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Gov. Andrew Cuomo may be admired by business leaders for his no-holds-barred approach to getting an on-time budget passed in New York state, but to county executives obliged to pay the piper, the devil in the details has some long, pointed horns.
Before a packed house of bankers, insurers, CEOs, attorneys and financial planners, county executives from Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Ulster, Dutchess, Westchester, along with the Columbia County chairman of its Board of Supervisors, poked holes in the $132.5 billion budget at the sold-out Pattern for Progress breakfast at the Poughkeepsie Grand April 7.
Stephen Acquario, executive director of the New York State Association of Counties, opened the discussion with an overview. “The state of our counties across the state is strong, but the future remains uncertain. We advocate and represent county government in Albany. New York is worth saving ”¦ and our counties have played a vital role across this state. Some of the counties in the room here today existed before the state of New York was formed.”
The nine Hudson Valley counties that encompass Pattern for Progress”™ territory represent more than 2 million people, but  “Counties have devolved, not evolved, becoming an arm of the state, less of a local purpose government,” Acquario said. “Everyone in this room should be concerned about this. We address less and less of our own citizens”™ needs and have become an extension of the state. ”¦ state controlled programs that consume more than 90 percent of every DIME  these counties collect.”
Among those “nine for ninety” mandates are Medicaid, pensions, public assistance, child welfare, special education for toddlers and children, youth detention facilities, criminal defense of the poor are many of the programs funded by county dollars ”“ and the counties have no say. “Last week, the state extended its reach again into counties to ask them to pay more for the state”™s public assistance program,” Acquario said. “These mandates have pulled counties away from local autonomy to fund them.”
Comparing mandates with a credit card bill the counties receive by the state, Acquario said that unlike consumer credit, counties cannot reduce the debt by curtailing spending.
“Counties want to use their local resources for local purposes ”“ like building the next generation of E-911”“ everyone can text, but texting for the 911 facilities is available but we don”™t have it. That is just one example of a local program with local need, local benefit and not mandated by the state. ”¦ our counties are too consumed by unfunded mandates to meet the needs of its residents.”
Acquario urged everyone to get in front of their local lawmakers and demand change. “It is within your power. ”¦ Albany cannot talk about a property tax cap without addressing mandate relief. A two percent spending cap does not stop them from passing along unfunded mandates.”
DUTCHESS
County Executive Bill Steinhaus is retiring, so he said he had no reason to pull punches.
“The answer to the tax cap is simply this: NO. The idea that the governor is proposing it without adopting mandate relief is a political propaganda STUNT. You cannot drive up mandate costs and then ask counties not to raise the tax levy to pay for it ”¦ you are all being scammed.
“Everyone at this table is downsizing and consolidating all the time ”¦ constantly restructuring and realigning government, running the county the same way you run your business using technology, productivity, creativity and having great employees. We know what the public expects ”“ that roads will be cleared of snow when they go to work in the morning and that when they call 911, someone will answer and dispatch a police car or ambulance. We need our partners in Albany and Washington to help us fulfill our mission to our residents.”
ORANGE
“Steve Acquario said it all,” said Orange County Executive Edward Diana. “If Medicaid, education and the pension system are not reformed, this state will probably be bankrupt in a very short period of time. We must come to the reality that some of the governor”™s budget is just smoke and mirrors.
The fact remains nine New York state mandates consume 80 percent of Orange”™s tax coffers. Mandate relief is not an option it is a necessity. I don”™t think Albany really gets it.
“We created a Medicaid transportation project in Orange,” continued Diana, “and we projected a $670,000 savings-the state elected to take it over themselves ”“ but in the process, they assumed the cost savings we would have realized and kept it. They provided welfare benefits to childless couples and we shared that cost 50-50. As of April, the counties are responsible for 71 percent. The state will pay 29 percent, but next month, federal funding will erase that, so it will cost the state nothing. But we will pay 71 percent. That”™s the nitty gritty of the budget that you won”™t see; that”™s where the smoke and mirrors come in.”
