Press release from Mary Pat Hancock, chairwoman of the county legislature:

I applaud Governor Cuomo for not backing down in his fight to provide meaningful long-term savings for local governments. Over the past several years, pension costs have crippled local governments in New York. Here in Genesee County we have seen our annual pension costs escalate from $247,000 to over $4 million dollars in a 10-year period. That is just not sustainable. It makes maintaining vital local services most difficult. I cannot emphasize enough how important it was for the state legislature to enact meaningful pension reform this year and thank Governor Cuomo for his leadership.

In a letter to New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, Senate candidate Marc Coppola, is asking for assistance to local governments (cities, towns, villages) in conducting an audit of the healthcare benefits paid by taxpayers for public employees.

Coppola acknowledges in his letter that most local governments do not have the resources to conduct such an audit.

He cites a New York “dependent eligibility” audit that is estimated to save the state $25 million per year. He also cites news of the City of Buffalo paying benefits for years for more than 150 deceased individuals.

“This is not an indictment on any administration or public servants," Coppola said. "It is simply a process that should be done periodically because the amount of employees and dependents can be so vast that nobody can keep track of every dollar."

Through collective-bargaining contacts, public employees are given healthcare benefits paid for by local property taxes. Employees and their dependents are eligible for these benefits as well, and in many cases the total cost for local governments is the second highest of all expenses (after wages).

Coppola said that as a (Townawanda) councilmember in 2003, he sponsored legislation calling for an audit of dependents because he knew than that this was a way to save money, control costs and realign healthcare expenses.

“We can no longer tax our way out of some of these financial issues," he said. "Services supplied at the local level are of the most important services offered by government and we need to find ways to be more effective and cost efficient.

"We can’t just cut services or raise property taxes. I believe that with the assistance of the State Comptroller local governments would save millions for taxpayers.”