The County Legislature says that Sheriff Patrick O’Flynn can have a bigger paycheck, but that funding for a homeless shelter or restoring hours at the Central Library is out of the question. Last night, the Legislature passed County Executive Maggie Brooks 2016 budget proposal without any amendments, despite several Democratic proposals. It also approved a […]
County budget
Posted inNews & Opinion
WEEK AHEAD: Open-air drug markets, O’Flynn raise, day care cuts
Rochester City Council member Adam McFadden will hold a public forum to discuss open-air drug markets at 6:30 p.m on Wednesday, December 4, in Council Chambers at City Hall, 30 Church Street. McFadden has proposed legislation to create drug-free zones in the city. The legislation would create a new section of City Code to prohibit loitering […]
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Week Ahead: RCSD meetings, city violence forum, and county budget — with MCC vote
Rochester Mayor Tom Richards and Police Chief James Sheppard kick off a quartet of community forums on violence in the city. Rochester and cities across the country have experienced a significant uptick in violent crime this year, including homicides. Richards says the forums are a chance to hear from a broad spectrum of the community, […]
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Party times
These are busy times in Monroe County politics. For starters, longtime GOP boss Steve Minarik has been named as a frontrunner to succeed the retiring New York State Republican Party chair Alexander “Sandy” Treadwell. The state’s Republicans will meet in Albany next week to elect a new chairperson. Minarik told City Newspaper he’d likely be […]
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Picking apart the county
When Maggie Brooks released her first-ever county budget proposal, its contents were a pleasant surprise to many. At first glance, it appeared balanced, and essentially kept her promise to maintain services, albeit with an increase in the tax levy. Now the honeymoon period is over, and groups on all sides are beginning to make rumblings […]
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Maggie got it right
OK, let’s get this off our chests. When Bill Johnson ran for county executive last year, he told the truth: The county would have to raise property taxes. Maggie Brooks insisted that she wouldn’t do that. Bill Johnson lost the election. Maggie Brooks won. Taxes certainly weren’t the only issue in the campaign; […]
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Blind date
It’s about accountability. That’s what some 30 residents told county legislators at their meeting on September 14. The speakers were opposing a Republican plan to move the county executive’s deadline for submitting a budget from mid-October to mid-November. That would leave only a month for the legislature to deliberate on a budget and adopt it. […]
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Dems grumble, but approve borrowing
After five months of haggling, the Monroe County Legislature approved the 2004 capital budget in a special session Friday that saw Democrats breaking from an earlier stance to support financing county projects with borrowed funds. The vote green-lights a $58 million plan for projects throughout the county: road repair, bridge work, technology upgrades, and […]
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The good budget
In a remarkable display of sobriety and honesty, the Republicans in the County Legislature have passed a budget — the first rational one in years. “Rational” may be too generous a word: It’s absurd to cut funding for school nurses but continue to provide police services for wealthy towns that could well afford to […]
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Saul revisited
Like Saul on the road to Damascus, hard-line Republicans came to accept that they could not cut $42 million out of the county budget, says Republican legislator Ray Santirocco. “They [the cuts] just weren’t there,” he says. “Despite [Republicans’] philosophical orientation, they have to take into account reality, and Bill [Smith, majority leader] is […]
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Dumping on the city
So much for that city-county romance we were promised post election. The county legislature may vote this week on a $972 million budget proposal. Republican county legislators say they are running out of options to close a $42 million chasm in the 2004 budget. The sales tax increase proposed by Jack Doyle is dead […]
