The Erie County Legislature approved a large, diverse group of changes to the Erie County Charter submitted by the Erie County Charter Revision Commission at its July 13 session.

The County Legislature considered 44 resolutions, approving 33 of them, Thursday; more than half of the actual votes resulted in unanimous, bipartisan results. The Legislature voted to strengthen financial oversight and budgetary structure through increasing certain powers of the County Comptroller, including granting the Comptroller the ability to declare a deficit, review revenue projections and authorize the Legislature to reduce such projections by a two-thirds majority vote.

The Legislature also voted against the proposed county manager-county executive hybrid form of government, with concerns being expressed over the cost of the new position and staff and over adding another layer of bureaucracy through the proposal.

"This is our fiscal reform package. The charter revisions proposals we approved modernize county governance," Legislature Chairperson Lynn M. Marinelli (D-Buffalo, Tonawanda) said. "Through the charter revisions, we are changing for the better the way the county and its operating procedures are structured and the way in which we do business. Simply put, the bottom line is our top priority. I could not support initiatives that I believe would increase our costs, such as the hybrid form of government that would have added the county manager position while retaining the county executive."

The Legislature also voted to send some items back to their respective committees for further discussion and consideration, meaning that the proposals will receive more deliberation before final action is taken.

"We have asked that further deliberations be conducted on issues concerning the Department of Social Services, public safety and campaign solicitations," County Legislature Majority Leader Maria R. Whyte (D-Buffalo) said. "These are extremely important areas and we do not reject that charter revisions be made here, but we believe that further consideration is merited."

These actions followed a series of public hearings on the proposed charter revisions, the final one held Monday, July 10, which came about after months of deliberations by the Charter Revision Commission under its Chairman, George K. Arthur. The Charter Revision Commission was originally charged with approving and submitting its recommendations to the County Legislature by April 15, 2006, but asked for an extension to July 15, The Commission actually presented its recommendations to the Legislature June 20.

"After the Commission submitted its recommendations, the Legislature followed a tight schedule of public hearings held both by the County Legislature and the Commission." Chairperson Marinelli said. "Majority Leader Whyte, other Democratic legislators and I attended meetings and dialogued with commission members. Several legislators, including myself, surveyed constituents. Many bipartisan discussions between individual legislators were also held."

The Legislature's next step is to begin deliberations and approve local laws pertaining to the charter recommendations it approved last week. The County Executive would then hold a public hearing and either sign into law or veto the local law; if vetoed, the County Legislature can override with a 10-5 vote. Language is then submitted to the Board of Elections for items requiring voter approval.

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