Cattaraugus Legislature panel kills proposal to end term limits
LITTLE VALLEY — Cattaraugus County lawmakers Wednesday killed a proposal in the Finance Committee that could have led to the repeal of the three-term limit for county legislators.
The term-limit legislation, which includes a provision establishing a four-year term, was approved overwhelmingly by voters in a 1994 referendum. It went into effect with the term that began in 2008. Ten new legislators were elected in the 2007 election, while five incumbents were not allowed to seek another term under the law.
The new proposal was sponsored by Jim Ellis, R-Cattaraugus, who is serving out his third term and said he doesn’t want to run again. He cautioned that the job of managing a budget of more than $200 million is more complicated than holding a town council seat.
The proposal was passed out of the Labor Relations Committee, 4-1, where it was introduced by co-sponsor Jim Boser, D-Allegany, who is serving out his second term. Both sponsors said they do not like to see good legislators step down.
Hobie Hall, a former Republican legislator from Great Valley and a sponsor of the 1994 legislation, urged the Labor Relations Committee’s support. He reminded them that the county would keep running without any one of them, but asked them to lift the term limits because it is difficult to run against an incumbent.
Several legislators remarked that termed-out legislators may run again after sitting out a term, and others pointed out that it is the voters who decide who is in office. Some members of both the Labor Relations and Finance committees argued that the term limits brought some good people into office and they have made changes that could not happen otherwise.
“I’ve been in the Legislature for about 30 years and I resigned for six or seven years,” said Jim Snyder, R-Olean. “You come back with a different perspective.”
The proposal died in the Finance Committee, where it received only three of the needed five votes, and no one voiced support.
Two measures were passed out of the Human Services and Finance committees to outsource workers and will be voted on during Wednesday’s Legislature session, despite arguments in opposition by Claire Ramadan, CSEA local president.
The resolutions would authorize outsourcing a Department of Community Services Adult Mental health Clinic social worker at $44,250 from Catholic Charities of Buffalo, and an additional $14,925 for an expanded truancy prevention program through Cattaraugus Community Action, not to exceed $118,879 per year.
The Finance Committee members also made plans to discuss programming with department heads following a report on the impact of the 2009-10 state budget from County Administrator Jack Searles and his deputy, Jeff VanDeCar.
They said that as the budget now stands the county-owned Pines Nursing Homes in Olean and Machias will be harmed by new Medicaid reimbursement savings built into the plan.
Four funding schemes will save the state more than $400 million, lowering public nursing facilities’ reimbursements.
The Pines Health Care and Rehabilitation Center in Machias will see $349,000 less funding and the Olean Pines, $368,800 less.
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Reader comments