Some random thoughts on a couple items of local interest that recently made headlines:

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Talk about getting whacked in the wallet.

Erie County Comptroller Mark Poloncarz's recent report on property tax assessment in Erie County was definitely an eye-opener.

The numbers don't lie when you look at Poloncarz's estimate that the annual cost to county taxpayers for local governments providing property assessments is $6.5 million, a figure which doesn't even include employee fringe benefits.

Poloncarz's recommendation to County Executive Chris Collins and the 15 members of the County Legislature to potentially save millions of dollars is simple — cease the local assessment process and introduce a centralized system that would handle all property assessments throughout the county.

Significant savings is what we need to aim for. Poloncarz's report shined some light on the concept of introducing a new approach to how the local assessment process is conducted.

State officials in Albany are currently offering local and county governments an attractive range of financial incentives if a move to a countywide assessment program takes place.

I think the transition to a countywide assessment model could do exactly what Poloncarz says it will do, namely cause an eventual movement to regular reassessment to take place, which hopefully would result in the end of what can be considered as unfair and extremely large swings in property taxes as well as the possibility of the end of equalization rates across local towns, villages and school districts.

A copy of Poloncarz's report is available via Erie County's official Web site (www.erie.gov.). The document is something that should be reviewed by all local elected officials as some sort of unity should be aimed for in the hopes of securing annual savings that Poloncarz says could be as high as $3.9 million, which doesn't even include any of that state aid or those incentives that are on the table.

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I'd say the honeymoon is definitely over for City of Buffalo School Superintendent James Williams.

Some of the decisions Williams made related to the well-documented McKinley High School debacle and the School 67 sex abuse scandal can best be described as questionable.

His inability to lead and provide sound direction helped fan the flames regarding the unproven sex allegations between a volunteer basketball coach and a student at McKinley. The obvious abuse of power by certain individuals at that school resulted in what I believe was the wrongful termination of a valuable volunteer that many female student-athletes of that school respected and admired and could actually define as a role model.

To think that a seven-week suspension of a student with aspirations to go to college in a school district that has an incredibly high drop-off rate was ordered and enforced by district administrators is both shocking and sickening. The fallout from the School 67 situation also showed Williams' true colors when he spoke about his non-receipt of a very important document that was sent to him by registered mail.

Are we really supposed to take that explanation and the corresponding statements that Williams has made seriously? Does Williams think this constant practice of blaming others for major blunders is acceptable?

Credit the media exposure and subsequent outrage from parents for helping to recognize that Williams' management philosophy is severely flawed. These two incidents show that, while Williams may be well known and respected for his work in the education field, his handling of administrative matters when it comes to properly identifying misconduct and enforcing district policies and procedures on a day-to-day basis is subpar at best.

Williams is doing one thing right. He's teaching students of his district a valuable lesson when it comes to key character virtues like accountability, honesty and respect.

(Daniel Meyer is a columnist for the Weekly Independent Newspapers of Western New York. Comments on this column can be sent via e-mail to: meyersmusings@gmail.com. Opinions expressed here are those of the author.)

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