There is a proposal being forwarded to reduce the number of legislators from the current 19. Each of these elected officials after just 5 years of service gets health insurance coverage for life. What is wrong with this picture? I mean i guess i can't argue with the fundamental capitalist ideal that any individual should try and get as much financially as he or she possibly can. But when this same "Greed is Good" (Gordon Gecko-Wall Street) philosophy extends to the realm of publicly financed and elected representatives i have a problem with the entire notion. Clearly elected official deserve to be compensated. But how many elected officials do we need to represent us in Central New York and at what cost. In business organizations determine relative compensation strategies through cost benefit analysis propositions. What litmus test should we apply to our elected officials?
Onondaga County is relatively small @ 459,805 residents per the 2000 census. In this same county we have over a dozen towns and villages all with elected officials. Could we not reduce the elected officialdom of our county? Could we not appoint the existing town supervisors to also serve 1 time per week in county wide legislative sessions? All the "talk" about consolidation of services and belt tightening has been just that...TALK!!! We need to take action.
Perhaps 19 legislators is too many, maybe 19 is just right...what do you think?
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