Get ready to call 911.
The state budget is hemorrhaging and way overdue for intensive surgery.
The patchwork of stitches from quick fixes performed by quacks in lawmakers”™ clothing is coming undone.
When April 1 arrives and no new budget is in place, the budget will be in triage populated by deep-pocketed unions and lobbyists out to save the portions of the financial body that are near and dear to them.
So get those temporary spending bills printed up.
The state Legislature is going to have to sign off on them before the state falls headlong into insolvency.
Last week, when he spoke in Westchester, even the governor said there wouldn”™t be an on-time spending plan.
As a lame-duck governor, hamstrung by alleged ethical missteps, no one hears him. It”™s hard to hear anyone who has been thrown under the bus.
One thing that could be done is withhold the lawmakers”™ paychecks today, not on April 1. When a budget is not in place, lawmakers are not paid. Maybe by stopping their pay today will give them a bit of an incentive to pass a budget on time.
But this is New York; that”™s not how it works. Instead, we have the epitome of hubris in the state Senate where lawmakers thumbed their noses at their respective constituents and added to their payroll by adding staff or giving out raises. There were 161 staffers added and the amount was only $7 million, a pittance compared with the $9 billion and growing deficit.
Still, it remains beyond comprehension as to why the Senate members would increase their staffs during this time. Arrogance comes to mind.
However, appearances are everything.
When was the last time you got a raise?
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People who run businesses have tightened their belts and asked their employees to bear with them until better times return.
Those with allegiance to their bosses and who believe in the business won”™t be whimpering.
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Perhaps to deflect the questionable hiring practices in the Senate in these dire economic times, lawmakers in that house last week passed a bill that would offer relief to school districts from state mandates, which schools always point to as driving school taxes skyward.
What it didn”™t provide is relief from higher taxes, despite the rhetoric from bill sponsor Suzi Oppenheimer.
Say for example that voters in a school district reject a school budget.
The district can either resubmit it for another vote or place the district on an contingency budget.
Under current state law, contingency budget spending is limited to 4 percent or 120 percent of the Consumer Price Index, the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. If the inflation rate is 3 percent, the limit on the austerity budget would be 3.6 percent.
The legislation passed by the Senate last week throws out the old calculation.
It allows for a five-year average of the inflation rate, which means the tax burden could actually be larger than the one put forth in the initial school budget vote.
In our current state of deflation, somewhere around 2.6 percent, a contingency budget would not offer schools much money. However, calculate over five years, and well, you get the picture.
So, is Oppenheimer”™s bill looking out for the taxpayer or the school district?
Another aspect of larding school districts with extra costs that ultimately get handed down to taxpayers is the Wicks Law.
The law requires that multiple contracts be awarded when a construction project exceeds $50,000. Without a general contractor in place often means added costs and complications for schools. New York City and a few other districts are exempt from the law.
Assemblywoman Sandy Galef has been trying for several years to get an exemption for schools statewide. She is trying again now. This time she is joined by Assemblywoman Amy Paulin and Oppenheimer. We have no idea why Oppenheimer did not include it in her mandate bill.
Galef estimates that repealing the law “will generate $200 million in annual capital savings to school districts.”
Let us hope, as we have asked before: If American soldiers can risk their lives for our nation, why can”™t our politicians be willing to risk their jobs to do what”™s right?
The state electorate is smoldering.
November is not that far away.
