Hayseeds No. 203

More Cows, Fewer Legislators.

Just in case you were wondering like I was (from a discussion at work), there are more cows in our county then there are people in any one Albany County Legislative district. That of course figuring that our county has a grand total of 3 or 4 working dairy farms.

Let's do the math. The county legislature spends $2.4 million dollars per year in expenses, or about $8.40 for each man women and child in the county. That seems somewhat reasonable. There are 39 legislators in our county, more then any other county outside of New York City, and they are paid $20,298. They of course figure the Majority and Minority Leader should get $26,386 and $23,897 respectively.

Nice work for a part-time job representing 8,261 people per district. In contrast Clinton County/Plattsburgh has 11,414 people per district. Monroe County/Rochester has 25,288 people per district. That's a few more constituents to reach out there.

So we here in Albany County spend a lot of money on the legislature. And does that attract the best and the brightest, and inspire competitive races? Well no (except maybe for the great Sandy Gordon).