Gov. Andrew Cuomo”™s Mandate Relief Redesign Team submitted its final report in which it proposes legislative measures that could save local governments and school districts $245 million annually.
Following the release prior to Christmas Day, members of the committee and other elected officials expressed mixed sentiments about the findings while agreeing that more discussion is needed in order to lessen the impact of unfunded mandates on municipalities.
The 27-member Mandate Relief Redesign Team, formed by executive order on Jan. 5, 2011, and composed of elected and appointed officials, business advocates and union representatives, was tasked with examining state legislation that requires local governments, school districts and other taxing entities to administer and fund mandated programs, with the goal being to identify redundancies and inefficient aspects of the requirements.
After meeting four times between March 1 and the end of May, the team submitted more than 70 proposals representing $370 million in mandate relief to the Cuomo administration and to the state Legislature.
However, the $125 million mandate relief package subsequently passed by the Legislature in concert with the tax cap was criticized by a number of elected officials throughout Westchester and other parts of the state for failing to adequately address rising pension and health care costs that municipalities and school districts are required to fund.
In its final report, the team targeted legislative measures that could save those local governments and school districts an additional $245 million if enacted.
The team”™s proposals will now be passed on to the Mandate Relief Council, which will be responsible for reviewing the Mandate Relief Redesign Team”™s findings and referring statutory and regulatory unfunded mandates to the Legislature and to the governor for modification or repeal.
Despite the fact that the Mandate Relief Council is scheduled to convene starting Jan. 15, no details regarding the council”™s makeup have been released as of press time, and Cuomo administration representatives who were reached were unable to provide any additional information.
Some of the opportunities for additional mandate relief detailed in the redesign team”™s final report include providing procurement flexibility, eliminating unnecessary paperwork, lessening highway and transportation costs, lowering public safety costs, easing the burden on local social service agencies and providing relief to schools.
Missing from the team”™s proposals, however, were some of the largest unfunded mandates.
“I think it”™s a beginning, but we also have to listen to the municipalities and school districts on what is a priority for them and I”™m not sure the report has done that sufficiently,” said state Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, who last fall introduced legislation calling for the state to assume the full burden for funding Medicaid.
William Mooney, president of the Westchester County Association and member of the redesign team, said the committee never had the opportunity to adequately address issues such as the rising costs of Medicaid and pension programs.
“It (the report) certainly is comprehensive, but the larger issues from my perspective still have to be addressed,” he said.
Due to the wide range of opinions held by the team members, state Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins said it would have been unrealistic to think that every item would get addressed in the final report.
“From the very first meeting it was very, very clear that this was not going to be a short process nor would it be an easy process because of the number of stakeholders at the table,” she said.
Stewart-Cousins said she was optimistic that the discussions would ultimately result in relief for local governments, but urged that the redesign team report is only “a starting point.”
