Morning Read: State agencies blocking mandate reform?
Asked about mandate reform, state Senator Betty Little told the Glens Falls Post Star that “state regulators not lawmakers” are holding up the process in Albany.
According to the newspaper, local government leaders are increasingly impatient, as the 2 percent property tax cap kicks in, squeezing towns and counties.
“Albany has the will to go through with it,” Little said of the state Legislature. “But the big thing is, can we push it through the agencies?”
The Mandate Relief Committee hasn’t convened for months. Little has been appointed to a new mandate relief council that will issue more specific relief recommendations to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
But town budgets are due in about a month and the counties will follow shortly after.
Strapped by the tax cap and bound by state mandates, local officials are getting restless.
“The governor lied to us. He said he’d do something about the mandates, but that’s never going to happen,” said Hague Supervisor Dan Belden.
According to the Post Star, Hague is one of two towns in Warren County moving to override the tax cap. So what do you think? Did Albany do things backwards by capping taxes without first figuring out what parts of government to cut?
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I believe this is called putting the cart before the horse! Of course everyone knows the tax cap was a move by Andy to get elected. I would suggest Andy deal with the agencies the same way he deals with unions!
The law provides for the municipalities to over-ride the 2% cap. If it hadn’t been done in this order, I don’t think that we would be having the same discussions about fiscal responsibility. Is mandate reform needed? Absolutely. However, the process of over-riding the cap is exposing more than just the heavy burden that the mandates place upon the municipalities.
I’m shocked that agency bureaucrats would hold up reforming a process that ensures there jobs and “turf.” Just shocked!
As suggested above, if the typically union exempt supervisors and/or political patronage agency heads can’t read the writing on the wall and refuse to play ball, get rid of them! Be as firm with them as with the union employees.
Sen. Little is wrong. If regulators are holding up LEGISLATION, then LEGISLATORS do NOT have the will to pass it.
I said at the time that the tax cap could work if it was TWINNED with mandate relief, but would be a disaster if it weren’t. Even fiscally conservative town supervisors in places like northern Warren County realize that it’s not courageous, but cowardly.
To Sen. Little: Name an agency or five that’s holding up relief, and how they’re doing it. It will give you more credibility. Right now, and maybe it’s not her fault, but this story is really unclear as to what she’s specifically talking about.
Yeah in my experience I believe that it is true what Little is saying, but she does indeed need to name the specific agencies and people involved.