Before August ends, Lame Duck George Pataki could give one more loud quack before waddling out of the Albany pond.
The governor must either reappoint Judge George Bundy Smith to the state Court of Appeals or replace him. This is New York State’s highest court. Smith is an appointee of long-ago Democratic governor Mario Cuomo. So Republican Pataki could leave a little more of a conservative legacy with the court appointment if he wants.
November 7th – Election Day – winds up being the big test for candidates.
It’s also the final grade for you – the voter. So let’s take a little time to brush up on our lessons so that we get a passing mark.
Today class, the focus is taxes. Specifically, local taxes and how the state should involve itself in reducing those taxes. Candidates are making a big deal about this. You’ve seen Eliot Spitzer – in extreme close-up on his commercials – tell you how high local property taxes are pushing people out of New York. John Faso and Tom Suozzi also know that the property tax issue plays in Elmira and Hempstead and Orchard Park.
So let’s look at options the state could use to drive down the local tax burden.
When the two men who want the Democratic nod for governor only hold a single debate, much is called for from that one event.
Organizers and candidates must keep in mind issues of importance from around the state – and some that are important to those in regions of the state. Those concerns vary not just across the perceived Upstate-Downstate divide, but even from region to region as a poll conduct by my organization, the Center for Governmental Research, and the Marist Institute showed. Take a look again at the New York Matters poll for a better understanding.
But in all honesty, having Upstate concerns mentioned, let alone discussed in detail, was too much to expect in an hour.
New Yorkers who complain about the state’s propensity to push cost down to local property tax bills often talk about schools or Medicaid.
Yet when it comes to passing down the buck, there are other issues that get ignored or just aren’t widely understood.
One of them: The cost of county jails.
In baseball parlance it’s known as the “meatball”… the “cream puff”… the “fat pitch”.
It’s the ball thrown by the pitcher with no real speed, no deception. It’s a batter’s dream – the very hittable pitch.
I think of the “meatball” when I think about the legal ruling in New York that compels the state to cough up billions of dollars for equitable education in New York City.
This legal decision is a “cream puff” of an issue during this governor’s race. The courts have indirectly served up this “fat pitch” for you… the voter. The public and the press ought to bat this ball right at the gubernatorial candidates and make them field it, time and time again.
The business of state government is essentially done for the year, although who knows what special sessions may be called after the November election (pay raise anyone?)
Now, Assembly and Senate members are back in their home districts. Maybe they’ve even taken a vacation break – something veteran lawmakers probably find refreshing (late budgets had become such a regular occurrence that lawmakers often found themselves bathing under florescent lights in the capitol instead of summer sunshine on a sandy beach).
Any real reform of elections should include how maps get drawn – legislative district maps, that is.
You may have heard about how the U.S. Supreme Court just came down with a ruling that impacts that process of redrawing legislative maps, known as redistricting.
Does it matter to New York? It does, although it’s more of a wake-up call than anything else.
First, let’s recall that redistricting is the process of changing political boundaries – the districts within a state for those representing people in Congress and in the 50 state houses.
Candidates looking to replace George Pataki as governor are ramping up talk about reforming state government, changing the status quo.
They say it’s necessary to bring down local tax bills and improve upstate’s dismal job creation record.
Now . . . let’s juxtapose this rhetoric with a big dose of Albany reality – the one that says, “stick your neck out a bit and you’ll get slapped back.”
This realistic message comes courtesy of the state’s public employees unions.
The Buffalo News had a column on Thursday that suggests the candidates for governor need to have a more expansive discussion about local property taxes and tax cuts.
My colleague at the Center for Governmental Research, Erika Rosenberg, wrote that gubernatorial hopefuls are fixating on the STAR (School Relief Tax) program and the expense of other issues that could play a more direct role in bringing down local property taxes.
Also, as Monroe County’s sales tax issue makes it’s way into the courtroom (it is scheduled for Friday, June 23), have a listen as I talk with WXXI Morning Edition host Bud Lowell about getting that sales tax discussion into the meeting room. Have a listen right here (just click on the MP3 button).
The Brooks sales tax solution is headed to a courtroom.
But perhaps where it ought to be is in a meeting room.
You know the court story by now. Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks announced a two-part sales tax solution to a projected county budget shortfall. First, the county would embrace a trade-off with the state, giving up sales tax proceeds to New York while also giving up the local share of Medicaid. This is called the “sales tax intercept.” The second part would be a sales tax increase of three-quarters of a penny.
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