Maggie's Plan vs. ...... What?

The controversy surrounding Maggie Brooks' plan to close the Monroe County budget deficit has been percolating for over a week now. While there has been some criticism of the proposal, I've been struck by the almost complete lack of substance in that criticism.


Let me start out by saying that the cries of foul regarding the way the plan was "announced" and rammed through the County Legislature are wholly deserved. Its too bad that Maggie and the county GOP apparently did not have enough confidence that they could hold their caucus together through a period of public discussion.

Having said that, I'd say its time to really focus on the merits of the plan. No one really disputes that Medicaid costs have been the biggest fiscal problem facing the county. Taking action to remove Medicaid from the mix makes a lot of sense. Moreover, despite the wailing and gnashing of teeth by school district leaders, our schools are, in fact, in the best shape of any part of government to take a little (1%-2%) hit.

The schools are, quite frankly, awash with money. The Greece Schools built a multi-million dollar TV studio, Fairport is putting in artificial turf athletic fields, and our own Gates-Chili District had a spare couple hundred grand to give every student their school supplies (in addition to the massive rebuilding project).

Let me admit that I voted for both the current budget and the capital improvement. I want the district to have every penny it needs to give my kids the best possible education. I think, however, that it is fair to say that since the advent of the STAR program, schools have felt very little need to take a hard look at spending. Many taxpayers have been lulled to sleep by the big STAR credits they receive. As such, they care a lot less when the latest school budget looks a tad bloated.

Further, I'm really tired of all of the hypo-critics out there. Their basis for attacking the plan is that the short notice of the plan stifled the kind of "open community discussion" that should is needed to properly analyse the plan. Where were these critics when Maggie tried to raise the sales tax? I don't remember any of them calling for David Gantt or Joe Morelle to explain why the sales tax plan was "DOA". That plan was rejected out of hand. Why should Maggie expose herself to that kind of "debate".

They also use the same excuse for their failure to offer any viable alternative plan to solve the budget crisis. Lee Strong will tell you the Democrats do have a "plan". Yeah, the Democrat plan is largely platitudes. The items which have fiscal implications use methods that Maggie has been criticised for (i.e., one-time shots and burden shifting). Their plan relies heavily on creating a "police district" which will shift a big portion of the cost of the Sheriff's road patrol to towns without police departments. They also have a number of items that look good only on paper, and require a lot of "faith" that underlying assumptions will come true.

As I have said many times previously, if the Brooks' plan is so bad, and the Democrat's ideas so good, why couldn't the Dems get anybody to trumpet those ideas during an election campaign against Maggie? That's why all this caterwauling rings quite hollow.