You will not find too many large private employers in any one place anymore. With that said, if you look at most states, a public municipality, entity or the state itself will frequently be the largest employer. I'm not saying that that is ideal, just speaking in numbers. More telling would be the ratio of municipal/state employees to total population, and comparing among states, counties, or cities. I don't have that data handy, but it would be interesting. Then we could perhaps draw conclusions from there, such as if government is maybe too big in one place and just the right size in another...or perhaps government is too big everywhere...that would be up to each persons ideals and beliefs I suppose.
How large the government is depends upon how much the plebs want the government to organize and think for them.......it seems we are so smart at making systems in this state that we forget where we started and why, and it becomes a cancer that we know nothing about again starting from the beginning..........
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
First published in print: Saturday, October 11, 2008
The world has changed. Our only choice involves adapting to survive or choosing not to survive. It is in this spirit I offer the following suggestions for cutting the cost of state government:
Do what has already been done in Utah — go to a four day work week. This action will allow the state to save a day of building energy costs and state employees to save commuting costs.
Every department in state institutions of higher education should be compelled to publish the starting salaries of its graduates. This change would result in "recreational" departments, and the institutions that allowed them, both to be downsized.
End state aid to local schools. We have charter schools because the public schools are not doing the job and at the same time state aid funds raises for teachers. That is absurd. What is driving this irresponsible behavior is that school boards have the ability to spend money that they do not have to obtain from their voters. Ending state aid to local education will lower the total cost of education.
The governor realizes the economic difficulties that are on the horizon and is trying to face them. To contain the state's problems we face the reality that we are in despite what it says about our past judgments.
Christopher Chichester’s Oct. 5 Viewpoint [“Governor, leaders too afraid of unions to cut state spending”] on cutting state spending is factually incorrect and lacks a basic understanding of the issues facing New York state. An article lamenting the power of public employee unions without knowing the size of the state work force is inexcusable. Mr. Chichester would have you believe the state work force accounts for a substantial amount of the state budget when in reality it accounts for less than 13 percent of the budget. He should know better. The governor he worked for trimmed the state work force considerably during his term in office. New York state’s budget problems are not spending problems. We did not wake up one day to discover spending had gone through the roof. We had a balanced budget based on projections of expenditures and revenues. Simply put, revenues are not meeting those projections. New York has been overly reliant on the so-called FIRE (Financial and Real Estate) sectors for too long. When those sectors suffer, New York suffers disproportionately. Now is the time to fix that problem. We need tax policy that is fair and just. Corporate loopholes should be closed and the wealthiest New Yorkers should pay their fair share. We need to end corporate welfare by refusing to continue wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on costly consultants and instead bring those jobs back in-house. We have proven this saves money, which is why the Legislature and the governor have agreed with us. Not because we are all powerful, because we are right. Discourse is important, but misguided opinions offer no real solutions. The Public Employees Federation union remains willing to discuss real solutions to our budget problems.
ARLEA IGOE Albany The writer is the secretary-treasurer of the Public Employees Federation union.
Arlea sounds like the treasurer of the PEF. Blaming everything on everything and everyone else. It would almost appear that Arlea is a bit angered at our state leaders for not planning properly for THEIR income/benefits. The heck with the rest.
Now I agree in part that the state has a love affair with spending at OUR expense. But come on Arlea...take some responsibility here. You say state employment accounts for only 13% of the state budget. Please show me that on paper!
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
We haven't heard too much more on what Paterson is doing. He clearly has told our 'statesmen' to cut spending. I would like to see the details on exactly WHERE and HOW they are planning to accomplish that.
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
State tax revenues stronger than expected Monday, October 20, 2008 The Associated Press
ALBANY — State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli reports New York still faces “potentially unprecedented deficits,” although personal income tax collections that rose more than 15 percent over the past six months helped shrink this year’s anticipated shortfall.
According to the comptroller’s office, business taxes dropped 13 percent compared to the same period last year, the growth in personal income taxes was beginning to fall off and year-end Wall Street bonuses are expected to drop significantly.
From April 1 to Sept. 30, general fund revenues rose $2.8 billion from the same period last year. DiNapoli praised steps by Gov. David Paterson and lawmakers to cut more state spending and urged “long-term solutions that don’t make an already bad situation catastrophic.”
