As the County Executive’s 2016 State of the County approached, I hoped he would address a number of pressing issues, but at the end of the 45-minute speech, I left feeling disappointed. While the County Executive laid out a number of proposals, he neglected to mention how county government could afford them, and whether or not they would be any different from previous ideas.  Instead, he talked about solving problems with more money, and dictating how small businesses should operate.

All too often, we’re told that more money is needed to tackle every pressing issue.  When does it stop?  Since the County Executive took office in 2012, his budget has grown by $100 million; but that still isn’t enough.  He is constantly asking the Legislature for more spending and more jobs.  We need to take a step back and examine how the County Executive is managing government with the resources he has been given by the taxpayers. 

Our region remains among the highest taxed in the country, yet there was no discussion of tax relief or reducing spending.  There was no discussion about finding ways to make government run more efficiently within our budget.  He mentioned that he did not raise taxes in his first term; but neglected to admit that he tried to raise them by $8.5 million his first year in office.  He took credit for the two consecutive tax decreases in 2015 and 2016, but neglected to mention that was a result of efforts by the Legislature. 

There was no mention of improving our crumbling infrastructure or repairing our failing parks.  The only mention of those things was about what he accomplished with the help of the Legislature in the past. Each year we’re told that Erie County has more lane miles than Rhode Island, Delaware, or Hawaii. We all know we have a lot of roads and bridges, but what we don’t know is how we are going to maintain them and ensure they are safe well into the future.  

When it comes to our failing parks, the County Executive would rather spend money on an abstract plan than tangible improvements.  He recently requested that we spend $450,000 on updating our 2003 parks master plan, which has barely been implemented in the last 13 years.  None of this money would be spent on improvements to shelters, bathrooms, playground equipment, maintenance, or repairs.  In my opinion, that money should be spent to address the issues currently facing the parks, not some abstract plan that may never be implemented.

Prior to the State of the County, we all knew that sales tax revenue was down from 2015.  Gas prices have dropped dramatically, and the Canadian dollar is weaker than it’s been in many years. Erie County is constantly warned not to rely so heavily on volatile sales tax when budgeting. We now know exactly how much of an impact these factors had last year: In 2015, sales tax revenue fell nearly $9 million short of budget, and preliminary numbers show the shortfall was nearly $12 million in February 2016 alone. This is a gap that we must address. 

As I said before, with all of the issues currently facing county government, the answer cannot simply be to spend more money.  Instead of pursuing an anti-small business agenda that spends millions of dollars each year that we don’t have, the County Executive should be focusing on managing Erie County with the resources already given to him.  While I agree we need to resolve the heroin epidemic, address the lead issue, we can’t have a discussion about the State of the County without discussing economic development, the fact that NYS is ranked the least friendly state for businesses and addressing the true purpose of county government – delivering quality services to all residents.