The County Board of Supervisors is finally catching on

I have been watching and complaining for decades now about goofy spending by the Wayne County Board of Supervisors. Every time an election comes around I hope new blood will finally get the message, new people promising change will actually do something.

For example:

It took many persistent years for level heads to figure out that the old Hotchkiss Building in the Village of Lyons (aka ‘Peppermint Palace’) was a big waste of County taxpayer dollars. The ‘new board’ as I like to refer to them, dumped the property for all its worth into someone else’s lap.

It took many, many years of pouring money down the old drain before the ‘new board’ edged out the Western Finger Lakes Solid Waste Authority. This move saved tons of money. Wayne County was just about the last member of this dump to jump ship. Other counties saw the light years earlier.

This past week the Board members blocked the attempt by others on the Board to back a private (not-for-profit) day care center in Newark. The day care center could have cost taxpayers mucho mulla since they were unable to get private bank financing, only a ‘grant’ with the County as the fall-to-guys in the picture.
Tax rates over the past five years have actually been reduced by the current administration and Board. Freezes on spending, elimination of duplication and a hold on stupid ‘grants’ that only got the County in hot water have been eliminated. (Yea!)

The Board voted this past week to finally kill the good old boys ‘Joint Municipal Fund’. That slush fund was the go-to account where money could be grabbed for any number of favorite projects.

The Board is looking at eliminating more, including long term plans to privatize the County Nursing Home. Although the nursing home is an asset, most counties have long ago admitted they cannot compete, nor should they, with the private sector. We, in Wayne County, we are a bit slower than many.

There are other plans in the works to reduce, not spend, that are long overdue. We must maintain a diligence to ensure some members of the Board are checked in their “taxpayer be damned” attitudes when it comes to grabbing grants and taxpayer monies for their towns.

Supervisors with the attitude that “I will support you and your town in grabbing county money, if you support me and mine” should get out of politics. Those days are over.
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Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we have purchased our new ranch-style house in Walworth and hope to be moving at the end of April. Ahh, one floor, no steps! We hope to sell our other house soon, or the dreaded two-mortgage life, will kick in.

We have begun packing things and will undoubtedly need help in the move. We finish delivery and mailing of the paper on Saturday (4/28) at about noon and hope to have everything in place and operational, including the office, by Monday morning.

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