{"id":4616,"date":"2011-08-17T08:37:55","date_gmt":"2011-08-17T12:37:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=4616"},"modified":"2011-08-17T10:02:00","modified_gmt":"2011-08-17T14:02:00","slug":"morning-read-albanys-mixed-message-to-local-governments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2011\/08\/17\/morning-read-albanys-mixed-message-to-local-governments\/","title":{"rendered":"Morning Read: Albany’s mixed message to local governments"},"content":{"rendered":"

For months now, the Cuomo administration has been sending a couple of messages.\u00a0 One is “get lean.”<\/p>\n

Cuts in aid to local school districts and governments, combined with the property tax cap, and Governor Cuomo’s emphasis on mergers and shared services all send a pretty clear signal.<\/p>\n

But then come moments like this, reported this morning by the Plattsburgh Press Republican<\/a>:<\/p>\n

A state commission recommends that 16 to 18 officers be added at the Franklin County Jail to keep up with the increased inmate population.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hiring 16 to 18 people in Franklin County would be a very big deal, but as Legislator Billy Jones (D-Chateaugay) told the newspaper, it’s out of the question:<\/p>\n

“We can’t afford to hire 16 to 18 people. We can’t afford to hire one. I don’t know what we’re going to do, but the committee will talk about it Thursday.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Saranac Lake is also in the process of building a new $12 million dollar water system<\/a>, despite the fact that the current system has served without major problems or adverse health impacts for decades — all because of a state mandate.<\/p>\n

Solving the “unfunded mandates” issue is tough and thorny, but if the state keeps asking communities to do more, while cutting aid and eliminating the ability to raise taxes, it’s hard to see how communities can put the pieces together.<\/p>\n

What do you think?\u00a0 After decades of feuding and mixed messages, can Albany and local leaders sort out a shared agenda here?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For months now, the Cuomo administration has been sending a couple of messages.\u00a0 One is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[20],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4616"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4616"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4617,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4616\/revisions\/4617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}