The Tompkins County Legislature decided Wednesday to ask the state for permission to raise the county's mortgage recording tax in an effort to shore up the budget without raising property taxes even further.

County Administrator Joe Mareane had proposed the increase in the county's mortgage recording tax from 75 cents per each $100 on principal debt to $1 per $100 as a way to diversify the county's revenue stream, which he said is currently too reliant on sales tax.

The move would generate an estimated $1 million in annual revenue, the equivalent of a 2.7 percent property tax levy or, as Dryden Democratic legislator Martha Robertson noted, the salaries of about 20 county employees. Mareane added that other counties were already at the $1 rate.

"I believe that this sustained revenue is important to the overall balance of the budget," Mareane said.

Legislator Mike Hattery, R-Dryden, said he felt it was not an ideal solution, but one that seemed reasonable as long as it was temporary.

Amy Wood Gonzalez, president of Ithaca Board of Realtors, urged legislators to reconsider any tax increases, both on mortgages and property. In a public hearing on the proposed 2010 county budget later in the legislature's session Wednesday, she said the burden on existing and potential homeowners and those looking to buy was already too high.

"We don't want to see more people priced out of the local housing market and pushed out of the county," she said.

Legislators will have additional opportunities to debate the issue before implementing any increase.

Further discussion of fees followed hotly on its heels, during a resolution to increase the local telephone landline surcharge from 35 cents to $1 per month, which would generate an estimated $250,000 per year to help maintain the county's new $22 million public safety communications system.

Jim Dennis, D-Ulysses, said the fee was necessary to plug a hole in revenue promised -- but not delivered -- by the state

A public hearing scheduled earlier in the meeting attracted no comment. But many legislators said they were uneasy introducing further fees on already strained taxpayers.

"This could be a habit that is hard to break," said Frank Proto, R-Caroline and Danby.

He added that landlines were a necessity for many rural residents who don't have access to cell phone or broadband coverage.

Greg Stevenson, D-Enfield and Newfield, noted that half of his phone bill already went toward taxes.

"I made one phone call last month, but my bill was $27," he said.

Carol Chock, D-Ithaca, said the mortgage tax increase could at least be incorporated into a debt repayment scheme, but the landline charge just created an additional monthly burden on what is one of the most basic expenses.

Robertson pointed out that cell phone users already pay higher monthly taxes, at $1.50, but the county only sees 30 cents of that.

The resolution passed by a vote of 11-2, with Chock and Leslyn McBean-Clairborne, D-Ithaca, opposed. All bills issued after Nov. 17 will be affected.