Pataki is forcing unfunded mandates

[Unregistered]

I am disgusted at what Gov. George Pataki and his cronies in the State Senate are doing with our tax dollars. They talk of being fiscally conservative, pushing for a small income tax cut. But the past eight years show this minimal income tax cut has been far outweighed by other taxes and user fees directly inflicted on the taxpayers, and the more burdensome unfunded state mandates imposed on our schools and local governments that are passed on to the public in our property tax bills.
In 1994, when I lived in the Albany area, I found that the main issue that helped to elect Pataki was his call for relief from unfunded state mandates. At that time, the most prevalent mandate was the Environmental Conservation Law, forcing municipalities to close their open dump landfills in favor of more secure, regional landfills coupled with a waste recycling program. The cost of this mandate was accompanied by a significant benefit to the environment.

Since Pataki took office, it is amazing to see how many more recalcitrant, unfunded state mandates he has forced upon the taxpayers. Local county governments have been forced to pay increased costs for their Health Department, Social Services and especially Medicaid, just to name a few. That which Pataki once opposed, he is now guilty of doing 10 times over!

Pataki and his cronies do not look at the dollars taken away from New York State families when they pass these unfunded mandates. They gloss over the issues, making them sound like a good thing. Their legislation costs taxpayers much more than we get back.

JAMES A. SACCO JR.
Pendleton

www.buffalo.com

[Unregistered]

YOU THINK THIS IS PATAKI THAT HAS ALL THIS HIGH TAX BUREACRACY!

-we pay more for hospitals
-we pay more for insurance
-we pay more for health care
-we pay more for schools
-we pay more duplicitous municipal/county services
etc


I don't agree with everything Pataki is doing but I am convinced that Pataki didn't write the Taylor forcing cities into binding arbitration without consideration of their financial status.

I believe in a social contract and in social supports for the needy and to be honest if so many people weren't so resistant to change, then we could fund all these programs by just increasing efficiency and rightsizing.

I want more investment in my community, more jobs and more development and less services.

[Unregistered]

Mr. Sacco, you must be DEMOCRATIC HACK because if you're going to complain about the Governor and Senate passing on unfunded mandates (both under Republican control) then you must certainly mention the State Assembly, controlled by New York City liberals. These folks have never met a mandate they didn't love.

[Unregistered]

Yes, its a typical strategy when diplomacy fails.

End the funding and starve the program until it reaches crisis point and has to either be eliminated or restructured.

Was anyone going to stand up to Buffalo's Police & Teachers Unions? NO!

So they waited until Buffalo was near bankruptcy so that they can save face with the Unions, restructure the services they provide and still get their votes.

Masiello and Giambra tried to do it by saying, either accept the Police Contract or go to the County but at some point Masiello caved and the State Control Board was invited.

As a manager, I think its horrible how devastating politics can be towards the people involved but political strategy is basically getting what you want and having people thank you for it.

Buffalonians should understand that these crisis are being created because of a resistance to change. Buffalo is imploding from lack of investment and we simply cannot offer more money to unions to compensate them for adapting to change. The result is that the city has to repeatedly create a crisis to force its hands.

That is what Pataki was doing by refusing to raise Taxes and that is what Giambra is trying to do and that is what Masiello was trying to do. There is enough money but things have to be restructured so that they budget can cover the expenditures and that comes from the municipal, county and state legislatures!

[Unregistered]

I agree, these crisis are being manufactured.

People Pataki and many in the republican party because they oppose raising taxes.

I absolutely believe that the Taylor law for mandatory arbitration needs to be reformed. Arbitrators should not be negotiating labor contracts.

There is enough money if government was made more efficient and the legislatures reformed the laws that impeded government from being more efficient.

I wish that I could vote on Buffalo's Budget, 4 year Police Contract and 4 Year Teachers Contract every November!

You want New York State and Buffalo to be the best in the nation on every metric, then make the taxpayer approve every budget and union contract in a referendum. Elevate the Voter above the arbitrator and the unfunded mandates and lets see what happens to our taxes and to job creation!

[Unregistered]

It seems to me that the city is running astronomical deficits and really can't tax any more without adversly affecting bond ratings or driving more residents & businesses out of the city.
No, I don't think this is "manufactured". This is real. It was inevitable because the voters didn't have the discipline to vote for people who would run the city responsibly. This is why the state is installing a control board. Control boards are for municipalities who can't handle managing thier own finances.