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The OBSERVER’s View

Our choices for county legislators

For at least the last six years, this corner has been consistent regarding our spending concerns with the Chautauqua County budget. Recent contracts that have shot up payroll costs — from $66.6 million to $75 million in one year from 2024 to 2025 — and an increasing number of employees have all happened under the reign of a Republican majority and county executive. Certainly, unfunded state mandates are a major dilemma. But payroll costs, that are locally controlled and allowed to balloon, cannot be dismissed. In making our Legislature endorsements, we stick to our belief that ...

The OBSERVER’s View: DiNapoli keeping entities in check

Incumbent state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has a strong challenger this year in Republican challenger Joseph Hernandez. Hernandez has raised questions about DiNapoli's role in the growth of the state's debt load, wants to create a Medicaid Fraud Strike Team as Medicaid spending increases and fraud convictions decrease and proposes additional checks on $21 billion in state aid to New York City. Hernandez, like past challengers to DiNapoli, also wants to pull back from investing state pension funds in accordance with the state’s environmental, social and governance goals and invest ...

Have IDA take on city’s development efforts

Since Vince DeJoy was hired as Dunkirk’s Director of Planning and Development, the landscape of the city has changed greatly. One of DeJoy’s greatest successes in the role was New York state’s awarding of $10 million in funding for the Downtown Revitalization Initiative. That money remains an important piece to the downtown puzzle, but Dunkirk is treading water. Due to years of poor financial planning and thievery, government is on the brink. DeJoy, the current administration and council had no part in putting the city on this path. But at the moment, things just do not seem to ...

Have IDA take on city’s development efforts

Since Vince DeJoy was hired as Dunkirk’s Director of Planning and Development, the landscape of the city has changed greatly. One of DeJoy’s greatest successes in the role was New York state’s awarding of $10 million in funding for the Downtown Revitalization Initiative. That money remains an important piece to the downtown puzzle, but Dunkirk is treading water. Due to years of poor financial planning and thievery, the government is on the brink. DeJoy, the current administration and council had no part in putting the city on this path. But at the moment, things just do not ...

Seeing the long-term savings in Silver Creek

For the second year in a row, the village of Silver Creek has made its disdain known for its contract with Hanover and Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Department. Village Mayor Kathy Tampio says the 50-50 split with the town for the more than $632,000 agreement is unfair. During a meeting this month, Tampio said two-thirds of the responses from the Sheriff's Office are in the Town of Hanover, not the village. She further stated the Silver Creek population served by the Sheriff's patrol is approximately 2,600 residents, while the town population – including the village in its total – ...

Voting options change with the times

How did the first Tuesday of November become the traditional Election Day? According to a Campaign Legal Center online article from 2021, Congress in 1845 selected the most convenient day to hold a vote for the greatest number of voters at the time — farmers. Saturdays and Sundays were religious days and Wednesdays were market days. Since farmers may have needed Monday to travel to a polling location, the first Tuesday after the fall harvest proved to be the most convenient day for most voters. Times have obviously changed, which led to early voting beginning in New York state in ...