Big questions for Gov. Andrew Cuomo, big cuts for the North Country
by Brian Mann on January 4th, 2011
For better or worse, Governor Andrew Cuomo has adopted an essentially Republican philosophy as he takes the reins in Albany.
That means no new taxes and it even means rolling back a surcharge tax levied on millionaires beginning in 2009, according to an interview he gave to the New York Post’s Fred Dicker.
“My point is: What has been the knee-jerk response in New York? ‘Well, expenses will continue to go up, but we’ll raise taxes.’ Those days are over.”
Even before cutting taxes for New York’s wealthy, New York faced a $10 billion deficit. This approach will make the needed cuts even more vast.
Cuomo is also expected to unveil plans for a 2% annual cap on local property tax increases when he gives first his state of the state address tomorrow.
In a year when some counties and school districts in the North Country hiked their taxes by double-digit percentages, the squeeze on government services and jobs that would result from a cap is pretty obvious.
So my hope for tomorrow’s speech is pretty simple: I want Gov. Cuomo not just to talk about revenue cuts. After all, cutting taxes is the easy part.
The heavy lift will be the vast cuts in government services and employment that will follow.
As funds from Albany have dried up, local governments have already been scrambling to continue paying for basic programs, from hiring school teachers to maintaining nursing homes.
The property tax cap will make that all but impossible. Major programs will have to go. So we need the Governor to lay out in clear, unambiguous terms which programs he expects counties to cut.
The same is true for state agencies. Which prisons will close? How will the state continue to fund ORDA? Will we still have the same level of state police protection in our rural area?
What will happen to the Sunmount facility in Tupper Lake? And if it closes, or is downsized, who will care for the mentally ill patients who live there?
I think it’s also fair to ask why the “emergency” Governor Cuomo has described — and the shared sacrifice he’s calling for — doesn’t extend to the wealthiest New Yorkers.
If thousands of teachers and government workers are going to lose their jobs, and thousands more see their wages frozen, while crucial services for the public are being cut — isn’t there a role here for the affluent who are doing very well in the current economy?
Finally, if Governor Cuomo has accepted the Republican idea that sudden, drastic cuts in government jobs won’t severely damage the economy, we need him to explain those views.
Communities from Lake Placid to Ogdensburg to Malone that rely on state dollars will be waiting anxiously to hear how the new governor’s vision will affect their future.
Tags: economy, nys budget, politics
The Young Prince will have an interesting ride. While I have little faith in his ability to actually improve things in NYS, I will be interested to see how his relationship with the Legislature works out.
This should be fun. Who’s up for popcorn?
This is one of those “be careful what you wish for” episodes.
“For better or worse, Governor Andrew Cuomo has adopted an essentially Republican philosophy as he takes the reins in Albany.”
What would be a Democratic philosophy for addressing an unsustainable debt in NYS?
The wage freeze is pretty meaningless as far as actually addressing our deficit problems. $600M over three years when the deficits will run $40 billion is pretty insignificant. Furthermore, it may take a year or more for the various labor contracts to be resolved–during which time there will be no increases in salaries for many state workers, anyway. And when they are resolved, chances there will be a year or two of no increases. It happened before. If a local school district, county or town feels it can afford to raise salaries, shouldn’t they be able to do that under home rule? If Cuomo isn’t going to raise taxes, he isn’t serious about cutting he deficit. Frankly, I don’t like taxes any more than anyone else, but much of what is going to be cut is going to be in areas that are simply paying the bills. For schools, roads, home health care, raise, law enforcement, etc. may taxes.
typo. should read in last line. law enforcement, etc., raise my taxes.
Mervel –
I’m referring to Cuomo’s conclusion that raising taxes, even in this fiscal emergency, is off the table.
During Paterson’s time in office, he cut state government dramatically, but he also raised taxes and fees in an effort to close the gap.
I’d call that sort of a middle-ground approach.
There are, of course, some in the Democratic Party who would like to solve the problem entirely with tax increases.
–Brian, NCPR
“As funds from Albany have dried up, local governments have already been scrambling to continue paying for basic programs, from hiring school teachers to maintaining nursing homes.”
Really?
I don’t see it; St. Lawrence County just passed pay raises for all county employees, no layoffs either. I have seen no teacher layoffs at local schools, I don’t see any scrambling with the exception of nursing homes, but even here I have seen no layoffs in this county at nursing homes either. None of the prisons were closed, I am not really buying the idea that government has gone through any sort of real downsizing or scrambling yet, it looks like all noise to me. In fact actual expenditures to government increased this year not decreased.
