By Joyce Kryszak
BUffalo, NY – Erie County Executive Joel Giambra said Tuesday that the county is doing just fine and there is no need for a control board.
According to the County Executive, the 2005 budget crisis was fixed in 2005. Giambra unveiled budget numbers Tuesday that he said show a surplus for the second year in a row.
He said the surplus for 2006 is $23.6 million. Giambra said that currently gives the county an undesignated fund balance of $27.2 million.
The Erie County Fiscal Stability Authority has predicted a $15 million to $27 million deficit for 2007. Giambra said they are talking about a crisis that does not exist.
But control board officials say not all the facts are being factored in.
Ken Vetter is Executive Director for the control board and the former county budget director. Vetter said the budget is balanced only on the backs of taxpayers.
He cited the increased sales tax rate that brought in an extra $100 million in 2006. And he said another one-shot tobacco deal accounts for additional $15 million. Vetter said that is not structural balance.
Vetter said re-engineering and job cuts through attrition are still needed to create real surpluses. According to Vetter, the county has added back about 500 of the jobs that were cut during the budget crisis.
But Giambra maintains that the county is running leaner and more efficient than ever before. And he said that he told the Spitzer administration that the control board should go away.
But Vetter predicts the control board will remain for some time yet. Best case in other counties, he said it takes at least four to five years to achieve fiscal stability. And he said the county, with its bond rating still only one level above junk status, has a long way to go.
Still, Giambra hopes the first quarter report for 2007 will speak for itself.
He said those results due out in late April will show the positive trend and the surpluses continuing to grow.
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