Don’t count on those savings that the Erie County Legislature’s “reform coalition” said would result when it selected a new chairwoman in January and reshuffled the staff.

The county comptroller’s office concluded that the reshuffling will cost at least $60,000 more than budgeted and probably much more than that when adding the health insurance costs of some now full-time employees and the unemployment payouts for fired workers.

“There is no immediate savings to the taxpayers and no future savings with respect to employee retirement and health care expenses,” the comptroller’s staff told the Legislature in a memo describing its calculations.

The decision by five of the six Republican- conference legislators not to operate district offices this year will wipe out some of the added cost by saving $5,000 a month, or $60,000 a year, on rent and utilities.

However, those five lawmakers continue to employ district office aides who were moved to the Legislature’s central office downtown.

Even though the Legislature’s nine Democrats had the numbers to elect a chairwoman this year without Republican support, they are deeply divided along some of the same fault lines dividing the Democratic Party in Erie County.

So three Democrats in January voted with the six-member Republican bloc to elect Barbara Miller-Williams, D-Buffalo, as chairwoman. Miller-Williams aligns with a party wing controlled by Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown and former County Democratic Chairman G. Steven Pigeon. Brown and Republican County Executive Chris Collins have formed an alliance.

Miller-Williams immediately fired nine central office employees and began hiring and promoting workers acceptable to Brown and Pigeon. She also let the Republicans hire their own staff, a departure from past practice, when the Legislature’s leader controlled all hiring and firing.

The comptroller’s analysis showed that while the Legislature now has fewer employees, a greater number of its 33 workers are full time, and the payroll grew by almost $43,000, to $1.26 million. The payroll could grow by another $82,000 if two vacant posts are filled.

The employees who lost their jobs were able to cash in unused vacation time, at a cost of $22,000.

The nine-member “reform coalition” hammered through those staff changes Jan. 8 by approving a statement that said they will “result in an immediate savings to the taxpayers.”

Republican leader John J. Mills, of Orchard Park, was among those who predicted the new arrangement would save money. He stood by the statement Tuesday—in regard to the Republican side of the aisle, not the whole Legislature.

“We have elected to close district offices. There is going to be a direct savings,” he said, adding that around mid-year the Republicans will analyze if there is enough work to retain central office employees.

Copyright 2010, The Buffalo News