Bee Editorial
Give the voters a say on Town Board size
Does the Town of Amherst need six board members, plus the supervisor? The majority of the Town Board doesn't care what your answer is.

With a mighty hand, the board voted "no" to Council Member Dr. Barry Weinstein's resolution to downsize the Amherst Town Board. Most of the board members who spoke against the resolution said the town needs all six of them representing the town and its residents. We don't say "all" because Council Member Deborah Bruch Bucki had questions about the possibility of the change and wanted more information. Thus she couldn't vote yes during Monday's meeting.

But we aren't sure how true the statements are that the town needs all those members making $25,500 each year. (As a point of reference, Clarence board members make $22,198, Cheektowaga members make $19,587 and Town of Tonawanda members, $ 19,467, according to Kevin Gaughan's report, "The Cost.")

Residents often say they don't hear back from members, don't have members show up at community meetings and don't feel those members are listening to them. Maybe the system can operate with four, if the six aren't doing their share of work.

The question right now isn't whether it should be four or six members, the question is, should the residents have been given the option to vote on a referendum in a future election? Yes.

Weinstein proposed the change after hearing from Gaughan, an attorney who says Erie County's government is too big. While Council Member Guy Marlette accused Gaughan's numbers of being somewhat inflated, we believe there are hard facts in his report that scream change for Western New York governments.

According to Gaughan, his study revealed that "Erie County has more elected officials than any other like-sized community in America." With 439 politicians presiding more than 45 local governments, the Buffalo region has twice as many politicians as Indianapolis, five times more than Charlotte, N.C., and eight times more than the Baltimore region, according to the study.

We don't know for certain what's best - but the board and residents could have had months to present their statements and let the majority of the town residents decide.

By voting down Weinstein's resolution, the six board members spoke for Amherst's entire population, saying it's going to stay the same. By not giving voters a chance to decide, one thing is certain: there won't be change.