DECEMBER 3, 2007

COUNTY LEGISLATOR MILLER-WILLIAMS DISCUSSES POSITIVE BUDGET FACTORS FOR 3rd DISTRICT, ENTIRE COUNTY

Erie County Legislator Barbara Miller-Williams (D-Buffalo) is commending various services included in the 2008 Erie County budget proposal affecting her 3rd District, as well as all of Erie County, which will be voted on by the entire County Legislature Tuesday, December 4.

The County Legislature's Finance, Management and Budget Committee, of which Legislator Miller-Williams is a member, amended the 2008 County budget proposal Friday, and during a special session the amended budget plan was discharged and conveyed to the County Legislature for its consideration.

"Among the services receiving and continuing to receive funds that I am proud of are an increase in Operation Prime Time funding, an addition of a community nurse coordinator, the addition of a Spanish-speaking nurse in the Erie County Sheriff's Office, as well as additional staffing for the Sheriff's Office and Probation Department and additional funding for the District Attorney's Office," Legislator Miller-Williams said. "The increased funding to the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Erie County and the Erie County Meals on Wheels program are also prudent uses of resources.

"The committee and I are also pleased that we are able to increase funding to the county's parks for maintenance, staff training and for additional hours of operations," Legislator Miller-Williams said. "The additional funding for the Buffalo and Erie County Public Libraries we approved will allow the libraries to open for more days and to extend their hours of operation, thus also allowing them to increase the services and programs they offer our community."

She noted that tourism and cultural spending also was increased.

"The increase of funding we approved for the Buffalo Niagara Convention and Visitors Bureau by 100 percent over 2007 demonstrates our continued support for increasing and improving the amount and quality of tourism in Erie County," Legislator Miller-Williams said. "We are also providing funding for the Buffalo Convention Center, as well as community cultural based initiative funding."

"We also feel that the legislative intern program will provide the valuable service of giving opportunities for youths to actively participate in governmental operations, learning very important lessons both for school and life afterwards," Legislator Miller-Williams concluded. "And we will be serving a very needed and worthy community by the funding we approved for helping refugees for Vive La Casa."

The full County Legislature will vote on the budget plan at 2 p.m. Tuesday, December 4, in the County Legislature Chamber on the Fourth Floor of 92 Franklin Street, Buffalo.

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