Well, at least, ending the budget deadline part of the games:

Democrats in the Monroe County Legislature would like to move the release deadline for the county executive’s budget proposal from Nov. 15 to the second Tuesday in October, before Election Day.

Their request to move the deadline comes during an election year for the legislature.

Democrats hold 14 out of 29 seats.

“We’re not throwing this at them at the last minute,” said Legislator Carrie Andrews, D-Rochester, the legislation’s sponsor.

The matter of when the public learns the details of the county executive’s budget proposal was an issue in 2004, when a plan to move the release date to after the election was defeated, and again in 2006, when such an effort was successful.

Andrews is hoping to win bipartisan support to move it back.

“The public would want to know our thinking (on the budget proposal) before they cast their votes,” she said.

What a concept.  Let the public know what they’re in for before they vote.  But the GOP response is typical:

The Democrats’ request is “partisan politics” and gets the election season off to a quick start, said Noah Lebowitz, spokesman for County Executive Maggie Brooks, a Republican.

This totally ignores the question begging to be asked: what is the Monroe County GOP trying to hide?  A D&C commenter puts it well:

This isn’t “partisan politics” ,it’s common sense to know what shape the county is in BEFORE we vote! 
Unlike Maggie Brooks who sprung the FAIR plan at the eleventh hour the Democrats are giving the GOP plenty of time to react to this request and explain to all of us why we shouldn’t know the full story before we go to the voting booth.
Why wouldn’t you want to know what a great job the Republicians are doing to control spending and meeting the budget? Unless of course they weren’t.

Exactly.  And this is why the GOP smacked down the two Republican legislators who did the right thing and voted with the Dems on moving the budget deadline back in 2006.  To me, that’s the real partisan politics going on here.

They want to move the date back a few weeks, to prior to the election.  Will things change in those few weeks? Sure, but enough to change the basic jist of where the county’s going to be spending or cutting? Probably not.  

Related posts:

1. Why is a budget not a factor in an election?
2. Where Is Monroe County Going And What Is It Doing In This Handbasket?
3. Monroe County Budget released
4. Medicaid Intercept: Monroe County Gambled and Lost $6M
5. How Does A Monroe County Budget Go Into The Red? $1M at a Time