The Buffalo News from Buffalo, New York • 7

BUALO Htws Tuesday march 20 2001 Tr3" 4 ps Ti a 7: '7H ec Inside Section Neighborhoods B2 Lottery B3 Deaths B4 Opinion BIO STATE GOVERNMENT TRANSPORTATION Education is sticking point in budget talks By TOM PRECIOUS News Albany litireau ALBANY Democrats and Repub licans are $13 billion apart in how much they want to spend on education this year in New York That's enough of a split over such a contentious issue that there is virtually no chance once again that the state budget will be approved by the April 1 deadline On the heels of a historic court ruling in January that tossed out as unconstitu tional the state's formula for funding public schools Gov George Pataki and legislative leaders have only moved further apart not closer The impasse comes as they try to resolve one of the political issues most dear to every rank and file lawmaker The extent of the schism became clearer Monday when Assembly Demo crats proposed spending $17 billion more on education than the current budget far above the $382 million hike Pataki proposed in January Senate Republicans later Monday of fered up their own school aid plan call ing for a 67 percent hike amounting to $925 million That would bring state spending on education to $147 billion The Assembly plan would increase state aid to Buffalo schools by $417 mil lion or 13 percent to $359 million in the coming year Districts throughout Erie County when combined would get a total of $790 million from Albany up $93 million Over the next two years the school spending surge would raise state aid to Jamestown by 16 percent to Niag ara alls by 20 percent to Lackawanna by 23 percent and by 36 percent to Cheektowaga Of course all of the numbers are mere proposals and are far higher than the amount Republicans say the state can afford The spat over education will do more than merely delay adoption of the state budget and create an impasse that some fear could take months or even seasons to resolve because the education number does more than just set the See Budget Page B12 Metro fares untouched in NTA budget By KEVIN COLLISON News Staff Reporter PUBLIC HEALTH Some who sell smokes will proof all buyers By CHARITY VOGEL News Staff Reporter People looking to buy cigarettes at some convenience stores and gas stations across Erie County will soon find themselves getting proofed every single time even if they're decades past age 18 because Erie County is launching a new Proof Every one" campaign to encourage local shops and stores to proof every body young looking or not who wants to buy alcohol or ciga rettes' is a real Erie County Executive Joel A Giambra said of underage purchases of alco hol and tobacco The new campaign already has attracted nearly 25 percent of the" small shops and convenience stores in Erie County which have volun tarily signed up to start proofing all customers Sponsors include Noco Express Shops and the American Arab Merchants Association will work closely with the county and various government agencies to make sure this law takes its place and is fully imple mented to protect our interests and everything we have worked said Hussien Abdulla head of the merchants' association The campaign is tied to new toughened penalties in New York State for those who sell tobacco and alcohol products to underage customers or example under the tougher penalties a store now pays be tween $300 and $1000 for a first offense rather than the $100 to $300 fine that formerly was in place Subsequent offenses can re sult in a store's losing its licenses to sell lottery tickets and tobacco products The new penalties took effect in September 2000 'The Proof cam paign will be promoted on the air waves Giambra a former heavy smoker who has undergone suc cessful treatment for throat cancer will appear in one of two new anti smoking television commer cials that will air on various local channels over the next few months The ads are designed to promote the new campaign and warn county residents that they will be proofed more often incumbent upon us to put out as much information as possi Giambra said so impor tant for our kids never to start (smoking) an addiction fatal" Dr Anthony Billittier IV county health commissioner said the message to residents is simple: Cooperate with the new campaign you are asked for proof at a convenience store think of it as a compliment" Billittier said give the clerk a hard The ad campaign will be funded by grant money from the state De partment of Health the county Health Department and some pri vate contributors officials said The funding for the ads does not include money from the coun recent $211 million sale of its tobacco settlement however part of that money is slated to go to ward public health awareness about the dangers of tobacco The campaign will cost $10000 and will include 1300 slots of TV time said Peter Coppola associate public health sanitarian in the county Health Department I uW 1 a MH bsks i BL rz a i 1 MICHAEL GROLUBuffalo News Stare straight ahead! Zamboni gets the light in the eye checkup from Medaille College veterinary student Rebecca Hermann Monday at the Buffalo Therapeutic Riding Center Students from the college's Veterinary Technical Program performed physicals vacci nations and blood work to make sure the horses were in tip top shape HEALTH INSURANCE City threatens to drop HMO over hike By BRIAN MEYER News Staff Reporter Buffalo officials are threatening to drop Independent Health as an HMO option for thousands of city employees and retirees claiming the carrier submit ted a proposed rate increase two days af ter the filing deadline Independent Health is seeking state permission to establish new rates for Medicare eligible retirees who continue to receive coverage through the HMO If approved the so called out rates" would mean a net average rate increase of about 15 percent for subscribers in this category and will cost the cash strapped city an additional $250000 annually ef fective July 1 In addition to the added costs Human Resources Commissioner Kathleen lara said the city would have to repro gram its computers to accommodate the rate adjustments at a time when open en rollment is set to begin for employees Budget officials warned earlier this month that the city faces a $61 million increase in health insurance related costs through mid 2002 Along with the costs associated with property revaluation spi raling insurance premiums are among the major causes of a projected $40 million budget gap for next fiscal year The city pays for 80 to 100 percent of all health in surance premiums depending on terms stipulated in various union contracts "We can't keep eating these in said O'Hara are other insurance options out there and prob ably time to sit down with our unions to review some of those But William McHugh executive vice president of Independent Health said the rate adjustments