Gov. Andrew Cuomo must have listened to The Doobie Brothers growing up and had a fondness for their song “Takin”™ It to the Streets.”
Why else would he call his statewide tour pushing his legislative agenda “Take it to the People Tour”?
While his intentions are good, a little more thought could have been given to the name. Businesses and other taxpayers in this state have been “takin”™ it” for some time now in the form of ever-rising taxes, fees and unfunded mandates.
Some have said he should take his agenda first to the state Legislature. But that would be the incorrect approach.
The governor knows he first has to reach out to the masses and get them on his side, just the way he orchestrated the State of the State address with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos at center stage facing the “regular” folks who make up this state. It was akin to sitting in a witness box and facing a stacked jury.
By selling his agenda to the people and gaining their unwavering support, it will be difficult for the Legislature to try and pull the fast ones they have been pulling over the past decade.
Cuomo knows Silver and he are both Democrats. But that”™s where the similarities end. Silver has been the de facto governor for more than a decade now, using his influence via the three-men-in-a-room approach to build a budget that first and foremost doesn”™t hurt his constituents. But with a new sheriff in town, Silver is going to have to hand in his badge or face a duel come budget crunch time. Cuomo has to hand in his budget on Feb. 1.
In addition to his statewide tour, Cuomo tasked members of the business community, along with representatives from private industry, education, labor and government to find ways to cut the costs of mandated programs, identify mandates that are ineffective and outdated, and determine how school districts and local governments can have greater ability to control expenses.
Unfunded mandates have long been the great bugaboo for businesses and other taxpayers as the state forces programs and initiatives down the throats of municipalities and school districts and then expects the residents to pick up the costs.
As Cuomo rightly pointed out, when measured in absolute dollars paid, Westchester, Nassau, and Rockland are respectively the first, second and fifth highest-taxed counties in the nation. Not the state; the entire nation.
Members of the team from the Hudson Valley include: William Mooney Jr., president of the Westchester County Association; state Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins of Yonkers and Assemblyman Marc Molinaro of Dutchess County.
The team has to have a set of recommendations to Cuomo by March 1.The panel will continue its review until the end of fiscal year 2011-12.
The New York State Conference of Mayors last month put out a 20-page report snidely titled “You Can”™t Cap What You Can”™t Control.”
The mayors concluded that “unlike a struggling private business, local governments faced with rapidly rising mandated costs can”™t simply close unprofitable operations or reduce their hours of service. Mayors can”™t relocate their governments to the Carolinas, outsource production overseas or declare bankruptcy and go out of business.”
But the mayors just weren”™t being cynical; they also pointed out that the state already has a property tax relief mechanism in place ”“ the Aid and Incentives to Municipalities program, formerly known as revenue sharing.
The current state budget provided $729.3 million for the AIM program, with aid payments reduced for all cities, towns and villages, according to the state Comptroller”™s Office.
The mayors suggested that once the fiscal crisis subsides, the state “must renew its commitment to an AIM program that is predictable and based upon a formula that reflects the rising costs of providing essential municipal services.”
It”™s another avenue worth investigating, governor.
The mayors also stated that a strong fiscal bond among municipalities and the state is important to make things better for businesses and residents.
Don”™t just take it to the people, governor; bring it to them as well.