Gov. David Paterson is beginning to sound like a broken record, warning about growing deficits every couple of months and asking the state Legislature to make more budget cuts. If it weren’t for the dire state of the U.S. economy and the meltdown on Wall Street, one might be inclined to dismiss Paterson as an alarmist. But it’s pretty clear he’s just trying to save the state from even more misery down the line. The situation calls desperately for a bipartisan commitment to making tens of billions of dollars worth of cuts over the next few years. But there’s been little sign of a willingness to cut anything in this business-as-usual election season. Paterson says the deficit for this year alone will be roughly $1.5 billion — $300 million more than was forecast in July. By the end of next year, when he anticipates 160,000 private-sector jobs will have been lost in the state and much smaller incomes for those who remain employed on Wall Street, it will have ballooned to $12.5 billion. And in the following two years, it will grow by yet another $33 billion. That’s assuming spending continues to grow as it has over the past 15 years, at double the rate of inflation. Paterson made his case for increased federal aid in Washington yesterday, and a big boost is surely necessary for New York as well as many other states victimized by the recession. But he would have a much easier time convincing the feds if he could show that New York was more serious about cutting spending, which has grown by roughly 40 percent over the last five years. While $1.2 billion was trimmed in a special session in August, legislative leaders still seem too interested in protecting sacred cows like school aid (which will account for roughly onethird of next year’s projected spending increase) and Medicaid. They also refuse to consider a tax hike on individuals earning over $1 million a year (while constantly nickel-and-diming middle- and low-income New Yorkers with higher fees). And then there is the school tax relief program known as STAR: It costs the state $5 billion a year but has failed to achieve its goal of reining in school taxes. So why not abandon it and pass a tax cap on school taxes instead? (The politically powerful school teachers union opposes it, that’s why.) According to an analysis in yesterday’s New York Times, next year’s projected deficit could be cut by more than half, to about $5.8 billion, if the state passed a no-growth budget. Holding the line for an additional two years would reduce the cumulative deficit from $47 billion to $11 billion. Given contractual commitments and debt service, a true zero-growth budget might not be possible, but if the state is to get a handle on this crisis, it needs to come as close to one as it can.
First published in print: Sunday, November 2, 2008
When the Legislature comes to town for another special session on Nov. 18, Gov. David Paterson wants lawmakers to come up with $2 billion in cuts to the current state budget.
That's a staggering, unprecedented amount to excise in mid-budget. But the governor made it clear to the Times Union editorial board on Friday that closing the gap on this year's now projected $1.5 billion shortfall because of the collapse of Wall Street, plus extracting another half billion to get a leg up, is only the beginning of a long downward spiral of a fiscal journey for New Yorkers that will take many years. We're looking at a black hole $47 billion deep over the next 3 1/2 years.
Paterson said that regardless of what we've heard from other government leaders on the subject, nothing is off the table in terms of actions needed to close the deficit.
Not layoffs of the state work force, not deep cuts to sacred cows like Medicaid and education. Revenues have fallen off the cliff. Something has to give. Lots of somethings. We don't know yet how bad it's going to be even for this year because the drop in fourth quarter taxes on capital gains and Wall Street bonuses, which represent 30 percent of state revenues for the period, remains unknown. But how can that news be anything but dismal?
Well, almost nothing is off the table. The governor said that for now he's ruling out any tax increases. For two reasons. One, any increase, even for the wealthy, will likely chase more people out of New York. He's loathe to do that for the long-term health of the state and because it's his opinion an increase would put New York in a bad position with the feds, whom he's petitioned for help in very specific areas. From upping Washington's share of the bill for Medicaid by 5 percent to paying for repairs to roads, bridges and wastewater treatment facilities.
"And we won't get through this without federal assistance," he said.
Clearly Governor Patterson came to our newspaper, as he will to many others I'm sure, to sound the alarm, spread the word, prepare the public for what's coming. And to gain allies for the inevitable wars ahead with the Legislature. To his great credit, he did a darned good job clanging the cymbal. He mentioned a recession as a given, and a depression as not a possibility to be ruled out. Startling concepts for sure.
But he said this crisis gives us a unique opportunity to fundamentally reshape state government, and finally come to grips in the budget process with our historical addiction to over-spending. We just don't have it to spend.
Nor did he soften the blow on the question of possible state layoffs, either.
"I'm not declaring there will be layoffs. That's certainly not a first choice," Paterson said. But he then went on to say without hesitation that in the past, when the state was as bad off as projections suggest it will be again, there were layoffs, a spike in the homeless on our streets and cuts in school aid during the middle of the year. In the time he was with us, he covered the waterfront in terms of bad news ahead. What he pointedly didn't do was attack or goad the Legislature, which would have been an easy target. "I need the Legislature," he answered when asked if he could accomplish the cuts to the budget unilaterally. So as a strategy, the governor is remaining serenely non-confrontational with legislators until the election is over, when, as he put it, "the poetry is no longer in motion." If he were to push them now for suggested cuts, he would get stupid stuff playing to special interests like Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos' prohibition on any cuts to education aid. Paterson dismissed the Skelos stance as election rhetoric, not to be taken too seriously. But, said Paterson, if Skelos takes the same position after Wednesday ...
What the governor learned when he got the legislative leaders together to discuss the budget cuts is that they want to be included from the beginning. So that's what he's doing, inviting them each to propose cuts.
"But I know in the end, the legislative leaders will have a hard time coming up with them," Paterson said. He's also aware that the state constitution makes it clear that the governor is responsible for introducing budget cuts, and he will be ready.
And the same applies whether the Senate stays Republican or becomes dominated by Democrats, he added. Because, either way, what has to be done doesn't change.
"Now is the time to put party differences aside and lead," Paterson noted.
