County Executives form Mandate Panel ROCHESTER, NY (WXXI) - Upstate county executives from Rochester, Buffalo and Syracuse say the problem of reducing local property tax burdens doesn't lie with the spending they can control -- but the spending they can't control because it's mandated by state law.

Monroe County's Maggie Brooks, Erie County's Chris Collins and Onondaga County's Joanie Mahoney toured the state Wednesday announcing formation of a Mandate Relief Commission.

Brooks says more than 70 percent of her budget goes to programs the state mandates her to fund -- chief among them Medicaid and Welfare.

Brooks and the county executives from Buffalo and Syracuse have named a 10 member panel headed by Rochester economist Geoff Rosenberger. He says the panel will document all state spending mandates on county governments -- determine the burden they charge to local taxpayers -- and lay out alternatives the state could adopt to reduce that burden.

Erie County Executive Chris Collins says that will have to include some way of cutting back the services offered under Medicaid. Counties have to pay one-fourth the cost of Medicaid in New York. County executives have long complained that New York requires them to offer every care option on the Medicaid list.

Collins says the collapse on Wall Street this year means neither the state nor counties will be able to balance their budgets next year if they keep that policy.

The mandate panel hopes to finish its work by the end of the year. Its report will go to the three counties, to Governor Paterson and to the State Legislature.

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