Congratulations to the Poughkeepsie Journal for their continued investigation of the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency, and its trash burning policies.  Kudos especially to investigative reporter Mary Beth Pfeiffer for her tenacity and for her insight.

But let’s not forget that it was the Democrat majority legislature who first raised the issue of taxpayer subsidies to the agency, back in the fall of ’08.  And it was the Democrat majority who tried to cut that subsidy, only to be rebuffed by the County Executive and Republican legislators.

It was also the Democrat majority that requested the N.Y. State Authority Budget Office to come down to Dutchess County to audit the books of the RRA.  In fact, Fred Knapp and I personally met with authority representatives to encourage them to move forward with the audit.  Again, the Republicans in the legislature voted against this independent audit.

The results of that audit are now complete: costs 46% higher than comparable facilities; a facility that operates well below capacity; an executive director who received a $45,000 pay increase between 2007 and 2009; and taxpayer dollars being spent on food, flowers and gifts.

The new super-majority Republican legislature will have its hands full trying to fix this mess without burdening county taxpayers with a new garbage tax.  That responsibility seems only fair.  After all, it took over 30 years of Republican control of the legislature to get us in this mess; now they can get us out of it.

Roger Higgins