???The paradox of Buffalo is shrinkage, according to Kevin Gaughan, bringing his message of local government reform to the Student Union Assembly Hall on THursday.
???The community activist discussed how the Greater Buffalo area has experienced significant economic problems and population loss since 1990, sharply contrasting trends in several other cities in the United States.
???However, Gaughan noted that contradictions between Buffalo and the rest of the country were not just limited to population shifts and economic trends. The Greater Buffalo area's number of politicians is un-proportionally higher than the national average.
???Gaughan stated that $32,140,386 has gone towards paying local government officials in Erie County since 1999.
???"That's a lot of money in this friggin' community," Gaughan said. "What I respectfully ask everyone is 'Are we utilizing these funds in the most effective way? Could we be using these funds proportionally to do other things?' "
???Gaughan advocated that his plan could save Buffalo and Erie County taxpayers millions of dollars by dissolving villages and by having each of Erie County's 25 towns reduce their elected officials by two.
???According to a Gaughan, the Greater Buffalo area has 35 government bodies, compared to one in New York City, three in Greater Baltimore and eight in the Charlotte area. He also noted that Buffalo and Erie County has 439 elected officials, while Indianapolis contains 239 officials and New York City uses just 95 officials.
???"That's 10 times as many elected officials than any like-sized entity in America," Gaughan said. "There are more politicians here than there are in the House of Representatives. That's not an inconvenient truth, that's an unacceptable truth."
???Gaughan speculated that if just $150 million of this money over the last decade was saved, the community could have completed projects such as tearing down the Skyway in downtown Buffalo, cleaning up the Black Rock Channel, hiring more law enforcement officials, and preventing the closings, of three libraries.
???Gaughan also said that one of the biggest areas of savings for Erie County residents could have been their property taxes. He said that citizens in the Greater Buffalo area currently pay the fifth-highest property taxes in the country and reducing local government sizes could help alleviate this.
???So far in his quest to get local governments to consider downsizing, Gaughan has been met with a fair share of opposition from government officials that have resisted change. He mentioned that after spoke about consolidation at 45 different municipalities last year, but only two actually enacted any plans toward creating smaller governments.
???"Essentially [the officials] would argue 'we're OK, so the rest of the community must be OK,' and I think that anyone who thinks about this community that way is thinking about us all wrong," Gaughan said.
???Thus, Gaughan plans on using a New York State petition law he discovered to get public referendums to be held to allow voters to decide on local government restructuring.
???Gaughan's plan is similar to the one in which Attorney General Andrew Cuomo presented at the Charles B. Sears Law Library in February.
However, Gaughan mentioned that he feels that Cuomo's suggested 10 percent or 5,000 signature petitions is too high and that the required number should be the same amount it takes a political candidate to run for office in that certain municipality.
???According to Gaughan, that amount would be significantly lower, anywhere from 500 to 50 signatures.
???"My proposal is for the attorney general to rethink [the petition] and think we can convince him to do this," Gaughan said. "Otherwise, no one is going to do this."
???But Gaughan does not expect too much more help from state officials. He stated that 64 percent of the New York State Assembly comprises of former local government officials, while 69 percent of the state senate consists of ex-local officials.
???"That's one of the reasons this whole idea that Albany is going to make it easier for us to change local government is [false]," Gaughan said. "Because they're all former local government folks."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
