It’s been said that “the road to ‘you know where’ is paved with good intentions,” and is this ever true with New York State’s many unfunded and costly mandates placed on local governments and school districts. New Yorkers have been saddled with the burden of many decades’ worth of snowballed good intentions. These have caused property taxes to rise dramatically and have pushed our local school and government budgets past their breaking points.

It’s absurd when you really think about it. It will take about $11 billion worth of local taxes to pay for mandates about which your local government and school officials had no say. Almost 90 percent of your county’s spending is determined by nine mandates alone, and even then there are hundreds more that overstep and micromanage local governments.

I believe that our local officials truly have a better grasp of what our communities need and, more important, what local taxpayers can afford. Over the years, however, Albany has eroded their ability to be responsive to local trends by dictating how your county and your school district must spend your hard-earned tax dollars.

Over the years, Albany has catered to special interests, constantly padding and sweetening services that were meant to be temporary and modest social safety nets. In case you were wondering, New York taxpayers are shouldering what could be called the ‘Cadillac’ of Medicaid plans, which costs us over $1 billion a week. No other state pays this kind of money, not more populous California, or even Texas and Florida combined.

I am not arguing that these programs are good or bad, but the sheer cost of New York’s unfunded mandates begs the question – how good are they if no one can afford to pay for them? So I ask for the Albany bureaucrats to loosen up their reins on Upstate. Let’s take this opportunity to govern and serve our constituents to the best of our abilities. Let’s decide what we can realistically and sustainably afford.

As always, I welcome your suggestions and ideas about unfunded mandate relief and all of the issues facing our state. Please feel free to call me at (315) 493-3909 or email me at

blankenbushk@assembly.state.ny.us.