A noble thought, certainly. But my guess is we are in for a battle royale over these cuts, and Governor Paterson wisely has decided to assure, with visits like ours, he has the public firmly in his corner. We'll see how that plays out.
Fred LeBrun can be reached at 454-5453 or by e-mail at flebrun@timesunion.com.
Paterson said. But he then went on to say without hesitation that in the past, when the state was as bad off as projections suggest it will be again, there were layoffs, a spike in the homeless on our streets and cuts in school aid during the middle of the year.
Quoted Text
He mentioned a recession as a given, and a depression as not a possibility to be ruled out. Startling concepts for sure.
This is why those at the DSS trough will be aggitated and will not know the difference between the county state or city......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
NY Senate won't act on governor's budget plan By VALERIE BAUMAN | Associated Press Writer November 12, 2008
ALBANY, N.Y. - The state's Republican Senate majority has apparently derailed Gov. David Paterson's plans to drastically cut spending in a special session next week by saying it won't act to close a budget gap without a more comprehensive approach.
"Before the Legislature acts, we need to see what the governor is proposing for next year," Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos said in a written statement. "These important decisions about New York's future cannot be made in a vacuum. ... We must not simply pass costs down to school districts and local governments and force them to raise taxes."
Although the Senate Republican majority will attend next week's special session called by Paterson, the Republicans appear unlikely to act on his cuts proposed Wednesday.
"The governor is giving us next year's budget piecemeal, and I think the governor should actually submit his entire budget next week," Skelos said, adding that he thought Paterson's budget proposal lacked creativity.
"It's just hack away, hack away," he said.
Skelos suggested that tax cuts, like those generated under former Gov. George Pataki, would better stimulate the economy.
Paterson introduced a proposal to save the state $5.2 billion in two years by controlling growth in spending across the board.
"You can't get around the fact that we have to cut spending," Paterson said, noting the years of overspending eliminates the option of simply trying to increase revenue.
Paterson called for a deep cut in the promised growth of school aid, tuition increases for public colleges, and warned that he can avoid state worker layoffs if unions agree to some concessions including deferring five days' pay and 3 percent raises for next year.
Paterson also said he wants to reduce local government aid to New York City by nearly 17 percent, but spare all other municipalities, at least in the current budget. The state's largest city would still get $205 million in what are known as Aid and Incentives to Municipalities payments.
"It's not fair," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "We pay in more than we get back, but that's the real world."
He said the state cuts to education will almost certainly hit the classroom.
"Keep in mind, we still have that $1.3 billion of our deficit to reduce," Bloomberg said, citing his own looming deficits. "We have already taken real cuts in education, trying to find ways to do more with less repeatedly over the last two or three years. Some other counties may not have, and they may have more fat in them than we have, but I certainly want to make sure we're not penalized for having done the right thing and been better stewards of the taxpayers' dollars."
"We're just asking them to share in what is a statewide sacrifice," Paterson said.
Leaders in the Republican-led Senate and Democrat-led Assembly didn't provide their own ideas for cuts as Paterson requested weeks ago. Republicans lost the majority in the Nov. 4 elections. Democrats will have a 32-30 majority on Jan. 1.
"When this (special) session occurs, the Republicans will have just six weeks left in the majority," said E.J. McMahon, director of the fiscally conservative Empire Center for New York State Policy. "And when those six weeks are up, that budget crisis becomes _ in Albany terms _ the Democrats' problem. Therefore, there is a big risk that they will leave it simply for Democrats to solve."
Senate Democratic Leader Malcolm Smith called Paterson's approach to budget cuts "prudent" and said he supports the governor's efforts.
"I disagree with my colleagues in the current Senate majority who suggest that the crisis is exaggerated," said Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver in a written statement. "If anything, the crisis is even greater than the governor projects and it will get worse before it gets better."
Paterson warned lobbyists and the Legislature that New York's fiscal situation will worsen if lawmakers fail to find places to cut.
"We might have to talk about cuts, straight cuts, zero growth," Paterson said. "That's a choice that advocates and legislators have to think about."
Paterson's proposal to eliminate billions of dollars in deficits calls for a 5 percent increase in aid to public schools, instead of a projected 9 percent. The proposal sent lobbyists and special interest groups reeling.
Teachers unions and other powerful public school interest groups warned that any midyear cut in aid would create fiscal chaos in local school districts and likely be passed on to taxpayers, who are already paying among the highest property taxes in the nation.
But Paterson said the changes he proposed in schools and many other areas weren't cutting the budget, but controlling how much it grows. The state's 700 school districts would still get a $585 million increase in state aid this fiscal year under his plan. Paterson also noted that school aid has risen at a historic pace in recent years and health care spending, which he also hopes to cut, is much higher than in most states.
State Budget Director Laura Anglin said school districts have about $941 million in reserves and about 80 percent of school districts have reserves greater than the amount of the proposed reductions.
Paterson also proposed a $600 _ or 14 percent increase _ in tuition at the State University of New York and a $600 increase at the City University of New York, a roughly 15 percent hike.
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