Erie County cannot have ‘hard’ control board

BY MELANIE LARSEN
The Tonawanda News

North Tonawanda, NY February 24, 2006 09:14 am

— BUFFALO — Making the leap from a soft control board to a hard control board won’t be happening anytime soon, despite calls for such action.
Vice Chairman David Campbell opened Thursday’s meeting of the Erie County Fiscal Stability Board of Directors by addressing what he called a misconception some in the county might have about the group’s role.
The misconception, Campbell said, is that the board is in place to control county spending, when in reality its current role is only advisory.
Members of the board asked what moves would allow a transition to a hard control board that would have a grip on the county purse strings.
“There is no provision whatsoever to go into a hard control board,” attorney and guest speaker G. Stamm said, adding that “the trigger points are very narrow.”
A hard control board would only go into effect when and if the county executive and the Legislature could not agree and come up with a balanced budget, according to the board’s Web site.
Campbell said the public is placing too much authority in the hands of the board members.
“We are not elected; we don’t have the authority to run county government,” Stamm said.
In other board news, Campbell officially resigned as chairman of the control board after Thursday’s meeting.
His resignation follows former chairman of the board Ed Regan, who resigned Wednesday.
Campbell said he was stepping down because he felt his integrity had been attacked by media outlets.
Gov. George Pataki, who appointed both men, must now find replacements.
The remainder of Thursday’s meeting focused on routine items.
One concern focused on the time frame in which the board receives reports from the county executive’s office. With Thursday’s report arriving at 4 p.m. Wednesday, board members complained there wasn’t enough time to thoroughly study the issues.
In addition, several of the items were unclear, Commissioner John Johnson said.
“There are no numbers on overtime, social services case load, personnel vacancies,” Johnson said. “What is the county doing to stay balanced?”
Board member Sheila Kee agreed, saying that the report she received was not the budget monitoring report she expected.
Among other items discussed was the potential need for and process of hiring outside legal counsel, personnel matters and a request for a proposal seeking an independent auditor for the board.
“The county controller provides an independent audit 120 days before the end of the fiscal year,” board Executive Director Lee Van Riper said. “Part of their audit requires them to receive ours.”
Contact Melanie Larsen at 693-1000, Ext. 150.