By Eileen Buckley
Buffalo, NY – A proposed plan to merge all city parks with Erie County now sits in the hands of the county lawmakers. The County Legislature's Government Affairs Committee was scheduled to hold talks on the merger Monday.
Representatives from the city and county governments, unions, the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority and the Olmsted Conservancy were all invited to attend. Buffalo is hoping that Erie County will take over its parks by July 1st. A management agreement was delivered to the Legislature for review late last week. But Democratic Majority Leader Lynn Marinelli says lawmakers are not too pleased with the short time frame they've been given to review the parks merger.
"It comes down to both money and time," Marinelli said. "How much of a fiscal impact will this create? This is being done with some degree of swiftness."
The parks transfer would save Buffalo $3.5 million a year. City parks workers would fall under the county. Marinelli says, right now, it's very hard to predict approval of the merger.
"We're also concerned about the workers and responsibility for the parks," Marinelli said. "We are certainly not in the business of taking out workers when the parks season is just beginning. We want to make sure that those who have new responsibilities are held accountable for them."
The control board sent the city back to the drawing board to rework the budget and insisted that the parks merger must be approved. Marinelli says she's not sure when the issue will appear on the Legislature's agenda. But the next session is scheduled June 10th, one day after the control board meets.
On June 7th a public hearing will be held at the Buffalo Museum of Science so citizens have a chance to voice their concerns about a city-county parks merger.