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WIVB CBS-4
(Buffalo, NY, April 3, 2006) - - Is Erie County heading back into a budget crisis sequel? Sources tell Senior Correspondent Rich Newberg the numbers in the county's four-year financial plan just don't add up. Jim Hartman, Director of Management Initiatives for the Giambra administration, told Erie County lawmakers there are no guarantees that labor will give up $14 million in concessions next year to help close a $50 million budget hole. Hartman said last Thursday, "And I will be very candid, and say, at this point, we have no agreements with the union, with regards to these concessions." It was the control board's consultants, PFM, who recommended $14 million in labor concessions under their four-year plan proposal. But if you look at their projections for 2007, they include a county wage freeze, which could only happen with a hard control board, a 15 percent contribution by union workers toward their health care costs, and major work rule changes, among other things. Erie County Comptroller Mark Poloncarz says several of PFM's big-ticket projections were just not doable. Poloncarz said, "They're not worth the ink that is on that piece of paper. Unfortunately, we had to pay them as part of the Fiscal [Stability] Authority's review of the process." PFM's four-year plan study cost the county $800,000. We had questions for PFM consultant Scott Quehl on Monday, but we got his answering machine: "You've reached the voicemail of Scott Quehl. I'm not here to take your call right now, but please leave a message, and I'll get back to you shortly." On February 23, 2006, David Campbell, vice chairman of the Erie County Fiscal Stability Authority (control board), resigned, just a day after the chairman, former Erie County Executive and former New York State Comptroller Ned Regan, left his position. With the control board still without a chairman and vice chairman, many are questioning whether the so-called "adult supervision" is paying off at all. PFM Consultants had based their labor cost savings on a wage freeze they had pencilled in for this year. That, of course, didn't happen. They urged the county to explore alternatives, but so far, as Jim Hartman said, there have been no agreements.Copyright WIVB-TV, 2006 |
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