PUTNAM
Acting Putnam County Executive Paul Eldridge did not foresee any change in employee benefits when it came to the “step” system.
“Even if you have a zero percent increase in your budget, you still have to pay the steps and increments built into union agreements. Do I see a difficult road ahead? Yes. The unions lobby ”“ and they have lots of money to do it ”“ it is not an even playing field.
“There is a lot of difficulty in negotiating contracts because of the Taylor Law and Tri-Borough Agreement and the Tri-Borough Amendment, enacted in the 1960s and 1970s, which gave unions the right to binding arbitration. Essentially, an outside party comes in and decides what you will pay,” he said. “Things will have to get worse before we are able to get Albany to make changes.”
ROCKLAND
C. Scott Vanderhoef, whose community is running on an austerity budget, said Rockland is in a race to keep up services while dealing with a depleting revenue stream.
“E-91l is a local cost not mandated but critical for the public. This project will be one that will have to go because we have to pay the mandates. For Medicaid alone, we spend 110 percent of our property tax. $650 MILLION in cuts to Medicaid are undefined ”“ the four percent cap is artificial because no one knows how it will play out. Of the $2.4 billion cut from Medicaid, $1.3 billion of it has not been decided and we don”™t know where it”™s coming from. Do you know what prisons are going to be closed? The 10 percent cut in departments? Where? We don”™t know. I do know the state should take over Medicaid, that way, they would be sure it didn”™t cost as much as it does.”
ULSTER
Although Ulster has a zero percent property tax increase and has reduced the county workforce by more than 150 positions, County Executive Michael Hein questioned, “Will it be enough? We all want to be ”˜unshackled.”™ We have obligation to help our businesses and educate youth of today ”“ educated electorate simply saying, ”˜We”™ve had enough.”™ No more smoke and mirrors. No more nonsense for New Yorkers. We are doing less with less because we are committed to not taxing people from their homes. I don”™t think there is a county executive at this dais who doesn”™t get it.”
COLUMBIA
Roy Brown, chair of the Columbia County Board of Supervisors, shares the same challenges. “With a new budget from Albany, we are looking at a six percent tax levy without even looking at our own county budget. We are looking at outsourcing certified home health aides because of the cost. We are $2 million behind in collecting Medicaid reimbursements from the state.
“And New York is ”˜business-poor”™ ”“ we have two businesses looking to come into the county: one a goat cheese factory, which will start with 50 jobs and ramp up to 400. We are facing roadblocks from the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Department of Transportation. Another company is looking at our former Kaz facility to bring 300 jobs from North Carolina, but hurdles with DOT are hampering it. New York is chasing business away, not helping to attract it.”
Diana agreed, saying his county lost Macy”™s northeast distribution center to West Virginia. “A $22 million incentive package ”“ the biggest offered in the country ”“ but we couldn”™t get Macy”™s, a name synonymous with New York, to stay here.”
WESTCHESTER COUNTY
Rob Astorino, busy preparing his budget presentation to the Westchester Board of Legislators, was represented by Deputy County Executive Kevin Plunkett.
“We are anxious to read the Marist poll coming out on April 12 about consolidation and what state residents want. We hear a lot about shared services, consolidation and mergers. But we must face reality. There is only one solution ”“ political courage. People need it to face issues set forth in the white paper that Pattern gave us this morning. ”¦ there are impediments to shared services. We need to be aggressive in reducing duplicative services, but it is not going to happen if you don”™t have courage to take on the unions.”
Plunkett told the crowd school districts in Westchester eat up 60 percent of its tax dollars. “We have 43 districts, 43 separate school superintendents, 43 administrators who work under those superintendents; and the list goes on. We need to provide effective education but we need to get the biggest bang for our tax dollars. Our school districts are a bureaucracy ”“ a very big one with a very powerful lobby. But Rob Astorino is working to change the mindset ”“ this is not business as usual. The voters”™ help is essential.”
