06082005

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Organized Labor Joins with Partnership in Statement to County Officials

The letter below was sent on June 7, 2005 jointly by the Partnership and Buffalo Labor Council, to Erie County’s elected officials.  The issue of the county’s budget mess transcends typical special interest lines, and the need to fix it is so great, we’ve joined together to make our point loudly and clearly.

Our message:  Act quickly and decisively to close the 2005 budget gap; Prepare for 2006 and beyond using the recommendations that will come from the Erie County Stabilization Project prior to Labor Day; act responsibly to fulfill your duty to this community, or organized labor and the business community will go to Albany together to bring a control board to County Hall.

Please review the letter, and feel free to contact me with your questions or comments.

Sincerely,

Andrew J. Rudnick
President & CEO

***

Joel Giambra, Executive
Nancy Naples, Comptroller
David Swarts, Clerk
Frank Clark, District Attorney
Patrick Gallivan, Sheriff
Edward Kuwik, Legislator
Tim Kennedy, Legislator
George Holt, Chairman
Michael Ranzenhofer, Legislator
Denise Marshall, Legislator 
Al DeBenedetti, Legislator
Demone Smith, Legislator
Raymond Dusza, Legislator
Timothy Wroblewski, Legislator
Charles Swanick, Legislator
Lynn Marinelli, Legislator
Jeanne Chase, Legislator
Steven McCarville, Legislator
Elise Cusack, Legislator
Barry Weinstein, Legislator

Dear Erie County Elected Officials:

Now that we have the State Comptroller’s “Erie County Budget Review,” the Buffalo Niagara Partnership and the Buffalo Labor Council jointly urge you to act collaboratively, quickly, and decisively to deal with the county’s remaining FY05’s fiscal issues.

Over the past seven months, the inability of county elected officials to come together to deal with the FY05 budget crisis has severely limited the range of “bad options” now available to you to a combination of cash flow and deficit financings (which should be separate), tax/fee increases and additional cuts in expenditures.  Make no mistake about it, as “bad” as these options are, they are the ones you must utilize to balance the FY05 budget and to maintain critical county services for the rest of this year.

That said, you must keep in mind the overall tax burden we have in Erie County as you make decisions about how these “bad” options actually are utilized.  The actions you must take to address FY05 should entail no more or less than what is precisely required for meeting this year’s specific need.

In addition, you also must now begin collectively to deal with the 2006 and beyond  budgets.  Immediate action is needed to fix obvious serious problems in the budget office and with the county’s financial/budget reporting system.  You also must come to understand why significant differences exist between the figures in the State Comptroller’s report and those provided by the county budget office – but in doing so, you must not lose your focus on and responsibility for the overall fiscal crisis in the county.  This is no time to squabble over details; you have a responsibility to the county’s residents to avoid such distraction; and, instead, you must concentrate on the remaining important issues in front of you.

The top-to-bottom management review being conducted by the Erie County Stabilization Project (ECSP) – established by the Partnership and with organized labor leadership on its oversight committee – should be your starting point for thoughtful FY06 budget deliberations.  Indeed, our effort is precisely what Comptroller Hevesi is calling for.  The ECSP’s recommendations will be given to you before Labor Day.  In the meantime, project staff and volunteers are prepared to assist you with the immediate issues noted above.

How quickly and completely you act – especially in light of the state legislature’s June 23 deadline - either will tell the community you can govern as elected, or it will make the case for external oversight.  The business and organized labor communities, together, will be closely monitoring the situation and, if we believe it necessary, will advocate immediately and collectively in Albany for a control board for Erie County.

Sincerely,

     
Andrew J. Rudnick     Mark Jones
President & CEO     President
Buffalo Niagara Partnership    Buffalo Labor Council

/jev
cc: WNY state legislative delegation
 Governor George Pataki