Erie County's state-appointed control board would like to borrow money on the government's behalf and refinance its old debt, its chairman said Friday, meeting quick resistance from the county comptroller. Chairman Anthony J. Baynes said the control board, with its superior bond rating, could help the county in the same way consumers save money by moving credit card balances onto cards with better rates.

"We are going to pursue that vigorously," he said during a meeting Friday. The control board, in existence since August 2005, has never borrowed money for the government.

The Fiscal Stability Authority can intercept whatever sales tax money it needs as Albany sends Erie County its sales tax proceeds. This unfettered access to an abundant supply of cash has earned the control board a top-flight credit rating, far better than Erie County's rating.

In theory, the control board can then save thousands, or millions of dollars over the life of a loan by borrowing at lower interest rates or by avoiding a purchase of the insurance that guarantees lenders will be repaid.

The control board, however, would have to exist during the years, or decades, that it carries the debt. Consequently, County Comptroller Mark C. Poloncarz doubts the savings that Baynes described since taxpayers would continue spending about $1 million a year supporting control board operations.

"It's doubtful any actual savings would occur," Poloncarz said.

Their disagreement looms as yet another struggle between the control board and the government's elected officials.

The county will need to borrow money later this year for large-scale projects and short-term cash. The county's elected leaders can refuse to let the state appointees borrow on their behalf. But the control board could then try to block the county's sale of bonds, arguing the state authority can borrow more cheaply.

The control board Friday tightened its grip over government hiring. The appointees have insisted on the right to review hiring in an effort to keep jobs vacant as long as possible. But they have spotted county leaders promoting employees into better-paying vacancies. The control board Friday insisted they review those decisions as well.

The control board can dispense $18 million to streamline government but has allocated only about $1 million so far. It balked Friday at a request to hire a consultant to help the county move to performance-based budgeting. It also said a Social Services request to install a new computer system that would track users across all the safety-net programs they use should be phased in. In short, the board did not want to provide the $4.4 million all at once.

There was no substantive discussion about a new county agreement to sell its tax liens to a private company, Xspand of Morristown, N.J. The Legislature approved the outlines of a deal Thursday but the control board will not review the agreement until a contract is written.

As for all other contracts, the board agreed Friday to approve them in open meetings from now on. The members had been approving them privately, by e-mail, a practice New York's Open Meetings Law does not allow.

e-mail: mspina@buffnews.com

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