Archive for October 25th, 2006
Kevin Gaughan presented his study, The Cost, to a receptive gathering at Hallwalls this evening. The study was to determine the cost of our elected officials in the Greater Buffalo area (Erie County). The purpose of the study was not only to reveal what taxpayers are paying for local government, but also to compare our area to other areas in the Country.
The Greater Buffalo area has 45 local governments consisting of 439 elected officials. By Comparison, Greater Baltimore has 3 local governments with 95 elected officials. The Greater Baltimore area contains 77.43% more people and 78.35% less elected officials.
The disparate number of elected officials in our area goes right to the heart of our economic woes. The size of government consumes wealth. Private investment dollars are needed to create jobs and economic growth. The size of government is like a bunch of cement blocks around the neck of our economy.
After analyzing the study, there can be no doubt that the size of government must be reduced to spur an economic recovery. This is not a City issue or a Suburban one, it must be addressed by all municipalities. Our fate is intertwined. The Cost can be viewed online here.
Free Buffalo (Free New York, Inc.) will be releasing a paper in the very near future discussing the costs of having 29 separate school districts in Erie County. A plan will be outlined to address this expense and reduce the costs to taxpayers. Addressing both the size of our local governments, as well as the numerous school districts, presents a 2 pronged approach to the reduction of taxes necessary to jump start the Western New York economy.
I commend Kevin Gaughan, and the group of law students (pictured above) assisting him, for the detailed study illuminating the high cost of government.
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The Buffalo News today had an article about all the tree damage in the Olmstead Parks. It is truly a disaster and will take many years and probably over a million dollars to mitigate.
The following line is a quote from the final line in the article:
Still, several joggers and power-walkers were seen Tuesday in Delaware Park. Brown warned violators of fines.
Have I missed something? Did Mayor Byron Brown, in all his dubious wisdom, declare Delaware Park off limits?
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The New Jersey Supreme Court has just ruled that gay couples have the same rights under the New Jersey Constitution as heterosexual couples.
This is sure to spark a new round of pre-election posturing on this issue. While I fully support the Court’s ruling, I do not think this issue should be a decisive one for voters. There are many other issues that I feel are much more important at this time. Economic issues and foreign policy are two that come to mind quickly.
My ultimate solution for the same-sex marriage quagmire is for the government to get out of the marriage business. There is no reason for the government to be entwined with a religious issue. Following a secular policy would be fair to all and reflect the constitutional standards our country was founded upon.
The government should be limited to performing Civil Unions to all, granting the same legal benefits to gay and straight couples. Marriage should be an optional religious ceremony, with each religion following its own beliefs, without any legal ramifications.
Also, the federal government has no business participating in the marriage/civil union arena. This should be strictly a matter of State’s rights. The federal government should only become involved if a person’s constitutional rights are violated. Defense of Marriage legislation on the federal level is wrong, divisive and, in my opinion, unconstitutional.
The Court’s ruling requires new legislation within 180 days to either include gay marriage or to create civil unions. The Court did find that current New Jersey marriage laws violated the “equal protection” clause of their State Constitution.
The opinion of the court can be read here.
I must commend the OSC for replying quickly to my query regarding the audit of the Power Authority. I sent my email to them yesterday and received a reply today.
Unfortunately, there are no answers yet. It would be very useful to have the audit results before the upcoming elections on November 7th. Below is the reply I received.
Dear Mr. Rebmann:
The audit work is completed, the agency responded to the draft report and a final report is under executive management review. Upon executive management approval, the final public audit report will be issued.
Jerry Barber, CPA, CISA, CGFM
Assistant Comptroller
State Audit Bureau
Office: (518) 473-0334 Fax: (518) 474-4271
jbarber@osc.state.ny.usOur Vision: “A team of accountability experts respected for providing information that decision makers value.”
The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.
Not only is the cost of health care escalating faster than the number of lies leading up to November 7th, the service is getting worse also. Take 3 minutes and read this article by John Stossel. He uses some very good analogies to explain what is wrong with our health care system today.
Getting medical insurance from your boss is a bad idea
By John Stossel
Wednesday, October 25, 2006According to the new “ABC News” poll on health care, Americans are eager to have the government force employers to provide heath insurance: “Nearly eight in 10 favor a federal requirement that all employers offer insurance to their full-time workers.”
Why?! Do our employers pay for our food, clothing, or shelter? If they did, why would that be good? Having my health care tied to my boss invites him to snoop into my private health issues, and if I change jobs, I lose coverage.
Employer-paid health insurance isn’t free. It just means we get insurance instead of higher salaries. I’d rather have the cash and buy my own insurance. Companies only provide it because of a World War II-era tax break that never went away.
