MONTICELLO, NY — Sullivan County’s tentative budget for 2017 includes a 4.77% increase, which will help pay for construction of the new county jail. Sullivan legislators on October 20 passed a resolution granting the contract to build the jail to Pike Company located in Rochester. The cost of the contract is about $72.2 million, bringing the total cost of the new jail to about $85 million, which is $10 million less than was estimated a couple of months ago.

Along with the funds for the new jail in the new budget, county manager Josh Potosek said, “Meaningful investments have also been included for infrastructure, economic development, public safety, organizational efficiency and various quality of life issues while maintaining our fund balance levels well in excess of a level recommended by rating agencies and by our own Fund Balance Policy.”

The budget includes enough money for road maintenance, which has fallen seriously behind schedule in the wake of the Great Recession, to service about 23% of county-owned roads with paving or surface treatment.

In a press release, Potosek said that as part of the process of producing the tentative budget, he created a new county division. He said, “The Division of Environmental Sustainability, Beautification and Recreation would include the Office of Sustainable Energy and the Department of Parks, Recreation and Beautification. The proposal to include these two departments in the newly created division stems from the synergy that exists between the preservation of our environment and natural resources and the development of the county’s recreational opportunities.”

Regarding other budget priorities, Potosek said, “Resources have been allocated to important initiatives such as the establishment of a land bank, investment in GIS as a business retention and attraction tool, and addressing property blight. Additional administrative resources have been allocated in public health to increase the capacity of the organization in order to continue working toward improving the health of our county, and an allocation for the establishment of a comprehensive employee wellness program has been included as well. Also, the budget provides additional resources for our Office for the Aging, Youth Bureau and Veterans Service Agency to support the important work they perform.”