for Medicare eligible members which must still be ap proved by the state would result in a 2 percent increase in the total health premium costs McHugh said other health care plans have used Medicare carve out rates for years claiming the rates more accurately reflect the true costs of coverage or ex ample Medicare eligible members used an average of 34 prescriptions last year compared to an average of 10 prescrip tions used by the typical commercial member McHugh said under the current system commercial HMO subscribers es sentially subsidize Medicare eligible indi viduals "The city is concerned about the rising costs of health care and we're concerned as well" said McHugh had a long relationship with the city and we very much want to continue providing About 5800 city employees retirees and dependents are covered by Indepen dent Health Thousands of additional Board of Education employees are cov ered by separate contracts Independent Health has been grap pling with its own fiscal problems it lost about $30 million last year McHugh said the carrier has attempt ed to address the city's concerns or ex ample he said revisions were made to make the new policies more compatible with the city's computer system I le said Independent Health submitted most of its rates by the city's filing deadline and See Insurance Page B12 I The NTA board unanimously approved a 1164 million budget Monday leaving the base Metro fare untouched for a sixth straight year but plans on dropping three poor performing bus routes that would affect about 265 riders The 2001 02 budget a 61 percent increase over the current one is being balanced on the back of a $21 million increase in transit aid proposed in Gov George Pataki's state bud get The base $125 Metro Bus and Rail fare has been unchanged since July 1995 happy with the said Luiz Kahl chairman of the Niagara rontier Trans portation Authority board balanced and we're going to meet next year's budget although it wall be tight We're not increasing our rates at all We have to thank the governor for the $2 million increase That allowed us to do good The budget includes a projection that pas senger traffic at Buffalo Niagara International Airport will increase 14 percent to more than 5 million people this year It also anticipates a 26 percent increase in Metro revenue Other factors calculated into the budget in clude a takeover of Niagara alls International Airport by Cintra Concesiones de Infrasturas de Transporte a Spanish conglomerate by mid year and no rental revenues from the Outer Harbor complex formerly occupied by Euro United The bus routes that would be eliminated in clude Route 82 that was established to serve the Euro United plastic furniture plant which closed last year Only eight people use it each weekday The others are the Route 43 Mall Shuttle which links the Thruway Mall and Walden Gal leria and carries an average of 75 riders on weekdays and the Route 41 Sheridan Harlem that carries an average of 182 people each weekday A public hearing on the proposed bus route closings will be held April 25 in the Erie Com munity College City Campus auditorium There will be a public review from 5 to 7 pm and op portunity for comment at 7 In other matters the NTA authorized the Greater Buffalo Niagara Regional Transporta tion Council to use $200000 in federal funds to hire KPMG The company will study the poten tial market for improved passenger train service in a corridor that would includeToronto Niag ara alls Buffalo and Ellicottville Earlier in the day members of the NTA Aviation Committee were told the authority is exploring ways to provide more security person nel at the airport Although the airport has increase in size and activity dramatically since the new facility opened in 1997 the number of NTA police as signed has remained unchanged at five officers during the day John Battle chief of the NTA transit police said there were 16 accidents on the air port ring road last month three involving inju ries a significant increase from a year ago al though numbers were not available" Battle also said the officer assigned to make sure departure and arrival traffic flows smooth ly in front of the terminal also must go inside occasionally to patrol the luggage area The po lice chief has requested the hiring of more offi cers Laurence Meckler NTA executive direc tor acknowledged the increased activity at the airport has put extra pressure on the officers as signed there He also said the airport continues to meet the security standards of the ederal Aviation Administration Meckler said the NTA is looking at alterna tives that would allow non officers to handle traffic control on the arrival and departure lanes a move that would free police to devote more time to patroling the terminal outer roadways and parking lots WEST SENECA SCHOOLS Board fires superintendent on charges of misconduct By TJ PIGNATARO News Staff Reporter West Seneca School Superin tendent Richard Sagar was fired and ordered to turn over his dis trict keys on the spot during a meeting of the School Board on Monday Deputy Superintendent John Schleifcr a 34 year veteran with the district was appointed to the post temporarily The board after retiring to a 9U minute executive session just after the start of the meeting came back and voted 5 2 to termi nate Sagar effective immediately Board members Howard Avnet and Elizabeth Murphy cast the dissenting votes The board accused Sagar of six acts of dating to 1998: and entering into a contract on behalf of the district with a soft drink manufacturer in September 1999 Contracting for construction work without prior authorization or knowledge by the board in Au gust 1999 Actively cooperating in out side legal proceedings against the board Being absent without official leave Nov 9 2000 and Jan 19 Unilaterally changing the terms of an administrator's con tract without the permis sion The board made no mention of some of the previous allegations against the school chief including reports of improper conduct in dealing with teachers The board also declared void his contract which runs through June 30 The resolution said the action is justified on the grounds that he committed by of fering misrepresentations to the School Bdard upon his hiring in West Seneca According to the resolution Sagar was not truthful when he said he was compelled" to leave his previous job in the Ca zenovia Central School District but did so in order to pursue doctoral degree" After the vote Sagar handed the keys to the board and left the building Sagar said afterward he was advised not to comment on the board's action The board then returned to a second executive session of about 20 minutes and approved the im mediate appointment of Schleifcr to the post by a 6 to 1 vote Avnet was the lone dis senter See Sagar Page B12 ile photo Richard Sagar was advised not to comment on immediate dismissal Mbs 0 1 A VK.