Abolish County Government

Didja hear the story on WBEN this morning about the soccer tournament that’s scheduled to take place in Akron this (rainy) weekend?

The organizer had assurances from County Parks Commissioner Angelo Sedita that the tournament could be held at Akron Falls county park. Those assurances have been rescinded.

So, the organizers had to scramble to find town and school parks that could provide soccer pitches on short notice. Akron, Clarence, Newstead all offered help.

That’s regionalism.

But it also proves that we have no use for county parks. They should all be transfered to the towns in which they are located. I mean, the county is still paying for the parks, but we can’t use them.

Albany passes laws that enrich or creat programs – programs that Albany says the counties must pay for. So, Albany takes all the credit yet does none of the work and doesn’t have to pay for it. What a great deal.

And Erie County’s budget is about 90% Albany mandates that can’t really be touched – only about 10% is discretionary, and that’s been shrunk in the recent crisis.

Why does Erie County have to pay for Albany’s largesse? When Albany’s programs target the poor and elderly, you’d better believe that Erie County gets hit disproportionately harder than, say, Westchester.

Take away county government and you take away a redundant bureaucracy.

Take away county government and you take away yet another taxing authority.

Make Albany pay for its own programs and watch it all of a sudden become fiscally more conservative. Let the towns run their own business within their borders for the common good. (They can charge non-residents).