June19, 2006
By Dylan Skriloff, material edited from www.bcnys.org
Pataki Vetoes Union Move to Add More Workers to State Payroll
Governor Pataki has vetoed an effort by the United Federation of Teachers to add 52,000 part-time, day-care workers earning some of their income from public subsidies to the state payroll.
The Senate and House had both passed the bill this Spring. Had the workers been added, they would have been subject to the State's Taylor Law, and received higher salaries and benefits. The move could have cost the State $75,000,000 and jeopardized $300,000,000 in federal funding, critics said.
"New York already has significantly more public employees, in relation to population, than most other states," Walsh said. "That's one reason our political culture often serves the interests of those who get paid to provide public services, more than it does the people who are the ostensible beneficiaries of such services."
If the bill becomes law, Walsh said, further expansions of the Taylor Law "will be virtually certain."
"While I am always eager to find innovative ways to improve the delivery of child care services in New York, I am constrained to disapprove this bill because it would inappropriately classify the private sector employees as public employees and could undermine the delivery of child care services by jeopardizing federal funds," the Governor said in his veto message.
Gubernatorial candidates detail property-tax relief programs
Democrat Eliot Spitzer and Republican John Faso recently both came out with specific proposals to lessen the property tax burden on State residents.
Spitzer's plan would increase STAR exemptions for homeowners under a certain income level. The STAR program provides property-tax rebates to homeowners only and does not address businesses' well-documented concerns about high property taxes.
Faso's plan, originally outlined in April, would "double STAR exemptions, cap school property taxes, and provide school districts mandate relief," according to a release from Faso's campaign. His plan would increase the basic STAR exemption from the first $30,000 of property value to the first $60,000.
Faso also included provisions to lighten the property tax burden on businesses and vowed to reform the Wicks' Law, and institute several other pro-business reforms. For example, his proposal would amend the Triborough Amendment to the state's Taylor Law. The Triborough Amendment requires that provisions of expired union contracts are binding until a new contract is ratified.
Lawmakers propose comprehensive debt reform legislation
Taken verbatim from www.bcnys.org
Leading members of the state Senate and Assembly say they are introducing and pushing the comprehensive debt-reform packaged proposed by state Comptroller Alan Hevesi.
The legislation, which is being sponsored by state Senator Thomas Libous (R-Broome County) and Assemblyman Joseph Morelle (D-Monroe County), includes a proposed constitutional amendment to limit overall state debt, and a statutory requirement that would reduce new borrowing in coming years.
The Business Council strongly supports the comptroller's plan. The issue will be one of the priority issues included in the grading criteria on the Council's next Vote for Jobs index.
Comptroller Hevesi applauded the legislation.
"Failure to enact meaningful debt reform will result in a state government increasingly unable to meet its obligations to its citizens and amounts to the mortgaging of our children's futures," Hevesi said. Comptroller Hevesi announced the state ended the latest fiscal year on March 31, 2006, with $48.5 billion in debt. That figure does not include $80 billion in debt held by the state's public authorities. New York is second only to California in total state debt, the comptroller said.
A February 2005 report by the comptroller said the state's debt has risen sharply in recent years to pay for "unsustainable levels of government spending."
A December 2005 report reiterated the Comptroller's call for comprehensive debt reform and outlined several proposals, including a Constitutional amendment that would close loopholes in a debt-limitation law Governor Pataki and the Legislature enacted in 2000, while limiting all state-funded debt to 5 percent of New Yorkers' personal income.
The legislation introduced would:
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Create a debt management board that would monitor the debt of the state and public authorities, as well as publish an annual report looking at the affordability of the state's debt.
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Use budget surpluses to reduce the state's debt level.
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Limit the debt public authorities can take on, thereby ending the backdoor borrowing that allowed public authorities to take on debt for the state. The legislation would also require the comptroller to approve the terms and condition of bonds or notes issued by public authorities.
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Limit state-funded debt to 5 percent of New Yorkers' personal income, as suggested by the comptroller.
"This legislation represents the type of fundamental, iron-clad fiscal reform this state needs," Business Council President Daniel B. Walsh said.
"It's clear that the problem is real and getting worse," Senator Libous said. "We need a responsible and disciplined approach to stem out-of-control spending. Capping state debt and creating a Fiscal Management Board is an open and accountable way to protect the future generations of New Yorkers from skyrocketing taxes to pay for today's debt."
"Comptroller Hevesi's analysis makes it clear: New York's mounting debt threatens to undermine our hopes of economic revival and will burden future generations with ever-increasing taxation," Assemblyman Morelle said. "I believe the legislation we've proposed is a blueprint for fiscal responsibility and a return to economic prosperity." |
