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| Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce |
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Lakewood Residents Have the Right Idea  |
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The Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce and the Manufacturers Association of the Southern Tier commends the Merge and Lower Taxes (MALT) group in Lakewood for their effort to open the door to reducing a layer of government in Chautauqua County. On August 25th Lakewood residents in the Village of Lakewood will have an opportunity to begin the process of making our communities more economically competitive. The editorial by Dave Shepard in the July 11th edition of the Post Journal made an excellent point when he stated, “the higher our taxes the more difficult it becomes for businesses and our community to thrive.” High taxes are undermining the competitiveness of our region. We are not competitive for business growth and expansion. If businesses are to thrive and create jobs, which are the foundation of a vibrant economy, we must find a way to lower taxes and make our community more competitive. Eliminating layers of government is a key step toward lowering costs and creating competitive environment for business growth.
The leadership of the MALT group is starting a process in Lakewood that we need to see occur throughout Chautauqua County and the region. Hopefully this will be a model which other local governments as well as school systems can follow. The residents of Lakewood have an opportunity to set the tone and send a message that the community is serious about creating a business friendly environment; a business environment that supports the employers and their employees. The efforts need to start with local people doing what is right and starting down the path to cost containment, cost reduction and finally complete cooperation. We are way too small a population and geography to cling to layers of government that were established over two centuries ago.
Business is continually forced to reinvent itself time and time again so that we can continue to keep our doors open, hire people, pay our employees and offer benefits. In addition we pay a variety of taxes that help support our local, state and federal governments. We need government to reinvent itself or in many cases dissolve itself in an effort to reduce costs, so that businesses can do what we do best; create jobs and grow the economy.
Thank you again to the MALT group for recognizing the often forgotten, or taken for granted, owner of the business on ‘main street’. All employers and residential tax payers have a very real stake in seeing this process through and an obligation to put forth a strong effort to significantly reduce the cost of government.
Sincerely,
Bruce Erickson
Lakewood Resident
Past Chairman of the Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce
Past President of the Manufacturers Association of the Southern Tier
Hans Auer
Chairman
Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce
Doug Mahany
Immediate Past Chairman
Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce
John Zabrodsky
President
Manufacturers Association of the Southern Tier
David G. Dawson
Immediate Past President of the Manufacturers Association of the Southern Tier
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