After two years, Schoharie County Administrator Korsah Akumfi is leaving to take up the same position in Tompkins County.
The Tompkins County Legislature said Friday that they’d hired Mr. Akumfi, who’d served as assistant to first-ever County Administrator Steve Wilson for a year before being named to the position himself in October 2022, following a national search.
The Legislature will officially vote on Mr. Akumfi’s appointment at its October 15 meeting; he will start there on December 9.
Schoharie County supervisors’ chair Bill Federice said he wishes Mr. Akumfi well.
“He’s been offered a great opportunity and I congratulate him for it,” Mr. Federice said.
“He brought a fresh approach to things like systems and brought us out of the 1980s. I thank him for his time here. He did a nice job.”
Schoharie County is advertising the salary for the administrator’s position at $100,000-$145,000.
Mr. Akumfi had been paid about $138,000.
He earned a Master’s of Public Administration in Finance and Local Government Management from Binghamton University in 2020.
He also earned a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Law from Binghamton in 2019.
According to the Tompkins County job description for the post—that search began in July—the position has a starting salary of $180,000 to increase to $189,010 after nine months.
Tompkins County’s population is about 105,000; the county seat is Ithaca.
Schoharie County’s population is about 30,000.
“Korsah comes to Tompkins County with recent experience in local government in New York,” said Legislature chair Dan Klein in a press release.
“Tompkins County is excited to have his experience…and his background in customer service and financial management.”
The market for county administrators is very competitive, Mr. Federice said, something they learned when Mr. Akumfi’s predecessor, the county’s first administrator, Steve Wilson, left to take the same job in Otsego County in 2022.
But at the same time, he said, the county is well-positioned when it comes to things like economic development.
“We have a good team is place,” Mr. Federice said, with outside partners including a vibrant leader—former deputy county administrator Jim Halios—at the helm of the Industrial Development Agency, where the county has invested seed money.
In written statements, Mr. Akumfi said Schoharie County “will always hold a special place in my heart,” and that his goal “is to hit the ground listening,” to better understand the opportunities and challenges facing Tompkins County.