One More Time, Consolidation.
Well, I hate to say “I told you so” (well, not really-it feels kinda good, actually) but today, at RIT Andrew Cuomo was talking about it as a budget fixer-upper. From channel 13’s Rachel Barnhart:
“I spent months trying to figure out how many governments we have in the State of New York. The Office of the Comptroller has one number. My office has another number. The governor’s Department of State has a third number,” he said. “You know what that means? When you can’t figure out how many governments you have, you have too many governments.”
[snip]
Cuomo wants the legislature to enact a law that would allow residents to gather 5,000 signatures or 10 percent of the area’s population to force a vote on consolidation. His proposal would also allow county executives to direct reorganizations, with voters having final approval.
Cuomo said the laws are too complicated and may actually bar consolidations from taking place.
And, look who else was there:
Former Mayor Bill Johnson attended the event. Many blame Johnson’s crusade for consolidation on his 2003 loss in the county executive race.
“I didn’t see the mayor here today. I didn’t see the county executive. I didn’t see many town supervisors. The people who are really going to have to call to question are continuing to ignore the issue,” Johnson said, adding that every time the issue gets scrutiny in Rochester, it doesn’t get much public support.
I thought it was a good idea when Mayor Johnson talked about it. I still think it’s a good idea.
I’m anxious to hear from +++ 
Related posts:
I understand that Joe Robach and David Koon were there.
First off, by even suggesting this Cuomo has probably lost vote of a large swath of upstate should he run for governor. I can’t figure out why he did this.
My other thought is that he is reviving not one, but two ideas that have failed to get much traction here in New York. There is the idea of consolidation, but there is also the idea of referendum. New York doesn’t really have a usable process to bypass the legislature and implement law like they do in places like California. He is suggesting that process and I doubt that is going anywhere either.
Nearly everyone complains about how high the taxes are here. But I almost think that people forget that the taxes go to pay for the government services somebody asked for. In Monroe County we have said that we want 49 different entities to administer those services. Other places with similar services and population can do it with fewer, but it takes us 49.
Of course, we don’t want to give up the government we use, and we don’t want to pay for government that we don’t. But above all else, we don’t want to loose our voice in the discussion, or our power, however limited, to influence our government and hold our representatives accountable. We just want someone else- the wasters, the cheaters, the other people somewhere else doing stuff we don’t like, to quit wasting our money.
Here is an empowering solution for those frustrated that their taxes are too high – Call your representative- state, county, local, it doesn’t really matter, and ask them to give up their job. Explain the situation. Tell them times are tough. Ask them to fire their staff, stop doing constituent services, quit buying office supplies. Tell your representative you don’t mind being represented by the guy in the neighboring district. Tell them you would prefer less representation because your taxes are too high.
Anybody want to make the first call?
Thank you +++ for responding on cue.
Pearls, but I’m not ready to make that call…… yet.
referendum is doing wonders for california. and remember, just like running for gov, passing referendums does not require one single upstate vote. be careful what you wish for. other than that though, you are right to throw high taxes right back at the people who demand the services.
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