Somehow, someway...they WILL raise taxes. Be it on the millionaires or not....THEY WILL RAISE TAXES! I am so glad it is an election year, causeI will vote for the ones that cut spending. Not those who will continue to support or create these frivolous government programs.
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Paterson has stressed that the cuts are largely reductions in spending growth, but lawmakers -- all of whom are up for reelection in November -- are loathe to bring bad news home to their districts before Election Day.
This is not bad news...this will be GREAT NEWS!!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
CAPITOL Plan cuts nearly $2BLawmakers agree to slash spending over next two years BY VALERIE BAUMAN The Associated Press
New York’s Legislature and Gov. David Paterson agreed late Tuesday on a plan to cut state spending by nearly $2 billion over the next two fiscal years to trim looming deficits. Paterson said he believes a turning point of responsibility and courage to stand up to special interests has begun in Albany. “The winds of change have hit Albany,” Paterson told The Associated Press. “In the last three weeks, the Legislature has shown a metamorphosis,” Paterson said in the AP interview from his office in the Capitol. He noted that some lawmakers bristled at his unprecedented televised address to New Yorkers last month and criticized his comment that they were “on vacation” while billions of dollars in deficits deepened. The Senate was expected to return this morning to give final legislative approval of the deal struck late Tuesday night to cut $426 million from the current state budget, according to an official close to the negotiations who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The cumulative cuts over two years will be $1.7 billion, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the agreement hadn’t been made public. By the 2011-2012 fiscal year, the agreement will cut $2.35 billion in state spending in what appears to be unprecedented budget action during a fiscal year to create recurring savings. Paterson had targeted $600 million in cuts from the current $122 billion budget in the emergency economic session of the Legislature that he called. The cuts of less than 1 percent of the budget will essentially reduce the growth in spending approved in April. The state is still projected to face about $20 billion in deficits in the next three years because of a recession that is shrinking tax revenues, including those from Wall Street that provide about 20 percent of the state’s revenue. The deal was expected to include 6 percent cuts across the board in many areas of state spending. The bill would not cut basic school aid, but the City University of New York was expected to have as much as $50 million shaved from its budget. Paterson is cautiously optimistic the cuts will be enough to get New York through until the next budget, the official said. In March, Paterson got the Legislature to agree to cut $500 million from the budget presented by previous Gov. Eliot Spitzer. Paterson cut another $630 million from his state agencies this spring to close the state’s first defi cit this year. The deal includes a $50 million cut to porkbarrel spending — money that legislators can put toward projects in their home districts this legislative election year. The cuts will also include a cap on the rates of Medicaid reimbursement to hospitals. The move isn’t expected to deliver big savings in the current fiscal year, but the savings are estimated at $170 million each year after that. Paterson is also sweeping several executive funds, including extra money in the state’s wireless Internet project, although that project will continue. Cuts during the fiscal year and commitments to reduce spending in coming years are rare in Albany, where annual spending in recent years increased at two to three times the inflation rate. “I think it’s a start. They are recognizing there is a problem,” said Elizabeth Lynam, deputy research director of the Citizens Budget Commission, an independent fiscal and government watchdog group. But she said the Legislature and governor need to move beyond across-the-board cuts to make the biggest programs — education and Medicaid health care — more efficient and affordable. Paterson said lawmakers, long criticized as beholden to special interests led by public employee unions, stood up against the pressure this election year. He also said the special interests seem to have overplayed their hand by buying more than a $1 million in ads opposing his cuts and by withholding important union endorsements from lawmakers if they cut education or health care funding. Meanwhile, the halls of the Capitol were filled with chanting by people opposed to any cuts in their health care programs. People in wheelchairs also held a protest outside the governor’s office. Paterson also said his rising approval rating, as reflected in statewide polls, has helped give him the authority to force fiscal restraint on Albany, which for decades has been known for little of it. But he said he would have done it anyway because it was the right thing to do. “I am staking my own personal reputation and career on this,” Paterson said earlier in the long day. Also Tuesday, the Assembly voted 118-24 to pass a so-called circuit breaker meant to provide property tax relief to many homeowners statewide while raising almost $2.7 billion from new income taxes on 77,000 people earning more than $1 million annually. Assembly Majority Leader Ronald Canestrari, an Albany County Democrat, said 35,000 of those taxpayers live outside New York, and $910 million would help cut spending. The property tax relief would come as income tax credits. He acknowledged it’s a one-house bill, but said several Republicans crossed over to vote for it with the majority Democrats. The Republican-controlled Senate passed a measure to establish a constitutional limit on annual state spending increases of 4 percent.
