Actual Cost-Cutting Ideas Submitted by Our Citizens
County Executive Maggie Brooks announces a new component of her Citizen Budget Initiative… a Citizen Budget BLOG.
Please Note: The Citizen Budget BLOG is comprised of the actual cost cutting ideas submitted by Monroe County residents and taxpayers to the Citizen Budget Initiative e-mail address at citizenbudgetinitiative@monroecounty.gov. The e-mail submissions are posted without attribution or reference to a sender’s e-mail address, to protect the sender’s identity. Submissions are only edited due to length or to remove certain identifying information. Edited submissions are accompanied by a disclosure statement.
The comments and suggestions posted to the Citizen Budget BLOG represent the sole opinions of the individual citizen writers. Postings on the Citizen Budget BLOG do not represent an endorsement by the County of Monroe or any of its representatives.
1/30/2006
Budget Ideas
My ideas for the county budget: Cap the total number of people on Medicaid at any one time; Reduce the number allowed on Medicaid by 10% by 2008; Like unemployment, limit the amount of time a person can be on Medicaid; Limit the total number of lifetime events on Medicaid; Limit the number of times Medicaid will pay for drug treatment.
1/30/2006
The County Budget Forum on Feb.4, 2006
As a taxpayer and involved citizen of the City of Rochester and County of Monroe I am very concerned about the budget shortfall we face in 2007. My main concerns are: 1) Community input, thank you for this opportunity to voice my concerns. This is great first step. Please have follow up and more input from the community. All of us must work together; 2) We need to create good paying jobs, though the Greater Rochester Enterprise, jobs that have a descent standard of living for our citizens; 3)We need more accountability for the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency to help create good paying jobs for our citizens; 4)We need more cooperation between the City and County to cut waste by eliminating duplication of services; 5)I am very much in favor of eliminating fraud in our Health and Human Services area, but not at the expense of the poor and the needy. We need to protect our most precious resource, our children in the system. We cannot have another child die because the health and human services department is understaffed; 6)We need more help from the Federal and State government for the mandated services we must provide. Please lobby for this with your staff. I will see you at the forum on the 4th of Feb.
1/28/2006
Highway Expenses
I travel quite a bit , and have noticed and OVERWHELMIMG amount of salt and other "chemicals" being used on our roads. MOST other "snow belt" communities use sand on their roads. They plow and sand them and let mother nature do it's job clearing them. when you use salt, the surface gets slushy and needs further plowing to remove the dangerous slush, which freezes overnight and then needs more salt and more plowing... IE more$$$ thru more overtime... not to mention what it is doing to my vehicles. ME, VT, NH, MN, MI and MANY others use sand and plowing to combat the road conditioned as does UPSTATE NY ( tug hill) which gets much more snow than Rochester does. My suggestion is to STOP listening to whoever is telling you to salt the roads so much, and LOOK what other communities are doing. We don't need DRY roads in the winter. just smooth ones..... it MAY fill in the potholes with ice and even make it smoother to drive to work. Just a thought.
1/28/2006
Citizen Budget Initiative
Comment: As regards the County's budget challenges: May I suggest that the Sheriff's road patrol be closely scrutinized, and probably cut, in your budget deliberations? I say this for two reasons: a] the road patrol serves only a minority of County taxpayers, and b] any reductions in police services can be made up by the (generally well-off) communities that are served, by the formation of their own departments.
1/28/2006
Budget Idea
This is more of a money savings idea. Although it is only a drop in the bucket, I'm sure there are more of this problem than I see. What I am referring to is the big waste of money having the parking lot lights on all year at Frontier Field. I can understand a few on, close to the stadium for security, but all of them on! Look around at other county facilities and see how much utility waste is going on there.
1/26/2006
Cost Savings Ideas for Monroe County
(EDITED DUE TO LENGTH OF ORIGINAL E-MAIL)
Dear Ms. Brooks, As I listened to the news the other morning, I heard that you were soliciting ideas for Monroe County to cut costs... Unless government in Monroe County (and New York State) comes to grips with the fact that the high cost of living and doing business here is driving business and people out of the state, no progress can or will be made… One of the big things you need to come to grips with is the fact that when you need to cut costs, people are going to be affected. Take a look at your county budget and look at what percentage is actually driven by people's salaries. Yes, it's a huge amount. If you want to cut costs, inevitably, somebody is going to have to go… Has anybody looked at streamlining the way… services are provided? That's the real place to look… Next, it's time to come to grips with the fact that we simply have to custom services because we can no longer afford to supply all of them... Speaking of things to get rid of, you need to take a serious look at what most folks call "dead wood." Every organization has it, but few want to admit to it… Another thing that needs to be killed is what I'll call "the State bid mentality"… The next thing that needs to be killed is the "business can afford" it mentality. For whatever reason, government (everywhere) seems to believe that when you tax (by whatever means) business, they will never pass that increased cost on to the general public. Horse hockey! Business is in business to make money. If their costs go up, they have only two alternatives - cut costs or increase prices… No tirade on cutting costs would be complete without a mention of "special interests." I think it's about time to recognize that we must get back to "majority rule"… Finally, I want you to know that I understand that you're dealing with a union in many cases and when it comes to cuts, they will fight you tooth and nail. They will immediately go to the liberal press and get all sorts of air time showing how if we cut county workers, innocent children will die of neglect or whatever. It's time to get tough… Hope that helps!
