LEWIS COUNTY, N.Y. -- Each and every comment got the same response of thundering applause. Taxpayers protested Lewis County's proposed budget, which calls for eliminating 52 jobs and zero funding for contracted agencies like libraries and recovery centers.

The job cuts would come from services like EMS, the DA's office, Social Services and the sheriff's department.

"We can't afford to lose services in Lewis County," Town of Lowville resident Pat Peebles said. "We're a very needy county. We don't have all the services we need now."

"These cuts will probably take us back into the 60s," Lowville Free Library Board President Randy LaLonde added. "I can't remember a time when the libraries did not receive some money. A penny at least."

The county said the moves are needed to keep taxes affordable.
But many residents are questioning motives. They point to the planned elimination of an emergency services position over a position like a trail coordinator.

"If they keep this trail coordinator position and eliminate the EMS coordinator position their priorities are seriously out of order," Beaver Falls Fire Dept. 3rd Assistant Chief Pete McLane said.

"The problem is you've got to try and balance both. Without revenue coming in it's going to the taxpayers. Revenues are important to us," Lewis County Legislator Jerry King responded by adding the trail coordinator brings in revenue.

The trump card in all of this could be the $10 million sitting in the Lewis County fund balance. The county has been extremely reluctant to tap into it, but people here say using just 10 percent of it, or $1 million could save a lot of these jobs and a lot of these programs.

"This $10 million to me is a rainy day fund," CSEA Local 825 President Cal Farney said. "It's a huge rainy day fund. I told them it's raining. It's raining bodies and these bodies are friends and neighbors."

"If you keep going to your savings account, someday that savings might not be there," Board Chairman Jack Bush responded. "Then what are you going to do."

The county board will discuss the public comments Friday and could have a finalized budget by its December 1st meeting.