Just add Erie County to the pig above

So much can be said about this article and it leaves the door wide open for much, much more. Working against the control board proves this class of legislators has no desire to work for trust, they simply want them gone. The deserve no trust, just look at the parts of the budget that has leaked out thus far. 90 grand more for district offices, for more employees? What for, they already have more staff than they could ever use, 13 at the county level plus in their district offices. Spending has increased yet again and once again over and above the county executives just like last year. Yet they will blame any and all shortfalls on him.

$600 grand is alot of money in my book but what the hell do I know, I lost my race, we get what we deserve. What we do need is a new department called internal affairs so we can hunt down and eliminate all the pork, patronage and newly created civil service jobs, yes the ones that just last year were patronage are now full time civil service positions, created out of thin air and we pay for it.

Budget still has a hole
Lack of agreement on county borrowing leaves financial projections unsettled

The Erie County Legislature let the community down late last week when it refused to authorize the control board to borrow on the county’s behalf. The problem is that the consequences of its refusal are likely to far outweigh the seriousness of its objections. Legislators chose an odd moment to discover their purity.

The Legislature’s approach to this problem is troubling in both its details and in the big picture. If the control board borrows, it will save money for taxpayers — not a lot, at around $600,000 over 30 years, but some. Saving money is a good thing, but the Legislature’s goal is different — it wants to get rid of the control board, and sees blocking control board borrowing as a way to do that.

Legislators protest that the savings will be overwhelmed by the need for the board to maintain sufficient staff levels to manage the loan, but the board will be around for years, anyway, as a matter of statue. What is more, control board officials say that if the board were to go into a dormant period, they could assign that work to someone else. Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer, here late this week, indicated that could be part of a compromise solution to this stalemate — a welcome sign that the governor’s office is getting involved.

More ominous is the Legislature’s approach toward the board. A high level of resentment may be predictable, but control boards don’t usually go away until sometime after the elected officials decide to work with them. Resistance has not been a useful approach, especially given that control boards, for good reason, have the legal upper hand.

The control board was imposed on the county because of the failures of county government. Current county lawmakers argue that the Legislature has changed since then, and say that they should be allowed to do what they deem best without any oversight. But the Legislature has to re-earn that trust, not just demand it.

Legislators do make some fair points. For example, Legislator Maria Whyte, D-6th District, observed on this page that control boards typically engage in deficit financing when governments are in such poor financial shape they cannot borrow money. Erie County is not in that position, because — unlike other governments that got control board oversight — it has room to raise taxes.

But the control board can save money and it can block the county from borrowing otherwise. Legislators can prevent the control board from borrowing, as well, by refusing to make that request. It the meantime, critical projects are suffering, including work at the Buffalo Zoo, Erie Community College and Ralph Wilson Stadium.

Whyte’s article opened the door to compromise with the control board. That should be explored. But while there are some points in the Legislature’s favor, they are overwhelmed by the record of poor judgment in recent years and the continuance of the kind of pettiness in politics that voters hate. These legislators were elected as reformers, but they have opted for a standoff that looks a lot more like paralysis.
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