I just spoke with two North Country lawmakers who were in Albany for Governor Paterson’s speech.<\/p>\n
Assemblywoman Janet Duprey and state Senator Betty Little, both Republicans, offered qualified praise for the address, which drew more applause from GOP lawmakers than Democrats.<\/p>\n
But when it came to the massive $8 billion dollar budget deficit, both women downplayed the severity of cuts to North Country jobs and institutions.<\/p>\n
Duprey suggested that most of the budget cuts should be made downstate.<\/p>\n
Little acknowledged the likelihood of cuts to public schools and local government subsidies.<\/p>\n
But she suggested that the deficit could be narrowed largely by eliminating public land purchases and eliminating wasteful state bureaucracy.<\/p>\n
And she even proposed cutting taxes, a move that would boost the deficit even more, or require deeper spending cuts.<\/p>\n
Both indicated that the battle for funds between upstate and downstate communities will continue.<\/p>\n
Put bluntly, someone is wrong here. <\/p>\n
If the North Country’s delegation is right, we can keep on doing pretty much what we’re doing.<\/p>\n
That means public-sector jobs — paid for in large measure by taxpayers downstate — will continue as the foundation of our region’s economy.<\/p>\n
Five years from now, we’ll still have roughly the same number of school teachers, state troopers, snow plow drivers, DOT crews, etc.<\/p>\n
Or the Governor is right and this is a ‘winter of reckoning.’<\/p>\n
If so, the bill for all those jobs and services is just too high. His message: We can’t afford it. The pain will be severe.<\/p>\n
The pivot point for this debate will be the deficit number itself. If the economy perks up and that $8 billion gap shrinks significantly, the pressure will be off.<\/p>\n
Otherwise, it’s hard to see how the math works for business as usual.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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