New York has been taking hits for some time now in several quarters.
The Empire State is ranked the 16th-smartest state, dropping from 10th place in 2005-06.
It remains third in population behind California and Texas.
In small-business survival it was among the least friendly states in 2004, ranking near the bottom at 45.
The state is the second costliest, behind Hawaii, in doing business, according to the Milken Institute.
This year, The Tax Foundation put New York state at 47 in its State Business Tax Climate Index. New Jersey, Ohio and Rhode Island ranked worst.
Under the corporate tax index ranking, New York was 23rd. For the individual income tax it was 38th and it was 49th under the sales tax index heading. The property tax index ranking was 42.
It doesn”™t get better.
The average retail price of electricity ”“ $14.54 as of March 2007 ”“ put the state in fourth place behind Hawaii, Connecticut and Massachusetts. The Public Policy Institute of New York State Inc. served up more bad numbers:
n Business costs ”“ 48
n Average premium for health insurance ”“ 10
n Minimum wage ”“ 10
n State competitive index ”“ 35
n Business taxes as percentage of private-sector gross state product ”“ 10
n U.S. Economic Freedom Index ”“ dead last!
The Economic Freedom Index was measured by the Pacific Research Institute and takes into account “the regulatory and fiscal obstacles imposed by each state on its residents.” The institute said the “variables measured for the study relate to fiscal burdens, regulatory practices, judicial systems, size of government, and welfare.”
By the way, New York is number one in the welfare spending per capita department, about 84 percent above the national average, according to the latest numbers.
Just when you thought it couldn”™t get any worse, along comes Bob Weinberger, mayor of Goshen. The village is broke, he told business owners at a recent chamber breakfast; that “size of government” variable mentioned above comes into play. It seems too much property is owned by the government. Some 52 percent is off the village”™s tax rolls. “How are we going to fix this? We”™re already relying on more than 48 percent of the property tax owners to foot the entire village”™s bill.”
Weinberger said those government properties should step up and pay their dues, otherwise residents face another double-digit tax increase. One suggestion he mentioned would be to consolidate the town and village police departments. Why not add the sheriff”™s department to the mix?
Westchester County merged its sheriff”™s department and parkway police in 1979 and formed the Westchester County Department of Public Safety.
But getting anyone to relinquish power or share services is no easy task.
Orange County went the other way last year and created two villages. This past June, Monroe said it was going to create its own village court rather than stay with the town judiciary.
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Gov. Eliot Spitzer earlier this year created a Commission on Local Government Efficiency with an eye toward streamlining the costly, duplicative bureaucratic mess that the state has become. Public hearings are set for November.
To reduce, rather than multiply, the Legislature created a carrot, in the form of a $25 million program ”“ www.nyslocalgov.org ”“ that would disburse money to municipalities that want to consolidate services.
If Weinberger were able to consolidate police departments, he could seek a grant that could return a maximum of $200,000 per municipality. Go one step further and let town and village become one municipality, multimillion-dollar grants are available.
Less government could prove a boon to business.
Making the state attractive and less onerous, as pointed out in the Pacific Research Institute study, could be one of the solutions to returning New York to its Empire State status.
Jonathan Drapkin, executive director of Pattern for Progress, said, “Perhaps we need to let go of provincial thinking and start focusing on the bigger picture ”“ improving the overall condition of our state.”
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