Look at some other counties and school districts, Mervel. Plenty of downsizing. Also, you say there have been no school layoffs in SLC, but have there been early retirements? Have they filled all vacant positions? That’s also been happening in other places up here.
Don’t bank on cuts to ORDA. Andrew won’t negatively impact an organization that his dad started.
If memory serves me correctly, the SLC government had 95 retirements. There may be more pain in next year’s county budget.
I think when comparing SLC to others you have to start with the knowledge that the County Board of Legislators are all aliens from the planet Xernok 4.
Cuts?
Apparently Dinapoli has just hired is old pal Pete Grannis as his number two man (a $165,000 a year position) and moved the deputy down to a new position (a $162,000 a year position, “senior policy adviser” AKA no real job). This is the same Pete Grannis that was just fired by NYS? Only in a state position could you go from being fired to something like this. He is an attorney, does he have a background in finance, why is he qualified?
Maybe “big cuts” up north but not in Albany.
http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/page/content.detail/id/522224/Comptroller-hires-ex-DEC-head-Grannis.html?nav=5046
“I think it’s also fair to ask why the “emergency” Governor Cuomo has described — and the shared sacrifice he’s calling for — doesn’t extend to the wealthiest New Yorkers.”
A little perspective is needed. NY has the highest tax burden in the nation and recently raised taxes on the wealthy. Cuomo isn’t proposing cutting taxes for the wealthy, but rather letting the tax expire next year. We, once again, will lose 2 Congressional seats, no doubt partly due to high taxes. State spending- including federal funds- has gone up by 12 billion over the past 2 years. You seem to think that tax increases are necessary, but 49 other states have been able to operate with taxes lower than ours. What are they doing that we aren’t and why can’t we do what they are? It’s a simple, simple solution to the problem.
Also state prisons should be as efficient as possible with underutilized prisons being closed. ORDA should probably be at least partially privatized so that it can operate more efficiently and generate its own revenue as ski slopes and tourist businesses across the country are able to do.
Moreover, a main cause of the deficit is rising expenses. Currently, government employees do not have to contribute a dime to their pensions once they have 10 years of service. Why not require all employees to contribute to their pension so that taxpayers aren’t socked with skyrocketing pension costs?
On the property tax cap, I admit I’m skeptical given my belief in local control and home rule. Pension and mandate reform seem a much better approach to lowering property taxes.
“Currently, government employees do not have to contribute a dime to their pensions once they have 10 years of service.”
I am sure the new deputy comptroller can use his past service to insure that he can keep as much of his 165K as possible.
This pension policy is ridiculous. No wonder this state is going down the tubes. I read an article this morning that one employee (a “treatment assistant at a psych hospital” collected $106,000 in overtime pay above their base salary in 2010 alone. More than 2 dozen workers took home over $75,000 in overtime pay. I can see why these guys don’t want to have their boat rocked.
To clarify that was 75K each.
It is important to remember that not all government employees get a pension, but have a 403 acct. with no fixed or guaranteed income. Why should those people be contributing to the pension fund, anyway? For those who do receive a pension, I suspect that the 3% contribution will be restored during the upcoming negotiations. Everyone is troubled by the stories of abuse of the system, and those are the ones that get all the attention. For everyone one of those, there are 100 secretaries or cleaners who receive something far more modest.
We are in a bizarre situation. We have the highest combined tax burden in the nation or close to it and we also have a high income disparity between the top 20% and the bottom 20%.
I honestly just don’t see any real sense of urgency at the local level or state level as far as actual cutting total government spending goes. What happens is we all pick out individual programs that we may like or dislike and say a ha, pensions to high or we have to many prisons or we spend to much on land etc and focus on that. That won’t solve the basic math of our deficit. You will probably need to say every sector of government needs to shrink by some percentage and then go from there.
I think in the end after all of this talk we will borrow substantially more and hold spending increases down a little and keep taxes the same. That is my New Year prediction.
Mervel,
Across the board cuts are the ticket. But also complete elimination of unnecessary programs is the ticket to long term fiscal discipline.
It is beyond me why anyone would even bring up the actions of the Board of Legislators in St. Lawrence County. Those folks JUST DON’T GET IT!
I brought them up because I find it fascinating that on the day we have our governor talking about austerity and fiscal restraint we also have this article:
http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20110104/NEWS05/301049934
“A new slate of St. Lawrence County legislators started off their year Monday night by approving pay hikes to management staff and other non-union county employees over the objection of a few lawmakers who argued against the increases.”
