 While the state Senate played, “Who”™s got the key to the Senate chamber?” in Albany recently, elected officials closer to home are trying to make ends meet with Albany”™s growing mandates and its unwillingness to work as one state.
County Executives Edward Diana (Orange), Scott Vanderhoef (Rockland), Kathleen Jimino (Rensselaer) and Andrew Spano (Westchester) met at Dominican College in Orangeburg for its annual Palisades Institute county executives”™ forum.
New Yorkers are on the move, “voting with their feet,” said Jimino, whose county borders Vermont and Massachusetts, where those states”™ taxes and business incentives make them cheaper alternatives to the Empire State. “Albany keeps telling businesses and families to tighten their belts. Well, how come that isn”™t going on in Albany?”
With property taxes in New York reportedly 79 percent higher than any other state in the nation, county executives agreed that battling other states to retain current business or attract new ones is a daily challenge. “We literally lost a major business when Gov. Paterson announced he might be shutting down the Empire Zone,” said Vanderhoef. “Just hearing about it was enough to send them looking in New Jersey, where they have the same economic problems we face, but have programs in place to bring in business. If they can do it, why can”™t we?”
Spano, whose county is the only one in the state with a AAA bond rating, says Westchester has relied on its panache, but even that is wearing thin as county government continues to rein in spending to avoid passing costs along to taxpayers. “It”™s great that we can come together to have these discussions,” Spano said. “I have the same problems as my peers ”“ and I don”™t know how you solve them. Every day is an adventure. We can”™t depend on the federal government, or on Albany. The MTA payroll tax is going to cost $1.7 million for Westchester county government. If we keep cutting programs that are part of our quality of life, our biggest asset will be gone. I try not to think of this as a recession ”“ it is more of a transition. If we don”™t look at this situation as a transition, we are going to end up fixing the wrong things.”
Diana, who said Orange has been the fastest-growing county in the state for six of the past seven years, agreed, “People move to Orange for the quality of life. Every day we receive reports of the new challenges the country, state and counties are facing. We keep putting off the hard discussions hoping that the problems will solve themselves. It”™s not going to happen. Some unpopular choices are going to have to be made. I don”™t think any of my colleagues could have foreseen we”™d be facing this.”
Each county has formed a task force to deal with consolidation of services, putting in cost savings plans wherever possible and enacting hiring freezes for all but essential personnel. Yet, Medicaid makes up the bulk of each county”™s budget, along with unfunded mandates imposed by the state. “While the American Reinvestment Recovery Act has helped offset some of the costs of Medicaid, that funding will only last through 2010. What then?” asked Spano.
Consolidation of local police forces and municipal services, using the Internet to conference rather than travel and a new way to fund schools that won”™t break taxpayers”™ backs are either being implemented or studied, and some have been accomplished.
Some in the audience of 150 business owners and politicians suggested a need for a constitutional convention to give the state a makeover. “I have always spoken against a constitutional convention” said Spano, addressing Rockland County Legislator Harriet Cornell, “but now I”™m for it.”
But others disagreed, with Vanderhoef saying counties need to focus on one problem at a time and solve them one at a time, not get distracted by a laundry list of problems that are out of their control.
The MTA tax was a repetitive theme throughout the county executives”™ discussion, as were school property taxes. “For Rockland, the ”˜mobility tax”™ will cost our businesses $18 million. That”™s $18 million for a county where only 48 percent of the residents go out of county to work,” said Vanderhoef.
Jimino said the solution ultimately lies with the people of New York state. “Our children and grandchildren are going to end up paying our bills. People need to let government know they”™ve had enough.” One way to do that:“Vote,” said Jimino. “It”™s the only way we can let the politicians running Albany know we don”™t like the way they are doing business. It is run by three people who come from New York City ”“ they are out of touch with the needs of the rest of the state.”
