Retaining control boards will help ensure long-term financial health
DAN MEYER Political Columnist
There's been some chatter in recent weeks about the possibility of both the City of Buffalo and Erie County soon taking some baby steps toward the eventual dissolution of the control boards that oversee the fiscal matters of both governments.

A number of city officials and union leaders are adamant that the city's fiscal stability authority needs to fade away, and some county officials are now making noise about softening the powers of the county's control board in the hopes of seeing the state-created body become extinct in the not-too-distant future.

Despite all of this discussion about erasing the control boards, it still remains obvious that the special interests and politically connected folks rooting for the demise of both control boards are blatantly wrong and that both watchdog entities need to be retained.

Until both the city and the county can be considered financially stable, there should be no aggressive talk by anyone from Albany about weakening the powers of either control board or planning the funeral and subsequent union-sponsored celebration for either group.

There's no doubt there are big shoes to be filled by the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority following the recent resignations of Brian Lipke and Robert Wilmers, but losing that duo shouldn't mean that it's time to pack up and go home. There is still much work that needs to be done when talking about getting the city's finances in order.

I'm thinking of three key words in particular: real cost savings. Not the old trick of sliding money over from column A to column B and then retabulating it all so that it appears that the basic lesson we all learned in Accounting 101 is met and debits equal credits. Taxpayers need to hear about and see actual savings. Old spending habits must die hard, and quantitative savings coming from future labor negotiations with union officials have to be achieved.

Same thing goes for the Erie County Fiscal Stability Authority. We've heard in the past couple of weeks from the county executive, the county comptroller and some county legislators about the proposed "Xpand" contract and the plan to handle delinquent county tax accounts, but the fact remains that what they are identifying as a blunder by the county control board pales in comparison to the many mistakes made by elected officials at the county level over the past decade. In fact, those errors in judgement resulted in serious fiscal problems that became the basis for why the county control board was created in the first place. There was indeed a need for "adult supervision" because red flags were popping up all over about a serious need for state officials to put in place an effective plan for long-term financial recovery.

No matter what folks from the city's firefighters'

union, teachers' union or police officers' union say, the fact remains that the slow and tedious climb to complete fiscal recovery relies tremendously upon the efforts of the city's control board.

Same goes with the financial happenings of the county. Relying on the expertise and advice of those appointed to the county's control board is crucial. Always keeping the taxpayers in mind is what hopefully drives members of the board to make decisions, not because they are popular but because they are right.

A soft control board for either the city or the county that would simply "advise" elected leaders on how to spend money simply can't be an option. Both panels must be supported fully by Gov. Eliot Spitzer, and the state's top elected official did just that late last month when he spoke favorably about the status of the city's control board.

The need to have stability in the financial departments of both governments is overwhelming. Real cost savings must be achieved. The economic future of both the city and the county depends on it.

Keep the city control board in place. Keep the county control board in place. Adult supervision was most definitely needed when they were created, and it must be retained for the foreseeable future.

(Daniel Meyer is a columnist for the Weekly Independent Newspapers of Western New York. To provide feedback on this column, visit our Web site at www.wnynewspapers.com or contact Meyer at: meyersmusings@gmail.com. Opinions are those of the author.)