Circuit breaker would be better for poorer schools than tax cap
It struck me as more than a little ironic that, just days after the state Senate approved the governor’s tax cap plan, the state announced that high school graduation rates are up. To me, that news indicates our students — and their schools — are headed in the right direction. Tax caps, no matter how well intentioned, are a gimmick and make no sense when our children are learning and graduating. Tax caps also concern me because they would seem to hurt poorer communities most. Poor districts — those that usually serve students of color — don’t have the resources to invest in their schools and would find it difficult, if not impossible, to override the cap imposed on them by some politicians in Albany. From what I’ve read, the circuit breaker is the way to go. I applaud lawmakers and organizations supporting that much fairer option. JULIET C. BENAQUISTO Schenectady The writer is president of the Schenectady Federation of Teachers.
Paterson has stressed that the cuts are largely reductions in spending growth, but lawmakers -- all of whom are up for reelection in November -- are loathe to bring bad news home to their districts before Election Day.
Why do we think Mr.Tonko--just happened to take a little vacation? He gets to blame everyone else.....my question to him would be----
YOU KNEW DIDN'T YOU---YOU ALL KNEW.....he was too weak to handle it or------he has 'other issues'......
he gets to show up on his 'white horse savior suit'.........pay attention sheeple----he doesn't put food on your table...he just leads you into his pasture......and it's not paradise either......some 'machine' is trying to keep him shiney for future use.......JMHO
To quote Yogi Berra, “It’s like déjà vu all over again.” New York’s small- and mediumsized businesses are about to be hit in the pocketbook once again [Aug. 17 Gazette}. Among the cost-cutting ideas being proposed to help ease New York’s budget woes is actually a tax increase. Specifically, it’s a proposal to increase the Covered Lives Assessment — a surcharge paid on every health insurance policy — by $120 million. This increase is on top of the $70 million increase that small businesses were hit with in the budget adopted in April and would put the total covered lives tax at more than $1 billion. While it may be seen as a way to help bridge the budget gap, an increase in the Covered Lives Assessment will exacerbate affordability issues for businesses already struggling to provide health insurance for their employees. To add insult to injury, not a penny of this tax on health insurance premiums goes to pay for added benefits or services. The real irony is this increased covered lives tax could ultimately make the cost of health care unaffordable and result in some businesses and their employees losing coverage altogether. I understand New York needs to deal with the budget deficit, and I understand that will require cuts in spending. However, the covered lives assessment proposal is not a cut; this proposal is a tax increase that unfairly impacts small businesses and their employees. New York lawmakers should reject it outright. JEFF LELAND Glen Falls The writer is chairman for the Employer Alliance for Affordable Health Care.
Local aid is largely spared State budget cuts will hurt counties running homes BY STEPHEN WILLIAMS Gazette Reporter
This week’s state budget deal avoided cutting most local aid to address the state’s financial troubles, but local officials aren’t resting easy. Counties such as Saratoga and Schenectady that run their own nursing homes will be losing millions more dollars due to new cuts in Medicaid reimbursements — and they will have to find that money elsewhere. The 6 percent local aid cut Gov. David Paterson had suggested was approved in the emergency legislative session held Tuesday and Wednesday in Albany, but the biggest aid categories, like school aid, welfare and mandated services, were exempted. Paterson’s office estimates the approved local aid cuts will Share your save $97 million this year. Still, thoughts on future cuts remain a distinct this story at possibility. “What we tried to do, as much as we could, is not make cuts that affect people’s lives,” said Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, R-Schenectady. The state is trying to deal with a projected $5.4 billion deficit caused by falling state revenues due to the struggling economy. The budget deal cut $427 million from this year’s state budget and more