The recent budget process was the most difficult I have experienced and one of the toughest in New York state history. As much as this budget is far from perfect and contains several items that I strongly disagree with, we did not have the luxury of voting for them separately.
The plain truth is that the 17 billion dollar deficit grows every day. If we did not approve this budget on time, the hole only grows deeper. Plus, as tough as this situation is, the rhetoric and bomb throwing that is taking place from the opposition and special interest groups only makes it worse.
As the saying goes; you can’t believe everything you read and certainly not everything you hear. Name calling and hand wringing by talk show hosts and newspaper columnists sells ads and increase ratings, but they rarely deal with the cold hard truth. The truth is this; the catastrophic drop in Wall Street earnings meant a cut to state tax revenues by almost 25%. The result was a budget deficit not seen since the great depression. That meant new revenue streams had to be created and cuts had to be made. No one wants to pay more and no one wants to receive less, but the state cannot get out of a staggering multibillion dollar deficit without doing both.
While the opposition talked about reform and railed against the budget they also tried to increase spending by proposing bills on the floor that would have done just that. These bills had no chance of passing, but it allowed them to go back to their constituents claiming they fought to restore programs. They played politics instead of showing leadership and good common sense in a time of crisis.
As tough as this budget is, it could have been even tougher. In the midst of this crisis, we created a responsible budget that cuts $6.5 billion in state spending, uses federal stimulus funding to limit tax increases and program cuts, and creates 86,000 new private sector jobs. We fought the Governor’s drastic cuts to services and won restoration of much-needed funding to our upstate hospitals, schools, and communities – and eliminated taxes on hard-pressed families. In fact, 99.6% of tax payers in my district will be unaffected by the personal income tax increase.
By voting in favor of this budget, I voted to remove a majority of the taxes suggested by Governor Paterson, including those on sugary sodas, bowling games, salon services, digital downloads and the $10 fee to file a paper tax return. Plus, despite what you may have been told on automated phone calls, the "utility tax" will amount to approximately one dollar per hundred, not an increase of $500 per household.
This next item is very important because many thought the elimination of the STAR Rebate check meant an end to STAR Rebate property tax relief. That is not true! We restored $109 million to School Property Tax Relief (STAR), protecting $3.3 billion in continued STAR funding, because our property taxes are already too high and we understand that in these times every dollar counts.
I am proud to say that I was able to restore a significant amount of the cuts made in the Governor’s budget to local hospitals. Restored were 85% of the cuts made to St. Joseph’s Hospital, 69% of the cuts made to Mercy Hospital, and 38% in cuts to Sheehan Memorial.
For the seniors I was able to get $2 million for expanded In-home services, $2 million for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs and $1 million for community services for the elderly.
We also know that the most important thing we can do to help families and communities is to create new jobs. The 86,000 new jobs in the budget include as many as 8,600 new “green” jobs through the Green Initiatives Institute and 61,000 new transportation infrastructure and construction jobs. The list also includes 4,200 new jobs will be created through a Senate initiative on targeted employment for low-income New Yorkers, 3,500 new jobs through public housing capital improvements and 7,900 new jobs through clean water and drinking water improvements. Finally, the new federal stimulus money will also allow us to hire 1,400 new police officers.
These are some of the facts you do not read in the papers or hear about in the media. We have tried to make the best of a very bad situation and our work is far from over. The economic times we face will be our greatest challenge in a generation. Rest assured that your concerns are not being ignored. After all, my family lives in the same state as yours and are not immune to the fees and taxes that we all have to pay. I will continue to represent you and work as hard as I possibly can to address the extraordinary challenges that face us.
