I firmly believe that the present Erie County Legislature lacks leadership and vision. These are two very important components a Legislator must have to steer Erie County in the proper direction. Legislators, who argue and squabble while working for their individual agenda, instead of working together, are not leaders. People who are reactive, and only take action when there is a crisis, are not leaders. It is evident that the present group who now governs, not only lacks leadership, but are also at best poor managers, who are trying to climb the ladder of success with their own self-interests in mind. As a leader, I will put my own interests secondary and focus on the betterment of the entire community. I have a vision of what Erie County government must become, and a plan on how to get there. We must, as leaders in the legislature, develop a mission statement and a strategic plan that will point us towards: more efficiency, a resulting smaller government, and eventually less waste of taxpayers’ money. All this must be done in an atmosphere of cooperation, to achieve our goal of improving the region. A leader empowers others to work together in an environment of trust, mutual respect and understanding. This approach brings action, and will help fulfill the needs of our citizens.
1. My plan begins with me providing an example of leadership. I want to see the elimination of the “pork” our present legislators receive to give out to their communities as a “donation”. Let us end this deception, in which citizens believe the legislators themselves are “helping the community”, while in actuality they are dolling out the taxpayers own money. I will take 100% of my salary and donate it to various organizations in the towns that I serve. When I present a check to a local organization, it will be my money I’m donating, not the taxpayers. I also will work to end all “patronage” jobs in Erie County. It is time to eliminate all the positions the politicians handout to family members, and hire only the best qualified people to serve us. The size and salaries of the Erie County Legislators staffing is bloated, and I will work to reduce this, beginning with my own. After we clean our own house, then and only then, can we effectively work with the unions and county workers to seek a containment of their costs.
2. My pledge to the people that I serve is to work hard and full time at this most trusted office. I will not “rubber stamp” anything that comes my way. Every item that comes before me will be completely read and thoroughly understood, before I make any decision to vote upon it. The voice of the constituents in my district will be the only voice I hear, not that of lobbyists or special interest groups.
3. I am in favor of Term-Limits, and believe an Erie County Legislator's time of service should extend no longer than eight years. Often, when an elected official becomes a "career politician", they become too entrenched in the political system. This leads them to serve the agenda of the political party leaders, instead of the people they were elected to represent. I favor a four year term, which creates an opportunity to focus on the job we are elected to perform, without the distraction of running a political campaign every two years.
4. I will recommend the appointment of an independent citizens review committee, to study the counties departments and audit the services they provide. I will work with them to review the job descriptions of every county employee, and see where we can eliminate any duplication of services or employees who may not be needed. I will also be diligent to find ways that will increase productivity, thus lowering the cost and size of county government.
5. I will work with the labor unions, asking for a wage freeze until our budget is balanced. Furthermore, we must cap the spending on health care plans. I believe this can be achieved by either moving to one provider, negotiating for higher employee co-payments and/or having employees contribute more to the overall cost of their health insurance,as does the private business sector. Most of our county employees are wonderful people who are hard working and do their jobs admirably. Erie County employees have families to raise, and if we can get their cooperation and all work together, we can reduce costs and at the same time avoid more painful lay-offs.
6. We must change retirement plans (especially for future union employees) to “defined contribution” plans like 401k’s and move away from “defined benefit” plans. These guaranteed pension plans are placing a tremendous tax burden on our citizens, and we can no longer afford them.
7. If, as Mr. Swarts claims, the Auto Bureaus are actually profitable, I will be in favor of restoring them. I will comprehensively review what service each employee provides, and where we can increase productivity, to provide a more efficient Auto Bureau and restore this service back to the community.
8. The idea of taking a look at the county parks and golf courses and seeing where we can reduce costs is a good one. We may be able to reduce costs by using seasonal laborers for example, and look at ways to do more with fewer workers by increasing productivity and efficiency. We may ask ourselves if we want to be in the golf course business at all? It may be best to sell them, and eliminate competition with those in the private sector.
9. We must look into reducing the number of county libraries, consolidating where we can, and reducing the hours of operation. These steps will lower costs, while still providing a service to our citizens.
These are only a few of my ideas to reduce the cost and size of Erie County Government, and ultimately reduce the tax burden on all of our citizens. To be successful, one must emulate success. We must study other successful communities, and learn how they provide vital government services at a lower cost. Modeling our community after successful ones, will lead to an increase in productivity and a more efficient government. I believe the business flight from our region, and the economic stagnation we have faced for many years, are a direct result of the boated cost of government and the high tax burden it has placed on all of us. As a County Legislator, I will dedicate my service to making our county government run more efficiently and reduce its size and intrusions upon us.
I believe less government in our lives is a good thing. We need to reduce taxes for residents and businesses, thus encouraging more job growth in our community. It is in this spirit of personal values and goals, that I ask for your support as a candidate for the Erie County Legislature in District 13.
Thank You and God Bless,
Dr. Patrick J. Keem
|