than $600 million from next year’s budget. But more reductions are likely, Tedisco said. “The governor has it right. We are in crisis mode,” he said. Paterson on Thursday separately ordered state agencies to slash $630 million, an across-the-board 7 percent from their operating budgets, with $168 million to come from the state prison system. Department of Correctional Services spokesman Erik Kriss said that goal will be met, but how won’t be revealed until the state budget division reviews the plans. He couldn’t say whether closure of Camp Mc-Gregor in Wilton would be considered again, as it was earlier this year. “Keep in mind we proposed closing it in January, and the Legislature and governor chose to restore the funding,” Kriss said. For the special session, groups like the New York State Association of Counties and state Conference of Mayors made cases to legislators against reducing local aid. “We took our message to them that if you cut aid, you’re only creating a budget gap at the county level,” said Mark LaVigne, a spokesman for the Association of Counties in Albany. Individual municipalities, like the city of Schenectady, also made their cases for not facing cuts now. Schenectady was threatened with losing $720,000 from its expected $11.8 million in municipal aid, said Mayor Brian U. Stratton. “We vigorously opposed that, and we immediately wrote letters to Assemblyman Tedisco, Sen. [Hugh] Farley, Gov. Paterson and legislative leaders saying a reduction in state aid would more than likely have an impact on city services and quite likely also result in a tax increase,” Stratton said. Indirectly, though, Stratton said the city could lose out if cuts to Medicaid reimbursements and other special programs hurt Schenectady County, forcing the county to reduce cooperative assistance to the city. “The county has partnered with us on a number of programs, and it already faced a serious financial situation,” Stratton said. Schenectady County already subsidizes the Glendale Home nursing home in Glenville to the tune of about $7 million annually and will be losing more due to the new cuts to Medicaid, which reimburses costs for the care of poor nursing home patients. In Saratoga County, the Maplewood Manor nursing home in Ballston Spa was already foreseen to be losing $6 million this year, requiring it to receive a subsidy from local taxpayers. The new Medicaid cuts appear to mean another $900,000 reduction this year and $3.9 million next year, said county management analyst Spencer Hellwig. “There’s no doubt any loss in state aid is going to have an impact. Next year is a lot scarier,” Hellwig said. “This is something that’s going to have an impact on everyone in Saratoga County.” Counties without nursing homes are waiting apprehensively for more details. “We’re basically sitting and waiting,” said Montgomery County Board of Supervisors Chairman Vito Greco, R-Amsterdam. “My only concern is that they don’t come back and make cuts in mandated services. They’ll be hurting local communities.” Tedisco said there’s no question that more cuts are going to have to be considered as the state’s fiscal crisis continues. “We cut three-tenths of one percent from the budget, but the symbolism of it is significant,” Tedisco said. “We don’t want to cut to the bone all at once, but I think over time, the situation has to be stabilized.” This time, the Legislature didn’t make cuts in aid for the various local services it mandates, like probation, aging services, mental health care and social services. But the argument that cutting state aid will simply force counties and other municipalities to increase their property taxes is likely to become a familiar one in future state budget deliberations. “In next year’s budget, we’re going to have to make the case again,” said Peter A. Baynes, executive director of the state Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials. “When you look at a city like Schenectady, they’ve cut as close to the bone as they can, and state aid is a major part of their revenue,” Baynes said. Stratton makes the argument that Schenectady is shortchanged compared to cities of similar size, like Utica, which receives $17 million in state aid. But he acknowledged that that argument may not go anywhere. “We’re going to have to work to maintain the status quo,” he said.
It looks like Schenectady city/county will have to start cutting out some of their un-necessary spending but I fear that they'll just raise our taxes even higher than they are now.
