Mandate reLief
Many, Many Mandates By Jon Lentz
L
ast year was the property tax cap. This year, it’s mandate relief. “The property tax cap we passed worked,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in his State of the State address. “It forced fiscal discipline—forced being an operative word—and it stimulated a citizen dialogue. It stopped the assumed annual increases.” CUOMO WANTS: A new pension tier and a vote on a yet-to-be-determined mandate relief package. OTHERS SAY: Organized labor and some lawmakers oppose a new pension tier. Local governments and school boards want mandate relief but see a tough road ahead.
But the governor acknowledged that more must be done to ease the costs of the state-mandated programs and services that local governments have to fund, and called on his Mandate Relief Redesign taskforce to submit recommendations for a vote this year. “I want that mandate relief council to have hearings all across the state, where citizens participate and local elected officials participate,” Cuomo said. “Let them come up with a package that they present to the legislature this year on mandate relief and let the legislature take an up-ordown vote this year, because the local governments deserve that.” The governor provided few specifics on which mandates to cut or scale back, emphasizing only the creation of a Tier VI to reform the pension system. “I understand the politics and I understand the political opposition,” Cuomo said. “But the choice for you, my friends, is this: When we’re talking about pension reform for union employees, we’re talking about union employees who don’t even exist at this point in time, because current employees are covered by the current pension system.” The new pension tier was quickly criticized by organized labor and some lawmakers, who noted it would have little effect on immediate fiscal woes and that the recently created Tier V has yet to kick in. “Why are we talking about depressing wages for senior citizens in the next generation?” asked Sen. Diane Savino, who predicted the governor would have an uphill battle on Tier VI. “What does that solve today? It doesn’t do anything.” Local governments and school districts struggling with reduced state aid and the property tax cap said they’ll need the relief the governor is offering. David Albert, a spokesman for the New York State School Boards Association, said he was encouraged that Cuomo called for a mandate relief package this year. But he expressed reservations about whether much progress will be made on proposals like reforming the Triborough
CITY&STATE
Amendment so districts don’t have to pay wage increases under an expired union contract or letting schools consider factors other than seniority when making decisions regarding teacher layoffs. “We’re really hopeful something will happen this year,” Albert said. “At the same time, these are very challenging issues, very controversial issues. The
phrase ‘mandate relief’ sounds good in concept, but when you drill down to specific mandates, at the end of the day you may get rid of something that’s in place right now and someone is potentially going to be impacted by that. That’s where it gets difficult.” jlentz@cityandstateny.com
We make a big differeNce! Not a big pension. The next time you hear someone railing against excessive, bloated public pensions, you might want to know the facts: A CSEA public service worker earns an average pension of $14,000 a year. That’s right. $14,000. The vast majority pay into their pensions and overtime is capped for pension purposes.
Yet the misrepresentation continues. That’s wrong and false. So is calling public employees “overpaid.” Recent research* has found that state and local employees make 11-to-12 percent less in salary than workers in the private sector, when education and experience are considered. Stop scapegoating public employees.
It’s time to help our communities and focus on New York’s real challenges. LOCAL 1000 AFSCME, AFL-CIO DA N N Y D O N O H U E , P R E S I D E N T
*Sources: The Center for State and Local Government Excellence and the National Institute on Retirement Security.
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