The group looking into ways to save taxpayers money by making improvements in local government released its final report Wednesday, and now it's time for our local leaders to act.
The top recommendations by the state Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness are: sharing and consolidation of local services and the centralization of local government functions; restructuring state oversight of county jails with the goal of moving toward a state-run jail system; and the consolidation of school districts, courts and industrial development authorities.
Specific to Cayuga County, the report suggests exploring the consolidation of assessments; unifying tax collection; creating a unified fire authority for Auburn and its surrounding towns; and the consolidation of water and sewer services.
The potential for savings is clear. And so is the potential that nothing will change and the time and resources that went into this report will have been wasted.
Similar reports by past reform commissions were never acted upon, and New Yorkers continue to pay for a monstrous, duplicative system involving nearly 5,000 local government entities.
The AFL-CIO was quick to attack the report, calling it a misguided, one-sided point of view that unfairly places the burden of cost savings on public employees.
But the redundancy in the public workforce is one of the biggest parts of the problem. If 10 people are doing work that could just as easily be accomplished by six, there are flaws that need to be corrected.
We need our local leaders to not only take this report seriously but come forth with realistic and workable plans to begin implementing some of these cost-saving measures.
Specific to Cayuga County, the report suggests exploring the consolidation of assessments; unifying tax collection; creating a unified fire authority for Auburn and its surrounding towns; and the consolidation of water and sewer services.
The potential for savings is clear. And so is the potential that nothing will change and the time and resources that went into this report will have been wasted.
Similar reports by past reform commissions were never acted upon, and New Yorkers continue to pay for a monstrous, duplicative system involving nearly 5,000 local government entities.
The AFL-CIO was quick to attack the report, calling it a misguided, one-sided point of view that unfairly places the burden of cost savings on public employees.
But the redundancy in the public workforce is one of the biggest parts of the problem. If 10 people are doing work that could just as easily be accomplished by six, there are flaws that need to be corrected.
We need our local leaders to not only take this report seriously but come forth with realistic and workable plans to begin implementing some of these cost-saving measures.
