This month, Governor Paterson addressed the state and delivered his plan for proposed cuts in an effort to close a growing budget deficit. The governor’s proposed mid-year cuts could have been avoided with better financial management, a more reasonable approach to crafting our current budget and an end to the state’s policy of “buy now, pay later.” The comptroller released a report in July which examined the fiscal crisis and explained how expected revenues were down. This should have been a sign to Albany leaders that a special session needed to be called in order to propose less egregious cuts. Unfortunately, this did not happen, and now we find ourselves in a bigger mess.
In the spring, I voted against the state budget because I knew that it spent above expected revenue. While we did receive a $26 billion bailout from the federal government through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, state leaders chose to use this money as another reason to increase spending rather than try to balance the budget with these extra funds. In fact, rather than aiding New York’s taxpayers, the governor chose to implement 137 new taxes and fees, which only placed a greater burden on the already struggling residents of this state.
State aid cut proposals have been detailed at the Division of Budget’s web site at www.budget.state.ny.us. The Legislature is expected to take up the governor’s proposal for across-the-board cuts sometime in the next few weeks. I am hopeful that this meeting of the Legislature will produce real results including a spending cap and a dedication to eliminate wasteful spending and abuse so that valuable taxpayer dollars are no longer wasted.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns on this, or any other state issue, please don’t hesitate to contact me at either my Johnstown office at (518) 762-6486, or my Herkimer office at (315) 866-1632.