Press Releases: 03/15/10 Republican Caucus applauds County Executive's efforts, plans for $44 million surplus 12/01/09 Legislative Republican Caucus Opposes Passage of Budget Amendments in 2010 Budget 10/02/09 ERIE COUNTY LEGISLATURE'S MINORITY CAUCUS COMMENTS ON 2010 PROPOSED BUDGET 09/10/09 Legislative Republican Caucus Votes to Sustain County Executive's Veto of Local Law 09/08/09 Erie County Legislature Demands Equal Funding for Road and Bridge Projects From State

John J. Mills - District 13 October 1, 2008 LEGISLATORS MILLS AND RATH CALL ON STATE TO REJECT PROPOSAL TO MOVE VITAL RECORD REGISTRAR TO COUNTY (Erie County)-Erie County Legislature Minority Leader, Legislator John Mills-13th District and Legislator Edward Rath III- 15th District, have submitted a resolution urging state leadership to reject a proposal currently being considered by the New York State Legislature that would strip local governments from providing vital statistic records to local residents. Instead, the law would require individuals to travel downtown to obtain records previously available at town and village halls and would increase the fee for these records. A leader in this effort, Legislator Mills stated, "This is yet another example of Albany passing the buck to county taxpayers. Under this recommendation, county residents would be forced to travel downtown for marriage records, birth and death certificates and would triple the cost of this service to the taxpayer, from $10 to $30." He continued, "These services represent a great source of revenue for many local governments and, most importantly local clerks do it efficiently and effectively. The County can not afford to take control of these records, and Erie County taxpayers should not be burdened with the increased cost of obtaining these important records." Under the proposal, the State Commissioner of Health would have the authority to consolidate all Registrar of Vital Statistics duties at the County level, which would operate under state control. County government would have no authority to reject the proposal. With current employment levels, it would almost certainly require more personnel in the County Clerks office. At the local level, this is a task that town and village clerks perform as part of their everyday duties and in most cases does not add additional labor cost to local municipalities. In addition, local citizens would have to travel much greater to distances to attain certain records. "In an era of challenging fiscal times, this proposal is irresponsible. Reform should benefit taxpayers. This proposal does not," commented Legislator Rath. Legislators Mills and Rath will seek immediate consideration of their proposal at the October 2, 2008 meeting of the Erie County Legislature. "I believe that the State's proposal simply does not make sense and will hurt taxpayers. I think that there will be enough votes to send a message to Albany that transferring the registrar functions to the county is an anti-taxpayer move," stated Legislator Mills. Back to District 13 Homepage