's requests for two positions each (a total of four new positions).

“We do not have enough employees to cover everything we do,” said McAndrew, noting that with his division at the minimum required staffing of 128 people, the inevitable sicknesses, injuries and time off require daily reassignments of crews.

“We're continually shutting down an operation just to staff another operation,” he lamented.

Legislator Kitty Vetter said she “appreciates we need our roads and bridges” but bluntly told McAndrew he must “readjust” his budget, just as a private household would do if finances were strained.

“I don't know how we can increase spending when our revenues aren't increasing,” added Legislator Cora Edwards.

“I believe economic growth is about to start in Sullivan County,” countered Legislator Ira Steingart. “And we need to be prepared.”

Grahamsville resident Ken Walter warned that deferring maintenance on the county's aging buildings, roads and bridges will come back to haunt legislators and taxpayers.

“If we don't keep this infrastructure up to form,” he cautioned, “it's going to cost me twice as much down the road.”

Meanwhile, Health and Family Services Commissioner Randy Parker, per Vetter's request, cut his new personnel request in half from the week before.

Originally desiring seven new positions and two title upgrades, Parker returned to legislators with three new positions and one title upgrade. And, he promised, the costs of those positions will be covered by a $130,000 reduction in Safety Net expenditures.

Legislators will vote on adopting the budget this Thursday at 2 p.m. at the Government Center in Monticello.

Trash tree for free

Continuing a popular program, Recycling Coordinator Bill Cutler affirmed to legislators that the county will take Christmas trees off anyone's hands for free.

People need only bring them to a transfer station.

The county cuts the trees up, using the chips in parks and for landscaping purposes.

Vets van upkeep covered

A handicapped-accessible van being rehabilitated by BOCES for the Sullivan County Veterans Coalition will likely have its ongoing maintenance costs covered by the county.

During Thursday's Public Works Committee meeting, Chair Kathy LaBuda convinced her colleagues to up the initial offer of $1,500 for “routine maintenance services” to $15,000 for 2015.

“Fifteen hundred dollars isn't going to go far,” she explained.

Legislators will formally vote on the matter this Thursday.

Regardless of that vote's outcome, the van will be on the road in the new year, servicing homebound veterans in Sullivan County who otherwise cannot obtain public or private transportation.