Budget crisis in Albany mean work grinds to a halt in North Country

A couple of weeks ago, North Country Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward warned in an NCPR interview that the short-term spending bills now keeping state government working don’t include funds for construction projects.

She cited the example of a Ticonderoga company doing work on the Northway.

The work was continuing, Sayward said, but only because the company was eating into its own reserves, while waiting for the state checks to arrive.

Now the Plattsburgh Press-Republican is reporting that one North Country firm has suspended work on the Tom Miller road bridge — which runs above the Northway — until the money starts to flow again.

Payments to Luck Brothers and many other contractors around the state ceased on April 1 as the state budget became officially late.

Assemblywoman Janet Duprey (R-Peru) said that withholding payments to contractors makes no sense.

“The money has already been borrowed and is there. These contracts have been signed, and work is going on, and there is no reason why the governor (David Paterson) won’t let this money flow.”

As North Country lawmakers point out, the summer construction and road-building season is short.  This is also a time when laying off construction workers does no favors for the regional economy.

Governor David Paterson has refused to include the contractor money, as part of an effort to leverage spending concessions out of the legislature and the public employee unions.

He also wants to furlough tens of thousands of state workers, sending them home one day a week without pay.

The legislature’s response?  They, too, ground to a halt — packing their bags on Wednesday and heading home for the weekend without a budget agreement in place.