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Buffalo Silver Alert

LOCKPORT— Sheriff James C. Voutour told the Niagara County Legislature Tuesday that his department has set up a Silver Alert system to find missing senior citizens, especially those with Alzheimer’s and other cognitive diseases.

In November, the County Legislature passed a law directing the Sheriff’s Office to create such a system.

Capt. Michael Filicetti, administrative captain of the Sheriff’s Office, told lawmakers the department plans to seek funding to buy bracelets containing Global Positioning System units for Alzheimer’s sufferers who are characterized as “frequent wanderers.” He said the units cost $250 apiece.

Voutour said there is no thought of seeking county funding for that purpose, but the department is looking for foundation and business donations.

The Sheriff’s Office also has signed up with the national program “A Child is Missing,” which is designed to trigger phone calls, thousands if necessary, to people who live near where a child or other missing person is being sought.

Filicetti said it would be used in conjunction with Amber Alert, a missing-child system that uses media bulletins and roadside lights. “It certainly doesn’t replace it,” he said.

Voutour said, “I don’t believe anybody in New York has as comprehensive a system.”

I. Kenneth Hamilton of Niagara Falls, a former member of the board of the Alzheimer’s Association’s Western New York chapter, praised the Sheriff’s Office’s response.

“They went much farther than we expected them to go,” said Hamilton, whose father died of Alzheimer’s.

Leilani Joven Pelletier, executive director of the Alzheimer’s Association, said three seniors in Erie County alone died in the past year because they wandered away from home. Two died of exposure, and the third was struck by a car.

Links for residents to sign up their family members for the programs are available by clicking on “Links” at the sheriff’s Web site, www.niagarasheriff.com . In other matters Tuesday, the Legislature marked school budget referendum day by passing a resolution asking the Assembly to pass a cap on school property tax increases. The State Senate passed a cap two years ago, when it was led by Republicans.

“I don’t know if this would pass the Senate again,” said Majority Leader Richard E. Updegrove, RLockport. Like the Assembly, the Senate now has a Democratic majority.

Updegrove said that the overwhelming majority of the total property tax bill is the school tax, while county tax levies have fallen four consecutive years.

The Legislature also passed a resolution demanding state pension fund relief.

The resolution said the state-mandated county contribution to the state public employees’ pension fund is expected to be $10 million for 2011.

Updegrove’s resolution demands that State Comptroller Thomas P. Di- Napoli, the sole trustee of the pension fund, either freeze the county’s contribution at the 2009 level or cap it at 2 percent of wages paid to county employees.

The expected $10 million figure for 2011 would be about 14 percent of total wages, and about 15 percent of the county property tax levy.