The truth about unfunded mandates

In all the rhetoric that gets tossed around about budget cutting and government waste, some of the most misleading stuff involves unfunded mandates.

It’s true that unfunded mandates are a disaster. They work like this: The state of New York demands that local governments, school districts, and other public entities provide a certain service.

At first, Albany promises to bear the cost, or at least pick up part of the tab. But over time, the share of cash that comes from the legislature slows to a trickle, or ceases altogether.

That leaves towns and counties burdened with big obligations and nowhere to go for the money except local property taxes.

Some of those mandates are silly, or excessive, or inappropriate for our rural area. Is reform needed? Absolutely.

But there’s another side of this coin, one that politicians don’t like to talk about.

Most of those unfunded mandates translate into high-paying jobs (at least by North Country standards) and important services.

High quality special education for kids? That’s an unfunded mandate. Mental health services for our neighbors. Same thing.

Here’s where reformers are right: Albany needs to give local communities more power and discretion to decide which of these services are essential, especially if locals are paying the costs.

But we can’t fool ourselves. If we cut these programs, we’ll be wiping out paychecks, and making life harder for some of our most vulnerable citizens.

Tough choices lie ahead. Albany has shown that it’s not very good at making them. Can counties, towns and school districts do better?