There was an interesting debate during a recent Chautauqua County Legislature meeting over the county’s ever-escalating safety net program costs.

Lawmakers delayed a vote in June on a resolution that would have spent a $2.8 million from the county’s surplus to pay for safety net costs that are coming in much higher than the amounts budgeted for when the legislature approved the 2026 budget.

According to the county’s website, Safety Net Assistance is for individuals who are not eligible for other assistance programs. It is a state- and local-funded program for: Single adults; childless couples; children living with a caretaker other than a parent; families of persons abusing drugs or alcohol; families of persons refusing drug alcohol screening, assessment, or treatment; people who have exceeded the 60-month limit on assistance; non-citizens who are eligible for temporary assistance, but who are not eligible for federal reimbursement.

There was debate over whether or not to pay the bill from the surplus or to make mid-year cuts to the 2026 budget. And, County Executive PJ Wendel took aim at what he termed overly generous safety net benefits set at the state level, with too much of the bill passed on to counties.

In our opinion two things can be true at the same time. We can’t disagree with Wendel’s statement. The state has a tendency to be overly generous with your money. It’s a system that needs to be reformed not just in regards to the benefits the state requires to be provided but also ways to support decreasing the number of people receiving safety net assistance in the first place. This has been a problem for at least two years, and precious little has been done to stem the tide of increasing safety net usage.

But the state’s largesse isn’t really at issue here in Chautauqua County. How to pay for the state’s largesse is what’s at issue.

Wendel and county lawmakers included an extra $1 million in the 2026 county budget in an attempt to stave off the use of the county’s surplus for safety net programs as it has in the past few years. The $1 million wasn’t enough. But before the county simply grabs another $2.8 million from the county surplus to balance the safety net budget, department heads should see how much they can trim from the rest of their budgets for this year. Republicans have been highly protective of the county surplus over the past couple of years. They should protect it now by trying to whittle the $2.8 million needed for safety net programs down to something more manageable before raiding the surplus.