BUFFALO, NY – Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz is out with a list of reforms which he thinks will address many concerns recently raised about the Erie County Water Authority.
The Water Authority is a separate entity and is not a part of county government
The proposed reforms from Poloncarz come after a state oversight agency said the Water Authority board operated in a fashion which lacked transparency and accountability.
“It’s been a political beast since its creation,” said Poloncarz, who proposes expanding the current three member makeup of the board (appointments to which are made by the Erie County legislature) to seven commissioners.
Under Poloncarz’s vision, the additional appointments would come from the County Executive (2) and the Governor (2).
In addition, Poloncarz calls for the terms of commissioners to expand from three years to five years, so they would overlap the terms of the elected officials appointing the. In this fashion, he argues, the board would be more balanced politically.
Poloncarz is also calling for the annual stipend to those serving as commissioners to be cut, from $22,500 to $7,500.
His package of reforms would also require more consistent reporting of water authority affairs and spending to county lawmakers in attempt to make the agency more accountable.
Poloncarz stopped short of endorsing a call by some to dissolve the Water Authority as a separate entity and fold it into the county government, calling such a move complicated and expensive.
Instead, he would prefer reforming the existing agency, by amending the enabling legislation from Albany which created it in the first place.
However, because the Water Authority was created the state, it is only the state which can change it.
Poloncarz says he’s already begun talks with members of the County Legislature, who would first have to adopt the reforms, and then pass them as a “home rule message."
They would then need the assistance of members of the Western New York delegation of the State Legislature, who would have to agree to carry the message to Albany, and submit it as a bill, which the State Legislature would have to pass.