CAPITOL Paterson budget cut was big gamble Analysis BY MICHAEL GORMLEY The Associated Press
ALBANY — Gov. David Paterson walked into the office used by New York governors since FDR, strode past the dark wooden desk big as a Buick hood and sat down at a straight-back chair. He laughed and said that when he was a senator, governors sat behind the desk to make the point that they were calling the shots. But on Tuesday morning, it was clear that Paterson was calling the shots. By the end of the day, the Democrat from Harlem would lead the Legislature to $1.7 billion in budget cuts over this and the coming fiscal year. The spending cuts were enacted despite a massive lobbying effort by interest groups and a long history of gridlock in Albany. It might be premature to declare a new era for a legislature deemed the most dysfunctional in America. After all, the cuts total just 1 percent of spending and represent only a reduction in the nearly 5 percent growth in spending over last year. That they did it at all, though, is significant. Proof was provided by the special interest groups. Powerful lobbies led by the New York State United Teachers union and other public worker unions were screaming. They used more than $1 million in TV ads to turn up the volume to protect their funding. But it turns out Paterson’s big play on Tuesday was a safer bet than it appeared. Paterson had hedged his bet in just five months on the job after taking over from the combative Gov. Eliot Spitzer. Three times — in March, in July and this week — Paterson built his case publicly, showing defi - cits were dragging the state down. The Legislature was invited to help avoid a sinking. In the end, Paterson used the only force powerful enough to move the Legislature — itself. The Legislature as a whole was boxed into acting or answering embarrassing questions when the deficits deepened in the October fiscal report, right around election time. Paterson had also brought in the legislative leaders — Republican Sen. Dean Skelos and Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver — as full partners, not obstacles to roll over. And to their credit, Skelos and Silver listened. And despite all odds, they acted against special interests, including the New York State AFL-CIO and NYSUT, which withheld political endorsements until the votes were cast this week. Hours before Paterson knew if his big gamble would pay off, he said in an interview with The Associated Press in his offi ce that he was confident in the cards he held. “If they don’t do something significant, they are going to embarrass themselves,” Paterson said. “The foreboding economic forecasts are going to make it clear that I was right,” Paterson said. “That would be far more devastating than insulting them ... my message banging them over the head will be worse than any TV ad.” Paterson, a 20-year veteran of the Senate, also knew something else: Although the Legislature is the public’s longtime bane and punch line, it is constituted of many legislators who are smart, savvy, and worthy of respect who want to do the right thing. “Editorial boards say, ‘Get tough with the Legislature.’ It’s almost like we’re in the Old West. “What are we going to do? Shoot them? Lasso them? Tie them up? The way you get tough with the Legislature, which I guess is what I’m doing, is laying out the hard reality, not disguising it, be very transparent — tell them what needs to be done, even if it’s in an election year, even if it’s in August, even if people have primaries, and seeing whether or not they will respond. “They are responding, they know that this is real and their response is going to win them huge praise from the same public, so that’s the way you can work around being out-financed” by special interests. Being an increasingly popular governor helps. “It spurs me to work harder,” he said, but added: “In the end, even if the polls had been down, I think this is the right thing to do. I’m staking my own personal reputation and, basically, my career on it.”
Re Aug. 13 article, “Backs stiffening to budget restraints”: It was stated in the article that the New York State United Teachers union (NYSUT) would deny its endorsements for any state legislators, and presumably the governor, who supported a 4 percent cap on property tax increases. I myself am educated to the post-graduate level and have high regard for teachers and their profession. I feel that of all groups in society, they are probably the least greedy or selfish. It is unknown what percentage of teachers would actually approve the very threatening posture of their union leaders, whose profession seems related to intimidation. Lobbying to secure one’s livelihood is certainly acceptable. Perhaps, asking the Legislature to consider redirection of funds to education would be appropriate; but pressure and threats to promote increased taxes, or worse yet, increasing the state’s debt during a severe economic downturn, is outrageous and irresponsible. I believe that Gov. Paterson is acting in a most nonpolitical fashion by forthrightly and courageously addressing the state’s economic problems. In contrast to the teachers union management, he is considering the general needs of the citizens of New York, rather than his own political future. This is in sharp contrast to Mr. Silver, speaker of the Assembly, who, in fact, acts like the union leader of the Democrats. In summary, the overall welfare of society has been badly neglected, not only by the elected government, but also by the people who vote for it. Further attempts to intimidate decent government should be regarded appropriately. LYLE W. BARLYN Niskayuna
For all the money NYSUT [New York State United Teachers] spent on their recent lies on television against Gov. Paterson’s property tax cap, I’d like to point out something that Massachusetts has that New York doesn’t — low property taxes! While vacationing on Cape Cod this past summer I noticed a wonderful home that I was interested in. At $640,000 I was taken aback that the taxes on this home were $1,100 less than my modest home in the Stockade section of Schenectady. Why is this? Is it because property owners in Massachusetts aren’t held hostage by a dysfunctional pay system for school taxes. And yet, NYSUT goes out of its way to prove otherwise. Please. Get a life, NYSUT. No wonder New Yorkers are leaving in droves, never to return again. Let’s rein in the out-of-control spending practices of the state’s school districts. Support property tax relief. That will shut up NYSUT for good. GERALD PLANT Schenectady
If I were elected to Congress or the Senate, one of the first things I would do is get rid of things like this, that are unconstitutional. The entire Department of Education would get the pink slip.
By the way, I think Paterson should have his own thread. It seems disrespectful to partner him with a bum like Spitzer. Although, I guess he partnered himself with Spitzer years ago when he ran with him. So far he has proven to be forthright, honest, and hard working.
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