Results of Tuesday's village elections

Congratulations to our Democratic winners Jennifer Keys and Dave Bielec. Congratulations should go out as well to Jim DeLooze, he didn't win this time around but he campaigned hard and made local Democrats proud.

Now if they would just work to cut government spending, programs, jobs, salaries, benifits, entitlement programs and lower taxes the world would be a better place.

Richard.
Earth to Richard, come in Richard. Chris is talking about LeRoy. What "entitlement programs" do you think a tiny village has?

Go Jen go !

congrats Robert Taylor , i don't live in Leroy but i know Bob , show them hows it done

Village jobs, salaries, and benefits could be considered entitlement programs.

Richard's logic suggests that laying off municipal employees and putting them on the ever-expanding unemployment rolls will somehow save him money.

Chris's ideology suggests that we can continue the status quo of government jobs, public employee unions, and the highest tax rates in the country.

I'd rather see them working and paying into the system as opposed to unemployed and living off of it, if that's what you mean.

Having a strong middle class with disposable income is an enormous part of jump starting an economy. Now it's Richard's turn to go copy and paste something about trickle down economics from a right wing website. Giddyup, cowboy.

Hey Chris I don't have to cut n paste I remember this one-government can't solve the problem because government is the problem.

Well, since I'm such a damn commie, somebody needs to subsidize my fat ass a green beer. I've had a good couple days and a celebration is in order :)

Richard,
Your basic lack of understanding here is a shock.

"Entitlement programs" are things like Social Security, Medicaid,Medicare and now maybe, health care. Key word here is "programs".

They are not things like jobs. And as for the jobs, which Village of LeRoy jobs do you think don't need to be done?

John, that's a loaded question. Probably all of them. We should take a cue from Seneca Falls and abolish the Village.

For the high tax rate, The Village offers very few services.

Andrew- I really wonder why it isn't being discussed? I have stated in the past, that while I think highly of the men and women on our local police force, and DPW, I think consolidation is the right thing for Leroy. Perhaps offer the employees to transfer to the town DPW and County Sheriffs...not eliminating the jobs, just the level of bureaucracy attached to them.
When AG Cuomo was touring the state last year, he stated that there are 10,000+ governing municipalities in NYS! 10,000!! There are layers that can be eliminated, and this could be an option for many towns in New York.
Again, not a slam at Leroy village employees. The one's I personally know are awesome people. Something has to give, cause it's getting harder and harder to justify staying here.

Andrew,
You are 100% right. My question was based on the Village still being here, and Richard not knowing what is an "entitlement program" and what is not.

I believe that if Andrew Cuomo is elected governor, you will see the State forcing consolidation by cutting funding to areas that will not do it on their own.

I think it's important to remember how little power a board of a village or a town has. A large chunk of the budget that they will have to craft is beyond their control. Contracts with employees, overhead of office space, mandated services and tasks really comprise a large part of any local municipalities budget. While I may not agree with Ms. Keys's ideas on the what the village should be, I know that her and Mr. Taylor will both do what they think benefits LeRoy - which is really all we can ask of them.
As for consolidation, I feel we should never cut out points of democracy in our system. The problem with our area is not the Village Board, or the Town Board, or the County Legislature, but instead, the problems lie in Albany and Washington. Regardless of party affiliation, it seems that the farther the government body is from the average citizen, the more dysfunctional that body is.

Thank you, Andrew, I appreciate the support.

As for consolidation, I do not have all of the answers yet. What I have gathered, thus far, is that it is not actually a cost savings to consolidate. There are amenities in a village that do not exist in a town, ie: sewers, sidewalks, public water. These amenities require administrators. It does seem to me, though, that there are services that could be shared or consolidated that would save money. Saving money while improving services certainly is a nice goal to strive for. This discussion is not over. I heard loud and clear throughout both elections that people are interested in seriously exploring this further.