Legislators looking at wrong budget lines
The front page of the OBSERVER had an article stating legislators are continuing to review the budget of the sheriff.
Legislators reviewed amendments needed for the 2017 budget while looking out for the 2018 budget at the same time. What I don’t see is a review of the nonresident welfare program that the taxpayers are responsible for, only because these nonresidents are collecting welfare benefits and are not state residents.
They go back to their home state with the New York taxpayers’ money. This subject has been in my past articles. We are getting ripped off by out-of-staters, but our county legislators don’t seem to be interested to save New York state taxpayers any money in this regard.
If they did stop these out-of-staters from collecting the taxpayers’ money from this state and county, they would have enough to not worry about a department such as the sheriff’s, which is an essential part for the safety of the residents of this county.
The Chautauqua County legislators should also look at the priority of each department, especially the District Attorney’s office. Their conviction rate for offenders is disgraceful. No wins and eight losses is the figure this office has to show for their job.
This disgraceful statistic has to be the worst since this new gang took over. Now this office should also be investigated by the legislators along with the welfare office in Mayville to ascertain why that office is allowing nonresidents of this state to collect welfare benefits and then go back to their home states with our money and benefits.
I will continue to write on this issue until this waste of taxpayers’ money is stopped from out-of-staters. No one in Mayville seems to take this issue seriously enough to do something about this waste.
With the money saved from out-of-staters, you wouldn’t have to pick on the most important department in this county, the Sheriff’s Department. Go after the waste in the welfare office. It is bad enough we have to take care of our own freeloaders, we don’t need any outsiders to freeload off of us.
This practice must stop and the legislators must once and for all take this seriously and leave the sheriff alone. Pick on the other departments such as the district attorney’s office as well as the welfare office.
Get your acts in order and do your jobs in Chautauqua County as legislators — or get out of office once and for all. I will be visiting taxpayers in this county and remind them that our legislators are not doing the job that the voters want.
Richard Makuch is a Dunkirk resident.
COMMENTS