Control Boards in Action

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The Erie County Fiscal Stability Authority (ECFSA) turned back the county administration's "Erie County STAR" idea Wednesday evening, deeming the revised 4-Year Plan as unworkable and without any expressed support, much less formal action, by the local governments/school districts that would need to approve it. As a result, the ECFSA offered the administration and legislature one last chance to provide a palpable financial plan for the county.

We, too, were troubled by this proposal. There were too many murky and unanswered questions in it, one of which was how it would affect commercial property owners. Indeed, the county administration's proposal appeared to have merely shifted around (and maybe even added) existing (and already too high) revenues from taxpayers to the benefit of county government, instead of addressing real savings in the cost of county government.

Indeed, the implementation of reforms recommended in the PFM 4-Year Plan or the Partnership's "A Plan for Moving On" remains sluggish, at best, and there has been a severe lack of urgency by the administration and legislature in addressing how to more effectively, efficiently and appropriately spend taxpayer money. An inability, or perhaps more appropriately, unwillingness, to implement reform appears to be driving their actions (or inactions), and time is running out. A new budget and 4-year plan are due October 15, and the ECFSA has given the administration until then, and its Oct. 17 meeting, to right the ship.

Go to http://votervoice.net/groups/bnp/ to send the Erie County Executive and Legislature a message, urging them to focus on cost-saving measures and reengineering reforms - reforms which generate reductions in taxes - in their next proposed plan.

In the City of Buffalo, while municipal workers picket the homes of control board members and staff over the wage freeze, the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority (BFSA) has taken an important additional tact toward addressing the true budget problems facing not only Buffalo, but also other Upstate cities. - outdated, now unaffordable, public employee union contracts which are not being reformed due to the Taylor Law, Triborough Amendment and state pension regulations.

Last month, the BFSA issued a report comparing the fringe benefits received by public employees in the City of Buffalo to those in the private sector both locally and nationally. As you would imagine, the contrast is stark. From coverage for elective cosmetic surgery to an astronomical number of paid days off, it's clear that Buffalo taxpayers are heavily over-investing in public employees, particularly in comparison to virtually every other working person in our community.

The data speak for themselves, and thus you will see this information coming to light in the coming months. Our hope is that our state elected officials hear the ire of taxpayers and give local communities the tools they need, by making the appropriate changes to the Taylor Law, the Triborough Amendment and pension regulations.

Andrew J. Rudnick

President and CEO