1/26/2006
Citizen Budget Initiative
This may be a small thing but it all adds up. I work in a program that is under contract with the county. I just received in the mail a two page form from a (County) office mailed in a 91/2"x12" manila envelope at the cost of 52 cents. It is not usually to receive these forms this way. It would seem that these forms could be held and sent in batches as we receive one for each client we serve, or folded and sent in a smaller envelope for less postage.
1/25/2006
Budget Recommendation
Dear County Executive Brooks, The only truly way to eliminate the perpetual county deficit is to consolidate the overwhelming and overlapping layers of government units in the county. The idea that there needs to be village, town, city, and county governments is absurd. This process was done to a great extent in Indianapolis many years ago and they’ve had little trouble with budget problems since all the while creating one of the best metropolitan areas in the country. Their taxes are lower and more stable and their services are better. They maintain some semblance of local schools and local planning departments. Until the leadership of this county pushes this idea to the fore-front the public will always rebel. I encourage you to check it out. The county will never regain the greatness it once had without this total overhaul.
1/25/2006
Citizen Budget Initiative
Hi Maggie, Just a suggestion...you and Bob Duffy may want to revisit Wilmot's offer to establish a casino in downtown Rochester. If I remember correctly, he was willing to invest $500 million. That is the kind of investment the city and county needs rather than the government handouts for projects like the Fast Ferry and Renaissance Square. I know some people may object on moral grounds. However, all one has to do is go up to Casino Niagara in Canada and see how tastefully they have managed casino gambling there. There is all kinds of development going on there. Just food for thought.
1/25/2006
Golf Courses
(EDITED TO REMOVE PERSONAL IDENTIFYING INFORMATION)
As an avid golfer and one who loves to golf at Durand Eastman, I would love to see the county take back control of these courses. I believe that with improvements to the courses and raising the fees could generate huge revenue for the county. Ever since they were privatized, very little has been done to improve the condition of these courses, meanwhile our county dollars continue to improve the buildings. It bothers me that the current operator is allowed to own a restaurant while our dollars pay for the improvements. I have not golfed at these courses in approx. 5 years because of this. I would also gladly pay higher fees. Raising the fees would only help these courses catch up with others in the area…
1/25/2006
Input to Budget
(EDITED DUE TO LENGTH OF ORIGINAL E-MAIL)
In general, we must control costs. Areas which are out of control are entitlements (Medicaid and social services), public pensions, public education, and workers compensation. We need to eliminate regulations which are hampering business development and growth. We need to cut taxes, both personal and business. And, we need to address eliminating the adversarial relations among political parties, businesses, unions, and government agencies in order to create a business friendly environment… The emphasis needs to be on job creation… if you want to have good jobs, you need an educated work force. The two go hand-in-hand. It's not impossible for Rochester to have both… Entitlements are killing us. They create dependency and stifle initiative. Plus, they are very costly and don't really get at the root problems… Someone is going to have to have the courage to address public pensions. They are out of control and are becoming a real burden to the taxpayers. We no longer can afford COLAS. The private sector doesn't have them. The public sector shouldn't either… Finally, we need to address eliminating the adversarial relationships among political parties, government agencies, businesses, and unions and create a more job and business friendly environment. Good paying jobs in the private sectors would cure a lot of the ills currently plaguing New York State and Monroe County… Thank you for the opportunity to vent some of my feelings. Good luck. Remember, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Now is the time for strong leadership. Putting off the tough decisions only prolongs and exacerbates the agony.
1/25/2006
Citizen Budget Suggestions
(EDITED DUE TO LENGTH OF ORIGINAL E-MAIL)
In response to your call for citizen suggestions regarding the budget, I have four ideas:
- Consolidation
- Enforced Progress-for-the-buck Accountability
- Integration (Reduction of fragmentation and duplication; too many organizations bidding for few bucks)
- Increased Competent Staffing in Social Services
