The Onondaga County Legislature plans to consider a proposal to declare the sheriff department’s Air 1 helicopter “surplus property” and sell it at public auction.
Doing so may be the only way to stop the financial drain the helicopter is on county taxpayers.
County Executive Joanie Mahoney, in her 2012 budget, did not include taxpayer money for helicopter pilots and fuel. Legislators also cut $107,000 for insurance and supplies.
Sheriff Kevin Walsh is working on making the helicopter self-sustaining by charging medical patients for transport and raising charitable donations. He said at a Monday news conference he’s confident he can raise an estimated $595,000 to pay for Air 1’s operation next year. He’s raised $35,000 so far.
If he can’t, you can bet Walsh will be back in front of legislators next year with a plea for funding. He may get a more sympathetic hearing from new legislators.
Walsh’s efforts to privatize the helicopter are too little, too late. As this page has said many times, Air 1 is a luxury taxpayers can no longer afford.''
No comments:
Post a Comment