|
HOME
BIOGRAPHY PHOTO GALLERY EVENTS NEWS ROOM CONTACT US |
HELP SUPPORT |
|
BUFFALO NEWS Comptroller Sides with Giambra in Effort to Keep Control Board at Bay By MATTHEW SPINA News Staff Reporter 7/26/2006 Erie County Comptroller Mark C. Poloncarz says the county's state-appointed control board should remain in advisory mode and has not justified its yen to become a hard board authorized to cap spending and freeze wages. "I know there are differences of opinion between the administration and members of the Fiscal Stability Authority," Poloncarz said during an interview Tuesday. "I don't think that because of those differences there should be a conversion from a soft control board to a hard control board." He said there have been several indicators of a recovery. Outside auditors will soon confirm a 2005 surplus of about $10 million, and the government is tracking toward a year-end surplus for 2006, he said. Though the four-year recovery plan reveals deficits in the final years of the decade, "it's a plan, and plans do change." In the control board's ongoing tension with County Executive Joel A. Giambra, Poloncarz has been outside the fray, taking sides based on the issue, not the personalities. So when he does take a stand, the board notices. He recently bucked the control board by saying its members were wrong to suggest spending the reserves as a way to take out a smaller loan for major projects. With that stance, he stood more with Giambra. Now Poloncarz, Giambra and Legislature Chairwoman Lynn M. Marinelli, D-Town of Tonawanda, agree the seven appointees should remain a panel of advisers and not turn into one that can reach over elected leaders to change spending habits. "I have never been an advocate of a hard control board," Marinelli said Tuesday. Another Democratic county legislator, Thomas Mazur of Cheektowaga, has introduced a statement to be voted on by other lawmakers calling on the State Legislature to dissolve the Fiscal Stability Authority, as the control board is formally known. The vote would have no force of law but would express the collective sentiment of county lawmakers. While the statement has been placed on the agenda for Thursday, Marinelli said she expects to send it to a committee for discussion. "When you look at our fiscal make-up, we are not anywhere near financial destruction," Mazur said. "When you look at how much that authority is costing us, it is actually more of a detriment to getting things done." The seven state appointees on the control board have said they can do more as a hard control board. They see the prospect of budget deficits in 2008 and beyond - because Giambra officials, they say, have done too little to save money. When the panel meets at 2 p.m. today in the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center, its members expect to ask Giambra's budget officials to balance the recovery plan within 30 days. If they don't, the board could declare a "control period," the parlance for a hard control board in the state law that created the authority. From its budget of $1.8 million this year, the authority also will hire its new law firm, Phillips Lytle LLC, which would defend the decision to become a hard control board if Giambra mounts a court challenge. e-mail: mspina@buffnews.com Copyright 2006 - The Buffalo News |
|
Paid For by Friends of Mark Poloncarz
information@markpoloncarz.com |