Members of the Erie County Legislature’s Republican Caucus are criticizing their democratic colleagues for pushing through a local law that silences the voices of hundreds of thousands of Erie County residents. The law, which was quietly put on the agenda last minute, removes the right of voters to approve the extension of sales tax at a public referendum. Instead, the measure allows for a simple majority vote of the legislature to extend the sales tax and could even lead to the legislature approving tax hikes without any public input. Currently a super majority vote of the legislature is required, which has allowed the party in the minority to negotiate with the Administration, leading to a cut in the property tax levy, borrowing less, and saving millions of dollars for taxpayers.
“Their claims that this is necessary to speed up the process of approving the sales tax extension is ridiculous. When the Administration is forced to negotiate, good things have happened for taxpayers. There already is a measure in place that allows voters to decide if they want to extend the sales tax. The democrats want to take that right away. This is quite ironic for a party that claims they’re fighting for increased voter access and voter rights,” said Minority Leader and Erie County Legislator John Mills.
New York State currently requires the Erie County Legislature to authorize extending the 1% and 0.75% sales and compensating use tax every two years. There are two options available to them; a super majority vote of the legislature, or a majority vote that puts a referendum before voters. This procedure has been in place for decades. In fact, in the 1970s when Democrats had control of the Erie County Legislature, only a simple majority vote was required for the sales tax. When Republicans took control of the legislature the following year, and Republican Ned Regan was Erie County Executive, it was the Democrats who fought for a super majority vote. Republicans agreed, and supported that measure, where voters decided overwhelmingly to require a super majority vote of the legislature for sales tax.
“This law takes away the voting rights of the people we represent. The extension of temporary sales tax increases can already be passed with a simple majority. But in order to do so, it requires the approval of the residents of Erie County by a referendum. This law removes the public’s direct voting right on this issue. With today’s passage by Democrat lawmakers, voter’s rights will be reduced, and that is bad governance and unAmerican.,” said Erie County Legislator Chris Greene.
“Our caucus represents hundreds of thousands of people. Our Democratic colleagues even bragged about the successes that came from the negotiations. They touted the tax levy cut, and the millions in savings that only came about because the Republicans in the minority fought for it in our discussions with the Administration over the sales tax extension. Silencing the voices of the people in the 33 municipalities we represent sets a dangerous precedent,” said Erie County Legislator Frank Todaro.
“This truly is trampling on the democratic process and silencing the voice of the people. The fact that it was the Democrats who pushed for the super majority in the first-place years ago tells you all you need to know. They don’t care about you or good government. They just want total control. This is bad governance, bad politics, and they should be ashamed,” said Legislator Lindsay Lorigo.
The measure did not appear on the agenda for the June 20 session. By quietly adding it at the last minute demonstrates they don’t want the public to know what they are up to. They intentionally waited until the start of summer, when few are paying attention, to quietly go about approving a measure that takes away voter rights. The Local Law was approved by a 7-4 vote. Voters still have the opportunity to send a message that their voices need to be heard by rejecting this referendum on the November ballot.