The Next Meeting of the Monroe County Legislature will be

Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 - 6:00 P.M.

To sign up to speak at public forum, please contact the Clerk of the Legislature's Office at (585) 753-1950.

To view the February 2012 cycle of proposed legislation currently before the Legislature, click HERE.

Breaking News from the Democratic Caucus

Democrats Re-Elect Ted O’Brien Leader in County Legislature

Rochester, New York – December 19, 2011. Democrats in the Monroe County Legislature have unanimously reelected Ted O’Brien (D-Irondequoit) as the Minority Leader.

“I am tremendously humbled and honored to have been reelected to lead my fellow Democratic Caucus members. I am confident we can continue our diligent work to protect taxpayers and provide a valuable check and balance in county government,” Democratic Leader O’Brien said.

Assistant Democratic Leader Carrie Andrews (D-Rochester) was reelected to her post, while Legislator Willie J. Lightfoot was elected Assistant Democratic Leader to fill the vacancy left by Calvin Lee (D-Rochester) who is term-limited.

“I look forward to continuing to serve the families of our community by advocating for them in County government. At every opportunity, I will strive to reach consensus while ensuring critically important quality of life services, such as child care, are protected,” Legislator Andrews said.

“It is very humbling to have been elected by my fellow caucus members to a leadership position. I will do everything in my power to ensure our constituents are heard and our caucus never strays from our goals of protecting taxpayers, providing sound oversight of the administration, and advocating for those in need,” Legislator Lightfoot said.

Legislator Vincent Esposito (D-Irondequoit) was reelected to the position of Deputy to the Leadership. All the leadership votes were unanimous.

Esposito Releases Statement on County Ethics Training

The following is a statement from Legislator Vincent Esposito (D-Irondequoit) regarding Monroe County’s online ethics training.

Democrats Propose Tax Cut in Brooks 2012 Budget

Rochester, New York – November 3, 2011. Democrats in the County Legislature today introduced a proposal to cut irresponsible spending found in the 2012 budget and return those cut expenses to the citizens by way of a tax cut.

Democratic Legislator Dick Beebe (D-Greece), said, “At a time when our County has the highest property taxes in the nation, the status quo simply won’t cut it. We need to do everything we can to reduce taxes and this proposal represents an important first step towards that end.”

Democrats propose rolling back recent pay increases to political appointees—also known as Management and Professional employees—which would save taxpayers $1.48 million this year alone. Additionally, Democrats would cut cell phones, county vehicles, frivolous lease agreements and reduce professional services expenditures to achieve a total savings of $5.4 million.

Democratic Legislator Vincent Esposito (D-Irondequoit), said, “The County Executive’s budget is loaded with frivolous spending that we cannot afford during these difficult times. Property taxpayers should not have to pay more so political appointees can get another raise when nearly 1 in 10 of our neighbors are unemployed. This proposal returns money to people who will spend it better than this administration.”

Under the Democratic proposal, the County property tax rate will be cut by $0.14 per thousand of assessed value. The current rate is $8.99 per thousand of assessed value; under the Democratic plan, the rate would drop to $8.85 per thousand of assessed value. This amounts to a $5.4 million cut from the tax levy and a total reduction in County property taxes of 1.5%.

To view the tax cut proposal, click HERE.

County & City Representatives Denounce Brooks Lead Inspection Cut

Rochester, New York – November 1, 2011. Democrats in the County Legislature today joined with Rochester City Council members to denounce County Executive Maggie Brooks proposed 2012 budget, which would cut hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding for the lead poisoning prevention program.

The proposed cuts will undoubtedly have a negative impact on lead levels amongst children in the city, who have for several years been making progress in their fight against lead poisoning. On top of this year’s funding cuts, the Brooks Administration in recent years has also cut funding for downtown police patrols, charged city residents more per capita than any other municipality to fund Monroe Community College and eliminated all funding for the Alternative to Incarceration program.

Democratic Legislator Steve Eckel (D-Rochester, Gates), said, “We implore the County Executive to reverse her decision to cut this important quality of life funding. If allowed to go through, we will undoubtedly see an increase in the number of children in our community suffering from lead poisoning and that is simply unacceptable.”

Lead poisoning can bring about many serious medical ailments, including learning disabilities, depression, short-term memory loss, slurred speech and anemia. These cuts will force the City to reduce the number of lead inspectors by at least twenty-five percent.

Rochester City Council President Lovely Warren (D-Rochester), said, “Instead of cutting funding for this critically important service, we need to be continuing to build on the progress we’ve made in recent years in the fight against lead poisoning. These proposed cuts will only take us backwards, and that means that children in our community will be needlessly exposed to this poison. Simply put, we cannot allow these cuts to stand.”

On December 13, when the Legislature considers the budget, Democratic County Legislators will offer an amendment to restore the $440,000 in lead funding cut by County Executive Brooks.

Brooks Budget Fails Taxpayers, Does Not Solve Long-Term Problems

Rochester, New York – October 27, 2011. Democrats in the County Legislature today offered their preliminary response to County Executive Brooks proposed 2012 Budget, calling it a laughable piece of fiction that fails to solve the County’s long-term budget problems.

Democratic Leader Ted O’Brien (D-Irondequoit), said, “This budget is nothing but pure fiction. It is supposedly balanced, but in reality it does nothing more than kick the can down the road. It relies on revenues which we know will never be realized, and it underestimates or simply ignores expenses which we know will have to be paid.”

Democratic Legislator Paul Haney (D-Rochester, Brighton), said, “While this budget certainly makes for a nice campaign document, it does nothing to serve the taxpayers we were elected to represent. With the highest property taxes in the country, we were certainly hopeful that the County Executive would offer some type of true reforms, but clearly that hasn’t happened.”

This budget relies on revenue from the sale of County owned buildings which were supposed to have been sold to balance the 2011 budget and the sale of more than $30 million in tax liens—both one-shot funding sources which, if realized, will not recur in future years.

“We still have the second worst credit rating of any county in this state, and the reality is that this budget continues the trend of raising the tax levy, now up by 26% during the County Executive’s time in office. In that same time period, the county services chargeback—another form of property taxes—is up by 245%. Clearly, the County Executive is lying every time she claims to have kept taxes flat,” Haney added.