[c]
The Buffalo News [/c] recently polled
400+ Erie County residents about their thoughts on the
"Erie County Budget Crisis" and this is what they got:
Basically
three out of four people polled think the County Legislature did the right thing by refusing to raise the
sales tax earlier this month.
The poll found that Erie County residents feel less certain about whether deep cuts to county jobs and services are the best way to handle the current crisis.
Just
36% of residents
agreed with the Legislature's move to lay off
2,000 workers and cut services such as parks, library hours and Sheriff's Department road patrols to balance the budget.
By comparison,
42% disagreed with those moves. Another
22% were
unsure.
However, legislators wondered where residents expected them to make deep cuts.
Residents also were mixed in their views as to whether the county crisis has made them rethink their attitudes about a proposed merger of the City of Buffalo and Erie County.
One in three people said their ideas about the merger
haven't changed as a result of the crisis.
But
42.5% said they now think
less favorably about the merger. Another
25% said they think
more favorably of the merger idea.
However, [c]Giambra[/c] said he's going to use the current crisis as an opportunity to push the issue of regionalism and consolidation even harder in Erie County.
This provides a huge opportunity for us to drive home the message of changing the way we do business in Erie County [c]Giambra[/c] said.
Once you've got the taxpayers' attention, you can sell them on the idea of regionalism and consolidation.