Should the number of legislators in Allegany County be reduced ?
By Dennis Shutt
Our county legislatures have turned into true politicians You know, tell us the truth, just not the whole truth. They are the lowest paid county legislatures at $8500 per year, in our area. Now they want a raise to $12,000. They have not had a raise in years. That is all the truth. That is also where the rest of the truth comes in.
According to info I have found, we have 15 legislators for approx. 47 thousand people in our county. Steuben has 17 legislators for approx. 95 thousand and Catt county has 17 legislators for approx. 77 thousand people. That comes to the equivalent of : Allegany: 3,100 people per legislator, Catt county: 4500 people per legislator and Steuben: 5600 people per legislator. . Less number of people to be responsible for should be less cost, right. One solution could be less legislators.
It only seems to reason, less legislators would equal less cost. Start cutting cost and consolidate at the top and the rest should/could follow. Anyone that has a run a business or that even has to take care of their own household expenses, understands this.
Note: anyone can verify the numbers I used. Just phone the counties or google them. That is what I did. The numbers may not be exact as population changes daily around our area but the basis will remain the same.
At the state level, our politicians need to be fiscally responsible with the money they get handed them from the federal government. So many people think it is great that Wellsville will receive millions from the state. The problem is that this money and so many millions like it, could have went to pay back the unemployment fund that the state owes the federal government. The state passed this expense onto every employer in our state and that increases the cost of doing business, which in turn raises the cost of their products/services. Now I hear, that our state will be broke within 3 years. Sounds like their business plan may be a little flawed.
In reality, someone has to pay and the easiest way is to pass it on to us, the tax payer. Old adage, ‘cut, cut, just don’t cut me.,’ rings true way to often. Now, our law makers want to raise our cost, by giving themselves a significant raise, because other counties pay more than ours. They have more people to be responsible to and for. The other counties SHOULD pay their legislatures more. We SHOULD be paying less.
I thank these people for stepping up and serving our county but, when they chose to step up, they knew full well what the job paid. How long would a true business remain open, if their employees gave themselves a 34.3% wage increase?
This is all simple math. Maybe I am just expecting the simple truth. All of it.
