Leaner Government
Dear Nieces and Nephews, last week, the County Executive, Steve Neuhaus, was quoted in the on-line newspaper: midhudsonneuhaus.com
STEVE SAID: “We need to make it a different type of government; we need to make it smaller. We need to make it more efficient.”
After much discussion, Auntie and the Team not only agree with that statement (please don't faint!) but have come up with a plan to do so.
Let’s go back to a Board of
Supervisors and eliminate the unnecessary layer of Government!!! Remember, the Board of Supervisors is the collective group of all of the Town Supervisors in the County, people who are already elected to one position, who also serve on the board to run the County! Nice! Two jobs in one!!!
Surely ,
Steve, if you actually believe what you say, you’ll be all for it! All you have
to do is then becomes Chester Supervisor again and hope that all of the other Town Supervisors
vote for you to be the Chairperson.
From the Washington County website:
The Board of Supervisors has both legislative and executive powers. Each year the Board elects a Chairman and Vice-Chairman. The Chairman is the Chief Elected Official of the county. The Chairman appoints Board members to serve on the standing committees. Department heads report to the appropriate committee for their department.
Essex County, Ontario County, Livingston County, Seneca, Columbia, Wayne, Madison and Saratoga (Maybe Legislator Mike Amo can give us more info on that since it is reported that he really lives there; the lights are hardly ever on in the house in Central Valley) Counties have a Board of Supervisors!!! Hamilton, Fulton and Chenango; Wyoming, Delaware and Schoharie; Montgomery, Warren and Steuben have a Board of Supervisors!!! They have it! why don't we?
In Columbia County, the Supervisor also sits on the County Board of Supervisors, which governs the entire county with population weighted voting.
http://www.townofclaverack.com/government/supervisor-townboard.html
Population weighted voting, hmmn... is Warwick larger in population than Chester?
And here is some interesting history about Westchester County:
http://archives.westchestergov.com/board-of-legislators
In 1703, by act of the General Assembly of the Colony of New York, a Board of Supervisors was created in Westchester County to assume responsibility for assessing and collecting taxes, to care for the poor, and carry out numerous other duties. This body served as Westchester's executive and legislative body until the Office of County Executive was created by the Westchester County Charter adopted in 1937, at which point its responsibilities became primarily legislative. In 1970, the Board of Supervisors was replaced by the current Board of Legislators, with significant changes in how representatives were elected to the Board. Since that time, almost 100 individuals have served as County Legislators.
...to care for the poor... imagine that!
posted by Auntie Alibi @ 7:22 PM
16 Comments
16 Comments:
Do you suppose a Board of Supervisors would pass an asset forfeiture law knowing they had to face their friends and neighbors at the next Town Board meeting?
WOW .... Auntie has done some high level thinking here!!
She would make a great elected official !!!!
There are many positives and negatives of the Board of Supervisors system. Originally, the Supervisors system was the original form of government in every New York county. Beginning in the 1960's successful lawsuits challenged the constitutionality of boards of supervisors, since each supervisor, regardless of the population of their town had one vote. Courts ruled that that this was a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Many counties, including Orange, tried weighted voting as a means to rectify this problem. However, in the 60’s, courts were still divided on the concept that weighted voting was a legitimate means of rectifying malapportionment. Therefore, many counties were forced in to adopting county legislature forms of government. There was no lawsuit in Orange. However, in my correspondence a number of years ago with a former Supervisor of Woodbury, Louis Burgunder, he said they felt in the Orange County Board that the handwriting was on the wall, and that they best take the lead and change. When Orange switched it also adopted a county charter which created the County Executive position. Some counties have the county legislature...but, do not have a charter or an elected Executive. Nassau County before switching to a County Legislature in 1996 and Westchester County before switching in 1970 were the only counties to have a Board of Supervisors and a charter and County Executive. Most counties today that have the Board of Supervisors, such as the examples used in this post, are primarily rural counties. This herein creates the dilemma. While having a supervisor represent you in county government seems great, would it work in such a large county as ours? Would the Supervisor of a large town like Newburgh be able to affectively handle town and county business? Would the town need to elect an additional county supervisor to share the burden. This can be found in Clifton Park in Saratoga County and in Queensbury in Warren County where additional supervisors are elected. Also, with weighted voting several of our larger towns could create a bloc vote that would almost always out vote all other towns. I like the concept of the Board of Supervisors as well and think we should have stayed with it. However, we would most certainly need to have an elected County Executive or an appointed County Manager assist the Chairman of a Board of Supervisors with daily functions. There would likely be the need in towns like Newburgh and probably Monroe to elect an additional county only supervisor to serve along side the Town Supervisor to 1. Help represent the larger town without cheating town interests, and 2. To split the higher weighted vote the town would have between two people so that one Supervisor does not have an insane amount of power. Also it should be noted that to date…no county has ever switched back to a Board of Supervisors from a County Legislature or a County Charter.
