February, 2007

Minority Caucus' "7 for 07" Agenda

The coming year is sure to be very busy as we work to chart a better course for the residents of our community. The current Legislature, with its 9 new members, has done little to fight for lower taxes or reforms in county government.

The problem remains...Erie County government is still too big and too expensive. I will continue to push for reductions, reforms and re-engineering of county government and fight to reduce taxes for the residents of Clarence and Erie County.

That's why, on January 31, 2007, my Minority colleagues and I introduced our "7 for 07" agenda which pushes for the following measures to reform county government.

• Supporting the Erie County Fiscal Stability Authority to remain a Hard Control Board, to take a more aggressive role in watching over Erie County's finances, and to impose internal controls used by the Buffalo Control Board to cut costs and stabilize county finances.
   
• Forming a non-partisan re-districting commission for the purpose of reducing the size of the Legislature from 15 members to 9 members. Not only will this save taxpayers a significant amount of money, but we want to work to eliminate the influence of special interests that seek to influence the day-to-day operations of county government.
   
• Ending the parks agreement between the City of Buffalo and Erie County. The agreement was not implemented as promised, and thus is not fair to the taxpayers of Erie County who live outside of the City of Buffalo.
   
• Restoring integrity in public service. Recently, I introduced a local law which prohibits all elected county officials who are convicted of a misdemeanor or a felony from serving in public office. Although the Majority in the Legislature has refused to act on this proposed law, I will continue to push for its passage.
   
• Increasing STAR reimbursement directly to Erie County taxpayers. In August 2006, I introduced a resolution calling on our local state delegation to support legislation that would take into consideration the amount of sales tax we share with school districts when determining a taxpayer's STAR benefit. If sales tax figures were included, Erie County residents would receive an increase of $25 million in their STAR benefit, without any increase in their school taxes.
   
• Changing the role of the Deputy County Executive to a Professional Manager. I will work in 2007 to continue to push for a qualified County Manager that would give Erie County the opportunity to provide strong leadership, professional management and remove political patronage.
   
• Using the full amount of the transfer tax (the dedicated road fund) for the restoration, repair and maintenance of our culverts, roads and bridges, or eliminate the tax if it continues to be diverted for other purposes.

Over the course of this year, I will continue to push forward these and other common sense reforms and keep fighting to reduce taxes and provide essential county services at a lower cost.

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