It was an atypical scene in White Plains: state and county lawmakers from both sides of the aisle standing close and exchanging pats on the back.
Indeed, the object of their nonpartisan desire was a weighty one: mandate relief. Freeing the county, all 62 counties to be exact, from that one tie that binds ”“ Medicaid ”“ and crushes the taxpayers.
The lawmakers joined in a press conference last week to support a state bill that would phase out the counties”™ mandated 50-percent share of the state”™s Medicaid costs over eight years. They called the measure an essential companion to the state”™s 2 percent cap on local real property taxes that Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed over the summer and which takes effect in 2012.
As reporter John Golden reports this week, “New York”™s 62 counties this year levied more than $7.3 billion in property taxes to cover their share of Medicaid costs ”¦ and that figure is projected to rise to $10 billion by 2025.”
In Westchester, the Medicaid payment to the state this year is $211 million ”“ 39 percent of the county property tax levy. That will only increase.
We agree the system needs fixing. We”™re resolute in our view that the state must relieve municipalities and school districts of financially lethal unfunded obligations.
But Medicaid relief has been talked about for decades. This latest plan is speculative. New York state is not in a financial position to absorb these costs.
Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, the bill”™s Assembly sponsor, said the state will cover the shifted costs through savings realized by the governor”™s Medicaid Redesign Team and by federal funds via the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Such an assumption we”™re not willing to make, so we”™ll reserve our enthusiasm.
It would be nice if it happens. Commercial and residential property owners in Westchester certainly could use some relief as, once again, the county gets the dubious distinction of having the highest property taxes in the nation.
Still, we remain skeptical.
