Delaware board discusses high smoking rate, bed tax revenue

March 28-- Mar. 28--The Delaware County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday passed a resolution recognizing April 1 through 7 as National Public Health Week.

Sponsored by the American Public Health Association, the program is designed to educate the public, policymakers and industry professionals on matters of public health including access to primary and preventative care services and risk factors for cancer, disease and injury, according to board documents.

Deyanira Cisneros, community engagement coordinator for Advancing Tobacco Free Communities -- Delaware, Otsego and Schoharie Counties, detailed the impacts of tobacco use in Delaware County.

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death and illness, Cisneros said, and while the statewide rate of tobacco use is a relatively low 14.2 percent, Delaware County's rate is 23.4 percent.

Cisneros showed photos of sidewalks and lawns outside of county buildings, including the health department, which were visibly littered with cigarette butts, and held up a jar containing more than 50 cigarette butts she said were collected in less than 15 minutes from the Sen. Charles D. Cook County Office Building earlier that day.

Program director Linda Wegner said cigarette butts take 12 years to decompose and can leach more than 12,000 chemicals into the soil and water and pose a significant risk to rural areas dependent on agriculture.

Wegner and Cisneros emphasized that tobacco use is not limited to combustible products like cigarettes, cigars and pipe tobacco. Board members passed around a Juul, an e-cigarette brand popular among young adults, teens and children.

"The big tobacco companies have addicted another generation," Wegner said.

The board also passed a number of resolutions amending the budget, reallocating $583,216 to the County Insurance account to cover premiums on incidental liability claims, administrative costs and continued funding of the insurance revenue account, and $1,744 to the county health department for the purchase of laptops for Delaware County medical examiners to utilize the Electronic Death Registration System in improving the quality and timeliness of overdose data.

Ray Pucci, president of the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce, presented on the use of occupancy tax revenue in promoting local tourism. Tourist spending in Delaware County accounted for nearly $1.12 million in 2017, an 11.6 percent increase from the previous year, Pucci said, and generated nearly $6.7 million on local tax revenue.

Some of the funds were used to rebrand Great Western Catskills, the official county tourism website, Pucci said. An analysis of website traffic indicated that mobile devices accounted for nearly 60 percent of user access, which Pucci said demonstrated visitors "using the site in real time to find out what's available in their area."

The chamber also sponsored 50 percent of the costs of building websites for lodging establishments throughout the county, Pucci said, and did not discriminate between traditional lodging establishments like hotels and motels or private home rentals like those promoted on platforms such as Airbnb, as long as the establishments were registered with the county treasurer's office, as per the updated terms of the occupancy tax law.

"These are simple sites that work," Pucci said. "We think this is the critical part of what we've been doing."

Last summer, the chamber launched its "Ask a Local" campaign, a series of short videos featuring interviews with "charismatic" locals about their favorite haunts and seasonal activities, Pucci said, for the purpose of promoting authentic experiences throughout the county.

"Our images and videos are always authentic," Pucci said. "They're all taken here. We're not using stock images."

In addition to promoting local businesses and business owners, Pucci said the videos are also intended to subtly introduce the idea of relocating businesses to the county.

"It's more than just 'come and visit us,' it's 'come and live with us,'" Pucci said.

Sarah Eames, staff writer, can be reached at [email protected] or 607-441-7213. Follow her @DS_SarahE on Twitter.

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