ERIE COUNTY: Borrowing with a busted economy

By Daniel Pye<br><a href="mailto:pyed@gnnewspaper.com">E-mail Dan</a>

After Gov. David Paterson thwarted the Erie County Legislature’s attempt to do county borrowing on its own, the issue is back to square one.

Or maybe not. With County Executive Chris Collins saying he’ll never let the control board do long-term borrowing and control board Chairman Anthony Baynes vowing to resign from his post if Paterson had signed the bill, things could be worse for the wear.

Now that the county’s leadership tried to go around the board and hit a wall, the control board is holding all the cards. But that doesn’t mean a stalemate won’t occur since Collins and County Comptroller Mark Poloncarz have shown they’re tired of coming to the control board to get necessary projects approved.

Legislature Chairwoman Lynn Marinelli, D-Town of Tonawanda, said the county executive, comptroller and control board are working out the details. If a compromise is reached during the legislature’s August recess, Marinelli said she’s prepared to call a special session to get things moving.

“We’re still at an impasse,” Marinelli said. “But we need to get the capital projects of 2007 and 2008 paid for.”

In the past the comptroller’s office has advanced cash to keep essential projects going, but with no end to the process in sight Poloncarz is urging cautious spending within the Collins administration to make sure the county doesn’t go over budget. With a recession facing the country, consumers are spending less and Erie County has increased its reliance on sales tax revenue for funding. That worries Poloncarz, who cited State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s report warning that New York counties relying on sales tax receipts are more vulnerable to the decreases in consumer spending.

“While the County is presently on budget, it appears that the economic slow down that is affecting the rest of the country is finally having an impact here,” Poloncarz said. “As such, we must be cautious for the remainder of the year in order to end in balance.”

Battle for the unions

In political races of every size, union endorsements are a good way to get your message out to a lot of people loyal to their organization.

In the long road to state senate, Joe Mesi scored another success on Thursday by snagging the endorsement of the United Auto Workers union’s Region 9. The UAW is the top prize locally for union backing, with 30,000 members bringing their checkbooks and ballots along for the ride.

Out in front of the soon-to-be-shuttered American Axle Tonawanda Forge, Mesi stood with workers and talked about how he understands the problem of jobs leaving the area. His brother, Tom, is a union member who was laid off from his job at American Axle last year.

Mesi’s competitor Erie County Legislator Michele Iannello, D-Kenmore, has scored her own union backing in the past few weeks, with the Buffalo Building Trades Council putting themselves in her camp. That union represents many of the construction unions in Western New York and now draws its own thousands of members into the political mix. Iannello, the daughter of a former Teamster, has also been endorsed by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen Local 421 and the Communication Workers of America Local 1139.