WGRZ NBC-2

Plan To Ease Tax Hikes Questioned

"We should cut first and tax less," said Republican Erie County Legislator Dr. Barry Weinstein.

In a Wednesday news conference, flanked by Republican candidate for Erie County Comptroller, John Canavan, Dr. Weinstein said he found more than 500 jobs added in the 2006 budget. He said he found $27 million worth of cuts, which would include about 400 jobs. Making these cuts, and more, would ease the need to raise the property tax rate by 50% or more, and the sales tax by half a penny.

"Why are we rushing to tax when we should be focused on controlling the scope of government," echoed Canavan.

However, Erie County Budget Director Kenneth Vetter said Dr. Weinstein did not take into account position deletions and reallocations, which he says bring the total number of new positions in the 2006 budget, full and part-time, to 186.

"If you simply count all of the positions that say 'adds,' you're going to come up with a significant number, but, that's a very simplistic approach, because there are positions that were deleted," Vetter says.

The two other candidates for comptroller besides Canavan also had their questions about Dr. Weinstein's plan and Canavan's support of it.

Mark Poloncarz(D), said he found more than 400 added positions when he went through the 2006 budget. He says some of them should remain, such as new probation officers, but Poloncarz says Dr. Weinstein's numbers are off.

"It's not a proposal. It's a sheet of paper," Poloncarz said, "that unfortunately has some numbers on it, some of which if they'd really done their research, they'd find out the savings are already in the 2006 budget."

Vetter echoed that, saying some of Weinstein's discovered revenues, such as $2 million from new county DMV locations, is already added in the budget.

Conservative candidate for Comptroller, Robert Whelan, agreed more cuts should be made, but after examining the positions. He but criticized the legislature and the County Executive's roles in the budget crisis.

"That's an easy path for anyone to take, and I respect the fact that the legislators are all in a turmoil. They haven't done anything responsible," Whelan said.

According to the Erie County Comptroller's office, the budget hole for 2006 now stands at $90 million.