By Joyce Kryszak
Buffalo, NY – Erie County lawmakers Thursday ended the budget crisis - at least temporarily - voting ten to five to approve a quarter percent sales tax hike.
After days of wavering, Republican Chuck Swanick decided not to pull his yes vote. But only in exchange for a seventy five percent cap on county spending this year.
The last time around the tax was defeated by a last minute switch by Democrat Al DeBenedetti. But DeBenedetti said he was happy to vote for the quarter percent.
"There's been some dramatic changes in Erie County government as a result of my not voting for the one percent increase back in January," said DeBenedetti. "I'm pleased in that we've seen enormous cuts in spending and we will see further cuts in spending."
Ironically, DeBenedetti, along with Demone Smith, voted against two measures that attempt to guarantee that.
They voted no against the spending cap sponsored by Swanick. Emergency allocations could be decalred by the County Executive and authorized by the Legislature.
They also oppposedd another resolution by Democratic Majority Leader Lynn Marinelli that lays the ground work for future reforms. DeBenedetti said the cap is likely illegal. Marinelli doesn't think so.
"We're setting some new pathways that have never been set before," said Marinelli. "And what I've known back from the days of being an English major is that there's no language that's perfect and no system that's perfect, and you work here to find ways to iron out the imperfections."
The compromise reached on the sales tax brought a sigh of relief for many - from here to Albany, to Wall Street. The vote finalizes the sales tax hike expected to go into effect July first. And that guarantees repayment for deficit borrowing.
But there is still much work ahead. The incoming advisory panel is requiring County Executive Joel Giambra to submit a budget and a four year plan by October first. Marinelli's resolution bumps that up to September.
Giambra desscribed the budget crisis as a temporary "distraction." He also defended county taxes, saying residents in Erie County have gotten a "bargain" in their taxes here over the last five years.
Still, he acknowledged there is a lot of work to do in a short time. But he said he knows where to start.
"We still have a lot of moving pieces and the largest piece of which is the labor unions, to see how they are going to respond to the call to arms, if you will, about the need to be partners with us," said Giambra.
Giambra has spoken especially optimistically about compromise with new Buffalo AFLCIO President Mark Jones. He is part of the Buffalo Stabilization group that's been looking at ways to balance the budget. Jones said spending does need to be cut. But he said there is also plenty of room for trimming at the top.
"When we talk about duplication and waste, everybody immediately thinks of just the unions," said Jones. "As part of the stabilization project, we've been looking at a lot of duplication up at the top, at upper management. So, I don't think it's just the unions. I think we can save a lot of money on upper management."
But Giambra still sees the problem as even higher up.
"We're going to have to continue to work with some of the individuals in Albany who are going to want to continue to convince you and the public here that they had no responsibility in the problems here," said Giambra.
Regardless, Giambra reiterated that solving those problems will require a property tax hike for next year. He would not, however, say how high.
Republican Denise Marshal, who voted no consistently to the sales tax hike, said Thursday that she is ready for the new fight.
"Now that this has been done (the sales tax increase) we really need to begin focusing on the 2006 budget," said Marshal. "We have to avert that property tax increase that the County Executive continues to propose."
Meanwhile, the state imposed advisory panel will be monitoring the actions of all county officials very carefully, deciding if or when it might still be necessary to step in with stronger adult supervision.