Taxes and the county budget are the topics of conversation for every taxpayer, elected official and county employee these days.
 Niagara County Legislator Lee Simonson delivered the following speech on local Medicaid taxes to his county legislature on October 16, 2002. It received a standing ovation.  If you change the name, this could be Broome and Tioga counties. (This is only part of his speech.)

 With Mr. Simonson's permission:

 "Every Wednesday, without fail, the Niagara County Treasurer receives a fax. It's a bill from the State of New York that is due, and payable in full, in six days. It tells us how much money we owe the state the following Tuesday to fund the state's Medicaid program.  So every Tuesday morning, an accountant in the County treasurer's office gets on her computer and electronically transfers money out of our county bank account and puts it into the state's bank account.

 "Friends, that is just for one mandate - just one program- out of dozens of mandated expenses that we are forced to pay. And it is for a service that Niagara County has absolutely nothing to say about. There is no consent. There is no input. We don't set the eligibility requirements, the benefit levels or any of the rules.  The state just sends us a bill and demands we pay.

 "This county ritual is performed in every county in New York State.  Look what's on the table for next year:  Ontario County - 24%,  Cayuga County - 28%, Tompkins County - 38%, Oswego County - 40% and Ulster County - 70%.

 "What in the world is going on?  It hasn't dawned on (people) that the state is balancing its budget on the backs of the local property taxpayer.  Most people think this is a flimsy excuse to cover up our own inadequacies on the local level.  

But listen to the facts first:

 "Let's talk about the Medicaid example for the moment: county governments in most other states aren't required to pay a single penny for Medicaid or other unfunded mandates.  It's one of the two primary reasons property taxes are low in other states and ours are so high.

 "County governments have been taken over by the state of New York and are being used as surrogate tax collection agents.  In other words, state taxes are now disguised as county property taxes. Why is this happening?  Because it's the perfect political system. Albany gets the credit for being compassionate and adding social programs, while shifting the costs to the local level. It's much easier to stand on the floor of the County Legislature and talk about how much you hate taxes than it is to go to Albany and do the same thing. By the way, they don't let taxpayers speak on the floor of the Legislature."

 This legislator shares Mr. Simonson's view and is preparing a resolution for the Tioga County Legislature to challenge New York State's right to mandate local funding of Federal and State programs, specifically Medicaid.