The demographics of the rural Otsego and Delaware County, New York - people are leaving, while the government is growing

Yes, yes, yes, I know, there is small lies, big lies and statistics.

Statistics may be manipulated, may be forged and fabricated, that's true.

But, when many business decisions are independently made by various businesses and local governments based on demographic statistics, such statistics must be true.

People who want to make money will not turn money down based on fake statistics - they will research.

And Fox Hospital from Oneonta, NY did its research of demographics in the area.

And is closing its maternity services that were serving Otsego and Delaware Counties.

Not enough babies being born is cited as the reason.

To cut costs, the hospital now "consolidated" its "labor and delivery" services with Basset Hospital in Cooperstown, NY.

Oneonta, NY, by the way, is located right on Interstate-88, while Cooperstown, NY is reachable only by one-lane county roads that can be tough to navigate in winter.

This is the second maternity hospital that closed in the area within the last 10 years - after the maternity wing in Delaware Valley Hospital in Walton, New York.

Delaware Valley maternity hospital (where my teenage son was born) served rural community in Delaware County for years - and served it well.  

Delaware Valley had only two labor rooms in the entire hospital.  When I was giving birth there, it was the only birth for 2 days.

Finally, Delaware Valley considered it not cost-efficient to continue to run its "labor and delivery" services in an area with dwindling population - where an entire elementary school building, the Abraham Kellogg Elementary School, had to be closed in 2008 and sold by the Delaware County School District because there were no children left to fill that building.

The Abraham Kellogg Elementary School that closed in 2008 reportedly served 46 children in grades 1 through 4.

Fox is not the business or entity taking notice of dwindling population in the area.

This year, Delhi, NY, the seat of Delaware County, announced it is now "reconsidering" the much promoted project to build a swimming pool in the Legion Field.

Which is quite an extraordinary event, considering that just this past November the so-called "Pool Committee" has decided to "go forward" with construction, and was soliciting bids - and donations for such a construction, and that donations are being solicited to this day.

By the way, even though the pool is not going to be built, at least in the original scale, at least at this time (looks like ever), and even though the decision that bids are not approved has already been announced on January 16, 2016, that announcement did not appear on the "Pool Committee"'s website, and the website still has the "Donate" button as of today.

So, I wonder where all of those donations already collected are going.

Once again - on November 4, 2015 (the day of elections, by the way), there was a "go ahead" press release soliciting written bids and donations from the public.  It was like a plea - RE-ELECT ME NOW!  We brought this great project about.

On November 15, 2015 the Town of Delhi, NY published the invitation for bidding for construction of the pool (issued, curiously, 6 days prior, but for some reason not immediately published - why? "the near and dear" to the Town officials' hearts were first notified in a private setting?).

On December 11, 2015 there was an announcement on the Facebook page of the Pool Committee - but not on its main webpage - that "a legal snafu has caused a delay in the bidding process".

The latest "news" on the Delhi Pool Committee's main webpage remain this - those who know the location will see the playground in the back dwarfed by the "project" that was to be built in the area usually flooded by the West Branch of the Delaware River (I lived in Delhi, NY for 17 years, experienced such floods and saw this particular spot as a lake with ducks instead of people swimming all over it):

If you click the "read more" little red words, this opens:

In early January of 2016, bids for construction of the pool (two) came "too high", and the Pool Committee together with the Town of Delhi and the State of New York (that participated with a grant) is now considering a "scale-down" of the project - without notifying its readers on either their main webpage or on the Facebook page, and while continuing to invite donations, even though there is no assurance that the pool-building project will ever go ahead.

The interesting part is that there are no suggestions to collect more donations - only to "scale down" the project.  No people to "serve", it's starting to dawn, right?

And boy do they have to "consider" a scale-down - with the schools having to close and maternity hospitals in the area having to close - because people are leaving the area, with children in tow - who would come to use this "project"?

It will be an "attractive nuisance" and a liability for the remaining Delhi Town taxpayers, it will require a lot of funds for upkeep and garbage removal, it can be overrun by recurrent floods in the area, but it is doubtful that it will be "serving" a lot of people.

It is very obvious that, based on the facts of 

• schools that are closing for lack of children,
• maternity hospitals, even in a relatively large college towns, are closing;
• "scalings-down" of major "community projects"

population in Otesgo and Delaware County is flying out.

In droves.

Which brings me to the question:

what will happen to the budgets of:

• The school districts - when there are less children to teach;
• Social Services - where there are less families to supervise;
• Police and District Attorney's offices - where there are less people to commit crimes;
• the Court system - where there are less cases to be brought voluntarily by local residents, and by social services and the District Attorney?

So far, the process was in reverse to the population dynamics.

There is a huge inflated budget of Delaware County Department of Social services - that, of course, has to feed: 

• all the clans illegally employed by the County, the "hiring process" is described here, and 
• the tumor on the budget of Delaware County, the Delaware Opportunities Inc.  (and the like organizations fed out of the County's budget) where the local governmental officials that command the budget sit on the Board and where, reportedly, a ton of relatives and friends of county officials are employed.

In July of 2015, a new, fourth prosecutor, was authorized for the Delaware County District Attorney's Office, see here and here.

In other words - while people are leaving the State of New York, and the rural counties, which is shown by business decisions to close schools, maternity hospitals and ditch the much-promoted swimming pool project, the "demographics" of the local government goes in reverse - it grows, salaries of officials grow, numbers of officials (judges, prosecutors) grow.

Why? 

Because these people will not survive outside of the government, in an honest self-made business?

They need taxpayers as captive cash cows to subsidize them?

Watch out, Delaware County taxpayers, as well as Delhi Village and Town taxpayers, for any increases of levies or taxes.

The parasites in the local government need the money of the remaining captive cash cows, the taxpayers, to survive, thrive and feed their clans.

Say "no" to the growing local budgets.

They have no basis to ask for growth.

And - I will run a separate blog on the unfunded increase of the salaries of local County District Attorneys, as well as a separate blog about the alleged "budget savings" recently reported by the Delaware County Department of Social Services.

Stay tuned.