Carucci plan has 20 percent tax hike

A few things here. The fire department is over-staffed. There current contract was implemented when the population was higher. Everyone in Olean knows the population has been shrinking. A few years ago, the police dept. reduced its manpower. I think the public works dept has also done the same. The only other area is the fire dept and they haven't done anything. Sure they have a contract but if they were really public servants, they would act for the good of the public and not for the good of their own pocketbooks.

The workforce needs to shrink. As bad as it sounds, it's the truth.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is the connection between the city Auditor and Trans-Am, the local private ambulance service. The city Auditor's father owns Trans-Am. Carucci has stated that the auditor has gone thru the budget and looked for possible cuts. While I agree that the Fire dept. needs to be reduced, I am also skeptical if whether the person helping make reductions would also be benefitting her own family.

The whole city needs an overhaul, starting with the Mayor. He walked into a nightmare but I don't him improving things. Being a tough negotiator is one thing, but it seems as if he isn't willing to make suggestions. Still bothers me that he tried to give the city attorney a $10k raise last year while taxing the hell out of everyone.

Cost of living has increased, so I don't believe it's fair to freeze wages, but they can achieve more by becoming more efficient, and that involves reducing the number of staff.

There is no clear answer or direction for Olean but it is clear that they need new leadership. Carucci is nothing but a gloried taxi owner and glorified car wash owner. He has no clue how to interact with the general public and really doesn't know how to work within the community. He took over a terrible position and somehow managed to make it worse. The comedy council doesn't do much either to make things better.

Cut the fire dept., add volunteer services. The city is over-staffed for its population.

We need a city manager form of govt. Eliminates the local cronyism and the city would be run more like a business.