WXXI: Mandated Spending Under the Microscope (2008-09-23)

Monroe County executive Maggie Brooks says she's joining with Onondaga and Erie counties to form a commission to study mandates. Mandated spending is the portion of a county's budget that pays for services required by the state or federal government, like Medicaid. In Monroe County, Brooks says that amounts to 71 percent of a billion dollar budget.

Brooks says the 10-person commission will study the shape of mandated spending, and then propose steps to reduce the burden.

"This really is all about having some flexibility. When you're told you have to provide something and you don't have the money to pay for all of it, you have to look for that flexibility ... and so we will have to ask the state's permission to engage in some reforms but I still think it's a worthy task if we can save taxpayers money in the long run."

The three county executives will each appoint three members of the commission, which will be headed up by Clover Capital Management co-founder Geoffrey Rosenberger. Brooks will announce her appointees at an event Wednesday afternoon. When asked if her appointments were bipartisan, Brooks said the appointees were engaged members of the community, and that she didn't know their political affiliations.

The county executives of the three counties are convening in Albany for a four-stop "thruway tour" that will announce the formation of the commission in Albany, Onondaga County, Monroe County and Erie County throughout Wednesday.

Brooks last year signed legislation into law that caps the non-mandated portion of the county's budget. She says that's an "important commitment to taxpayers" but that there needs to be a way to provide required services and programs while controlling mandated spending.