Friday, April 19, 2024 | St. Lawrence County, NY
To the Editor: I am writing this letter in response to the story “Parker Wants Input on County Challenges” that appeared in the Daily Courier-Observer on Thursday June 16. Legislator Dan Parker …
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To the Editor:
I am writing this letter in response to the story “Parker Wants Input on County Challenges” that appeared in the Daily Courier-Observer on Thursday June 16. Legislator Dan Parker is looking for feedback on the benefits of the county bus service and the Youth Bureau department.
The bus system only provides a service to 100 people annually for $469,000.
This is difficult for me to agree with especially when I compare and contrast this expenditure to the county cost of $113,226 for the entire Youth Bureau Department.
The Youth Bureau annually serves 24,674 county-wide and provides funding to every municipal recreation program in the county. That comes with a cost of $4.59 per youth served.
The Youth Bureau is one of 25 departments in county government and has the smallest and most transparent budget of all 25 departments.
What is impressive about this arm of county government are its performance outcomes and the number of recreation and youth development programs that it funds and provides fiscal and grants management to.
Grant writing skills of the department director have brought in over $531,287 for increased youth services without cost to the county taxpayer since 1998.
The department administers a quality summer youth employment & conservation education program called the Youth Conservation Corps and provides a number of youth training services during the school year.
Most alarming is the fact that if the Board of Legislators eliminates the Youth Bureau department then state funding earmarked for St. Lawrence County youth, through this department, will go back to state government in Albany. This doesn’t make good fiscal sense.
County legislators are not required to provide Youth Bureau services, but if the county wants to receive state taxpayer funding for recreation and youth prevention programs then the county is mandated to establish a Youth Bureau department with a director that is governed by mandated rules and procedures established in Title 9 of NYS Executive Law.
Molly Yandoh, Brasher Falls
