It will end when we clean house in Albany.
Ping!
Ping!
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/letters/18648.htm
ALBANY BUDGET MESS
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/10/nyregion/10albany.html
Albany Budget Near, but Pataki's Intentions Are Unclear
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/16/nyregion/16empire.html
Albany Puts Off Repairing a Jobs-Creation Program
I still say that it should be the new design for whatever real conservative party succeeds the insipid Rockerfeller Republicanism that we're enduring right now.
| Upstate bears bigger tax burden, study finds Albany -- Business Council's institute says Medicaid, large local government work force cost taxpayers |
| By ERIN DUGGAN, Capitol bureau First published: Tuesday, August 17, 2004 |
| Upstate New Yorkers pay higher than average taxes -- sometimes several times more than residents of other states -- because of Medicaid, state mandates and unusually large local government payrolls, according to a study released Monday. The Public Policy Institute of New York State, the research arm of the Business Council, found upstate New Yorkers pay up to $6 billion a year for a variety of extra taxes, from property tax to sales tax. That's due in part to a $4 billion annual cost for 93,500 more local government employees than the national per capita average would warrant.
|
"Local officials are under a great deal of political pressure to hire people and create jobs, in part because of the decline of the economy of upstate New York," said David Shaffer, president of the Public Policy Institute.
The institute looked at data from 2000 and 2001, using census figures and numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The report did not offer a breakdown of what fields could be overstaffed but did find repetition in government jobs.
"It's very unusual in a large state to have the degree of overlap we have," Shaffer said.
The larger payrolls mean higher property taxes.
The national property tax average per capita is $806. Statewide in New York, property tax averages $1,382, and upstate that figure dips to $1,261.
But New York state, where the average Manhattan apartment sells for $1 million, is also home to some above-average real estate costs, which drive up property taxes. The difference in housing prices between New York and an "average" state was not addressed in the eight-page report.
The study also addressed local Medicaid spending, long held to blame for soaring county property taxes. New York has the most expensive Medicaid program in the country and services 3.7 million New Yorkers. Estimates for next year's Medicaid costs have gone above $40 billion for the Empire State, and none of the major reforms proposed by Gov. George Pataki have been adopted.
Local government officials have been pushing state lawmakers to take back the responsibility for funding the medical program for the poor. The state will take over one program, Family Health Plus, but no agreement was reached this legislative session on a variety of other Medicaid-related issues.
The report recommends making cuts to the program but not giving it back to the state. Local lawmakers strongly disagreed because the state mandates coverage but leaves it to the counties to implement and fund the bulk of the program.
"The state certainly could find defects in the program if they tried, but they have not," said Albany County Executive Michael Breslin. "If the state took it over, they would have more incentive to address the inefficiencies. Everyone knows that there are long-term illnesses that are not being managed properly, because they don't have the incentive to do so."
In Saratoga County, for example, Medicaid costs the county $27 million a year, more than 80 percent of the $32 million collected in property taxes each year. Its social services department also employs more than 100 people, in large part to do work mandated by the state.
"Almost all the counties are left doing only mandated services," said County Administrator David Wickerham. "Once they finish mandated services, there are no funds to do anything else."
Comparing New York's government work force to other states' is not a true indicator of its effectiveness, Wickerham continued, because many jobs done by state workers in other states are done -- and paid for -- at the local level in New York.
Cutting mandates also is difficult because they encompass many popular programs in a range of areas from the environment to health, noted Assemblyman Ron Canestrari, D-Cohoes. "One person's mandate is another person's great program," he said.
Duplication of local services is something state lawmakers have tried to address, said Canestrari, but they have had little success.
When approached to consider consolidation, local governments were hesitant.
"We ran into a lot of resistance," Canestrari said. "What it comes down to is, people want local control. And there's a cost to that."