MADISON County supervisors pull fast one on public

This "LETTER TO EDITOR" re: MADISON COUNTY BUDGET certainly bares sharing. Letter: County supervisors pull fast one on public By Rick Kinsella osted: 11/27/13, 5:08 PM EST | People attending the Nov. 19 Madison County Board of Supervisors’ meeting and public hHearing on the 2014 budget participated in a classic “bait and switch” exercise organized by the board leadership. Approximately 100 members of the public attended, most of them prepared to support the restoration of approximately $200,000 cut from 13 not-for-profit (N-F-P) agencies and services. Funding for these agencies has been flat for the past three years. Nevertheless, they were slated for a 35 percent reduction. Draft resolutions to restore the proposed cuts to these agencies were prepared, circulated to all supervisors, and appeared to have garnered enough support to be passed. Although there had been multiple committee meetings and discussions throughout the day, most of the supervisors had not seen or discussed the actual resolution introduced Tuesday evening by exiting Cazenovia Supervisor Monforte. It was placed on supervisors’ desks just before the scheduled public hearing. Supervisor Degear immediately moved to call a vote which eliminated any discussion of the resolution. Under this stealth resolution, the board leadership also included more than $500,000 for the Sheriff and Highway Department in order to restore the popularly acclaimed N-F-P funding. The public got much more than they realized. Mr. Becker was heard stating that they had cut the county departments to the bone, yet the N-F-Ps were not willing to go along. The truth is substantially different. In past years, much has been made of the impact of “unfunded state mandates,” especially Medicaid and state retirement benefits costs. This year, both of these major expenses were actually reduced by approximately $450,000. These potential budget savings were far exceeded by a 3 percent across-the- board salary increase for all county management/confidential employees, including the supervisors; a new executive secretary position at about $70,000 annually; a more than 20 percent increase in health insurance premiums; and almost $267,000 for new software for the treasurer. N-F-Ps provide essential services, often much more efficiently and effectively than government can. This was a primary rationale for privatizing much of the Public Health and Drug and Alcohol services. The N-F-P organizations serving our county are also subject to inflationary costs and have to attract and retain qualified staff, pay increasing health insurance premiums and offer retirement benefits (albeit it less generously than we see in government). They play a significant role in protecting and serving our most vulnerable citizens and make a strong contribution to the quality of life for all of our communities. What the leadership of the Board of Supervisors perpetrated on our citizens at the Nov. 19 meeting looked more like the work of carnival grifters, not public servants. People were distracted from the major costs driving the budget increases while working to preserve essential services constituting less than 1 percent of total appropriation. Madison County deserves better and so do those supervisors and county employees truly trying to serve their communities. — Rick Kinsella, Oneida http://www.oneidadispatch.com/opinion/20131127/letter-county-supervisors-pull-fast-one-on-public#.UpcQHh6DhPg.email