Red Budget

Joel Giambra's bluff has been called. The only losers will be the people and workers of Erie County. And perhaps the region's credibility and marketability. No big whoop on the 16th floor of the Rath Building, I suppose. Even though we all thought the EC Budget mess was behind us as of December 8th, think again. For reasons that I'm too busy to discover, yet another vote was taken earlier today on the penny sales tax increase. It's a home rule petition to Albany, which wanted 10 votes - a supermajority - requesting the sales tax increase. Back on December 8th, 10 legislators voted for the penny sales tax increase (making Erie County's regressive sales tax the second-highest in the USA). DiBenedetti and newcomer Tim Kennedy were the two legislators who changed the vote. (Kennedy replaced Schroeder, who voted for the penny). So, the County is $109 million in the hole. Bye, bye libraries. Bye, bye plowing. Bye, bye quality of life things. And don't let Giambra (a RINO if ever I saw one) fool you into thinking this is all about Medicaid. It's mostly about Medicaid, but a lot of it is Giambra's overreaching and mismanagement. And by the way - DiBenedetti and Kennedy both said that they'd reconsider their votes if Giambra agreed to cut some patronage and perks. THAT Giambra's not willing to do. He's willing to let the whole fucking goddamn county go to hell before he'll permit the Getz family to lose their myriad county jobs. And another thing: this is a huge story, yet WKBW doesn't have anything about it up online. Can you believe that? What kind of news operation are they running? Remember: GIAMBRA TOOK AWAY YOUR LIBRARIES AND FIRED 3000 PEOPLE SO THAT VICTOR GETZ AND OTHER PATRONAGE HACKS SUCKING AT THE PUBLIC'S TEAT CAN KEEP THEIRS. DISGUSTING.