On brink of bankruptcy, county shows lack of leadership
DAN MEYER Political Columnist
One of my favorite teachers from high school used to often repeat a simple phrase whenever one of his students received a less than stellar grade on a particular test or homework assignment: "People don't plan to fail, they just fail to plan."

While that observation helped a bunch of pimply-faced teenagers learn that failing to study the night before a big test or waiting to begin your homework until five minutes before it's due may result in spending the hot months of July and August in summer school instead of lying by the pool, there's still a concern about the grown men and women who run Erie County's government when thinking about that don't-plan-to-fail-just-fail-to-plan saying.

Last week's revelation by County Comptroller Mark Poloncarz that a $100 million bridge loan is needed or else the county won't be able to pay its bills is nothing new. In fact, it's become the norm in these parts to associate Erie County with the phrase "budget woes."

And while we shouldn't expect to see this situation play out as dramatically as the 2005 county budget crisis, it's become quite clear that a lack of cash will likely result in some delays in paying vendors for services.

So the county's coffers may soon be empty and we will once again have the back-and-forth bickering between our elected county officials and the state-appointed members of the county's control board.

Ho-hum. We'll see a return to the fingerpointing, political posturing and everything else that comes with the discussions about how another cash shortage, which, while it doesn't appear to be the prelude to a severe budget deficit, does point out a simple fact: the county needs cash to pay the bills.

Why does this keep happening? Why do we continue to see a call for bridge loans become routine and the norm?

It's simple. True leadership is absent because to be a leader would mean calling for some of our elected officials at the county level to go against the grain and upset some of their colleagues and political supporters in taking the necessary steps needed to force our county government to do one thing: spend less.

It's a mistake to say that Erie County's government doesn't function efficiently. The way our political system is currently set up county-wide and how it is so heavily influenced by the party bosses and special interest groups, the government actually functions very efficiently for those who pull the strings.

The "spend, spend, and then spend some more" mentality still remains, and there also appears to be no major concern about debt.

Unlike small business owners that operate as private entities, politicians, particularly many of those elected here in Erie County, don't actually possess ownership of the capital value of the government they represent, even though they do have the power to decide how to spend its money.

Most of these folks will be out of office and likely forgotten before we go through the whole routine of whining and complaining about how certain services may have to cease to exist and county employees won't be paid unless some astronomical loan is secured.

But back to the issue at hand. The lack of true leadership is quite apparent, and things aren't going to change unless the public has enough sense to decide to elect people that will represent their constituents and consider the taxpayers who elected them to office as their highest priority.

That's the only way we will truly see "reform" of county government. Make no mistake about it, the changes that have taken place and the fiscal recovery that has occurred is in large part because of the county control board.

The members of the county control board have strived to change the way business is done on a day-to-day basis and that oversight needs to continue until true leaders are willing to ignore the desires of the special interest groups and puppet masters and do what's best for taxpayers.

Back to that original statement from my high school teacher. If having to take out a $100 million loan isn't the perfect example of failing to plan, then what is?

(Daniel Meyer is a columnist for the Weekly Independent Newspapers of Western New York. Opinions are those of the author.)