Events of the last couple of weeks have reminded me of a
Benjamin Franklin quote: “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do
today.” It’s one of those quotes my
mother repeated to me when she noticed I would try to avoid doing chores around
the house or homework.
Last week I mentioned that the second meeting of the
Countywide Shared Services Initiative (CWSSI) was held Tuesday, June 27th. This
meeting and others associated with it are a byproduct of the 2018 NY State
Budget and a pet project of our Governor, Andrew Cuomo. I came away from that
meeting encouraged with the participation and what I thought – and related to
you – was the direction we were headed in.
First, I will say that I am not in favor of the way this
program is being forced onto us. The
Governor is apparently obsessed with what he perceives as a lack of cooperation
between local governments, complains about duplications in services rendered
and he has criticized local authorities as maintaining too many layers of
government in New York State. The fact
that he has a running tug of war with NYC Mayor DeBlasio and has ordered
service duplications in New York City that are costing us all millions of
dollars, apparently, to him, doesn’t count. Of his estimated 10,000 agency
total more than half to three quarters are special districts, for street
lights, sewer services, etc., that New York State Law requires to be
maintained.
Second, I do believe that local government in Allegany
County – by comparison with other counties I’ve studied – does try to make its
self as efficient as possible. Few if
any of the issues I’ve heard the Governor complain about as occurring in local
governments appears to be happening here. There are many instances where
everything from assessing services to sharing road building equipment and
manpower are shared. To be right up front with you – if you asked me, could we
do more? Yes, I believe we can and
that’s why I’ve been pleased with what I observed at the last CWSSI meeting. If
all you have is lemons – try and make
lemonade.
Third, the many issues/programs/services that the CWSSI
panel has been discussing (Including but not limited to: NYS Building and Fire
Code Enforcement, Countywide Assessing, Heath Care Insurance, Water System
Management, Sewer System Management, Justice Court, Tax Collection, Bulk
Purchasing, Fuel Farm, Centralized Billing for water, sewer, electric, etc. and
Equipment Sharing/Motor Pool Concept.) would require the enactment of special
legislation by our New York State Legislature to achieve. Obviously that would
take some time but – because the Governor is so passionate about this – the
possibility of a push to get something done in a timely manner may exist. Sort
of a “Put your money where your mouth is.” argument.
Now the worrisome part.
I’m sorry I missed the first meeting.
Apparently the CWSSI panel has decided to take the long route around
this initiative. No topic under discussion (partially listed above) will be
pursued this year. The reasoning is that the time lines for adoption, including
an August 2017 deadline, are short and the complexities of deciding on an
initiative that the towns and villages can agree upon are varied, wide and
deep. This despite the fact that Cattaraugus County – as reported in the Olean
Times Herald – is pressing forward with a full steam ahead approach. Apparently they are at least going to try.
Something I was hopeful would happen here. Especially in view of the fact that
a delay will result in us not seeing any tax relief in this regard until 2019.
As the consensus to not move forward now was, apparently, a
majority decision I have no choice other than to support it. The reality is,
however, that our Governor will not let this issue go. Sooner or later – putting it off until
tomorrow – will not work. My observation
is that in his view, local governments in New York State are the reason
property taxes are so high. It’s not his
or the legislatures cocaine type habit of spending. It’s not our states tendency to go above and
beyond federal minimums for entitlement programs. It’s not the fact that this state forces more
of its spending on local government than any other state in the union. To him, apparently, it’s all local
governments fault!!! A perception I
vehemently disagree with.
I wish Cattaraugus County the best of luck in its decision
to at least try. The programs/initiatives I read that they were discussing
appeared for the most part to be exactly the same as our CWSSI panel is
deliberating. Hopefully, the lessons learned by Cattaraugus County in their
pursuit of this effort can be shared with us so that our ultimate goal of a
well crafted superior initiative can be achieved. In any event please know that
your elected officials work for you. Although many appear to forget that they
were “appointed” and act like they were “anointed” you, by virtue of the ballot
box, are their Boss.
Respectfully,
Karl Graves, Legislator
District 4