“The salary hikes provide a 4 percent increase, plus $500, for 2009; 4.25 percent hike for 2010 and 2.5 percent raises for 2011.”
Over and over we see this across the board in our state and local governments. I don’t think this group is that odd in our state. We hear about a so called fiscal crisis on one hand and then we get the status quo raises on the other. Even the governor’s pay freeze is pretty weak; does it include a benefits freeze for example? But who cares about the individual freezes and so forth, will the actual spending in total go down or at least not go up for the year, that is the only number that really matters.
I don’t think our state is serious about this whole thing.
http://northcountrynow.com/news/scozzafava-tapped-cuomo-state-job-017878
“Former North Country Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava will serve as Deputy Secretary for Local Government at the Department of State, according to an announcement of appointments to state government from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office.”
Ok, any state that fills a position called “Deputy Secretary for Local Government at the Department of State,” is NOT serious about budget reform. How many other states who are fiscally responsible have this position?
I thought the Department of State conducted foreign policy. NY doesn’t conduct foreign policy, so why does it have a DoS?
http://www.dos.state.ny.us/about/aboutus.html
They help.
I looked at the DoS website, which includes the Division of Licensing Services.
You actually need a license to practice “Nail Specialty.”
It gets better: “A Nail Specialty license will not permit you to operate a business; a separate business application must be completed and a separate business license obtained.”
http://www.dos.state.ny.us/forms/licensing/1322-a.pdf
I think this state has too much government.
Thing I forgot to mention regarding nail painting, you have to take a physical- something that could potentially violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, complete 250 hours of training, take a written examination, and a practical examination- which is not currently administered in the the North Country, so you’ll have to drive to Albany or Syracuse.
Similar requirements exist for waxing, esthetics, coin processing etc. Can someone- especially someone who thinks the problem is insufficient revenue and not excessive spending- tell me why is state government involved in this foolishness?
Now the thing is scratchy one of the functions of the Department of State for New York State is to help people negotiate the laws and regulations needed to operate businesses in NYS. So you see because of the complexity and burden of our state government we need MORE government in fact a whole department to help people who want to do business here.
They actually have inspectors who go out and inspect barber shops all over the state including way up here to make sure they are following all of those regulations you mentioned above, this is critical state business. The cost of one day of work for an Albany inspector (who would get a full pension mind you when he or she retires at 55) would equal the revenue of a barber shop for an entire month.
Now the inspectors above are NOT part of the business or license procedure they fall under the Department of Health another whole department worried about what is going on in this state. This stuff is so strange we couldn’t make it up.
iTS LONG OVERDUE, CUTS IN GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS! LAW ENFORCEMENT, IN THE PAST SIX MONTHS HAS BEEN AN ALL OUT ATTACK ON THE LOCAL CITIZENS, STATE POLICE HIDING JUST OF THE ROADS AND TICKETING FOR MINOR INFRACTIONS, YES THIS IS A MAJOR SOURCE OF ADDITIONAL INCOME FOR THE STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. VERY HIGH FINES, SURCHARGES, AND MONEY IS FLOWING AND HELPING TO JUSTIFY THE STATE POLICE STAFFING WHICH NEEDS TO BE CUT! THIS IS JUST ONE EXAMPLE OF GOVERNMENT WASTE AND ABUSE. ONE OF THE LOCAL PAPERS SHOULD HAVE A FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST TO SEE THE FINES LEVIED RECENTLY, WOW!
To tell the truth, I have no idea what should be done.
I’m sure everyone wants cuts as long as the cuts don’t affect them.
I’m sure everyone wants more from the state and local government if it will benefit them.
This is how things have worked and will continue to work.
Let the yelling and finger pointing begin.
Uh, FYI, the fine schedule is determined by the Legislature IIRC. It’s not the NYSP, Sheriff, courts, etc. that determine that. Surcharges are the same I think or perhaps determined by the NYS Court system. The cops have zilch to do with it.
Pete, no yelling and finger pointing here. We’re all going to get hit, some more than others. It’s just really tough to see people talking about leaving the elderly out in the cold (I thought it was Republicans that wanted to starve old people and children?) while supporting land purchases and PORK.
I agree Brain revenue cuts alone are great but now cut spending. YES!
Just remember tax money originates with the people. It is our money first. The point should not be how we fund government but how it should be contained. We as a people need to have faith in our own abilities to manage our lives AND the environment in which we live. We do not need government to save us from ourselves. We should revel in our liberty and cherish it. Cut programs. Cut entitlements. We can do this as a matter of fact we should embrace it and welcome it.