Also, from the list you cite....Montgomery County switched from a Board of Supervisors to a County Legislature last January along with a Charter and elected Executive. Steuben County has had a County Legislature since the mid 1980's.
Jim Booth has a great working Brain .... wrong guy from Chester got elected Executive!
Mr. Booth has done some homework and some thinking, something that Auntie and the team admire. However, there are a few inaccuracies in his posts and since Mr. Booth did not cite proof sources, we will consider his posts as merely advocating for the County Executive (so it seems that the CE doesn't want to remove this extra layer of government as he stated in the news).
I am not advocating for anyone. I have long studied the various forms of government in NYS for over 10 years. The sources I have read would be quite voluminous to cite. But, I have done extensive research that involves more than checking the websites of a couple of counties that have various forms of government. Please advise what my inaccuracies are and I will be happy to defend what I wrote or concede if I am wrong.
So, just how much money would the taxpayers of Orang County save? Because of the Charter the County must have a Sheriff, Office of Motor Vehicles, Legislative staff, County Attorney, Elected officials, DPW to name a few of the big spenders. So that brings us into another area called the propaganda machine during budget time. Remember every year the so called "mandated services"? Check the numbers carefully and see the above are included. Because after all, these departments are "mandated" by the state if the County has this legislative vs. board of supervisor form of government.
Before there was a charter there was still a Sheriff, County Clerk, DPW, County Attorney and most parts of the current county apparatus. In fact, there was another elected office called County Treasurer. This became an appointed Commissioner of Finance in the charter. The charter created the County Executive and organized certain existing county agencies into departments under the CE's control. Created under separate legislation was the County Legislature. If we were to tear up the charter tomorrow it would only abolish the CE position and and return the structure of the government to pre charter status. Separate legislation and referendum would be needed to revert back to the Board of Supervisors. The two (charter and legislature) are not connected. The creation of both required separate referendums in November, 1968. If both were to happen the costs savings would be the elimination of the CE and his staff. The Board of Supervisors would still need a clerk and staff. Supervisors would still be paid to be county supervisors in addition to their town salary. The old Orange County Board was 37 members to take in to account representatives from the city wards...(23 from towns and 9 from Newburgh and 4 each from Port Jervis and Middletown) So there would be a larger county body. We would still have a Sheriff, County Clerk, DMV, DPW, Social Services, all state mandates, etc. If Auntie needs cited resources as to whether thee things existed under the old system she is welcome to come view my extensive collection of Board of Supervisors Proceedings, some dating back in to the 1800's.And before it is also mentioned again by Auntie that I am advocating for the CE she needs to get better in the loop. I have been exiled from the CE's inner sanctum. He has his own new inner circle now. I am not apart of it and do not work for him. He does not seek my counsel on anything and i see and speak to him infrequently. What I write here is based on my research including studying case law, extensive news reports from the 1960's and studying my own collection of Supervisors Proceedings. Take whatever I say for what it is worth.
Dear Mr. Booth:
You state "I am not advocating for anyone. I have long studied the various forms of government in NYS for over 10 years. The sources I have read would be quite voluminous to cite."
We all know that you are buddies with the County Executive and there is nothing wrong with that. But don't pretend to be offering a neutral opinion. As far as proof sources "too voluminous to cite.." just pick one if you can.
You state: "If we were to tear up the charter tomorrow it would only abolish the CE position and and return the structure of the government to pre charter status."
Maybe that's the point...
If we got rid of the County Executive spot; we would save at least $180000 a year! Something to think about.
How about we start with eliminating the OC Partnership and just stick with one county IDA versus now having essentially two? And can someone explain to me why the head of the OC Partnership has a higher salary than the Governor of the State of NY?
We pay for oc partnership?
Yes ... for many years.
http://www.recordonline.com/article/20141202/NEWS/141209836
$17,000 for the Orange County Partnership!???
Steve Neuhaus is one the board, no wonder!
Over the years it has been more I believe ... essentially money that should go to the OC IDA is diverted to this entity.
And again I ask and no one can explain to me ...
1. Why does the OC Partnership exist?
2. What does it do the OC IDA can or won't do?
3. Why does this county need what amounts to two IDAs?
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