Former Mount Vernon High School classmates Assemblyman George Latimer and New Castle’s Deputy Town Administrator Penelle Paderewski
January 29, 2010
by John Ehrlich
New Castle is just now without Assembly representation in Albany, waiting for the outcome of the special election on February 9 to fill the seat vacated by Adam Bradley when he was elected mayor of White Plains in November 2009.
To keep New Castle up to date in these early days of budget negotiations in Albany, George Latimer, the New York State Assemblyman from a neighboring Westchester district stopped by the Kittle House on his way up to Albany Monday and spoke to the Chappaqua Rotary about pressing issues before the Assembly and the state. In his comments, Latimer, whose district includes Rye, Mamaroneck, Larchmont, New Rochelle, Port Chester and Harrison, covered the 2010-11 state budget, ethical lapses in government, and property taxes.
The Governor’s Proposed 2010-11 State Budget
Turning first to the state budget, which must be approved in the next 65 days, Latimer joked, “The Marquis De Sade must have created the $130 billion state budget.” According to Latimer, the proposal Governor David Paterson released for 2010-11 is a grab bag of budget cuts and new revenues designed to close an aggregate gap of $7.9 billion.
“New York is not alone,” Latimer pointed out. “Over 40 states are in varying stages of budget woes, attributable to a combination of bad economy and bad decisions over past years. . . . In fact, we aren’t in the bottom 10 states with troubles. Consider California or New Jersey’s $9 billion gap, larger than New York’s in a state one-third the size.”
The New York State legislature has the earliest budget adoption calendar in the nation. Joint budget meetings begin now, in late January, with approval due on March 31 – a scant ten weeks away. According to a chart Latimer handed out to Chappaqua Rotarians, Governor Patterson’s proposal includes cuts that he characterized as “difficult”:
$ 67.7 – reduce Indigent Care reimbursements to hospitals
20.0 – reduce unnecessary treatments for preventable conditions
26.7 – eliminate 2010 trend factor for hospitals
130.2 – increase assessment on hospital inpatient services
67.8 – increase nursing home assessment
46.6 – eliminate 2010 trend factor [the formula for factoring in the growth of costs in reimbursement calculations] for nursing homes
25.8 – eliminate 2010 trend factor [the formula for factoring in the growth of costs in reimbursement calculations] for home and personal health care services
127.4 – delay excess medical malpractice payment
24.6 – extend physician procedure surcharge to additional settings for care
95.0 – SUNY (State University of New York) cuts
47.7 – CUNY (City University of New York) cuts
15.0 – cuts to state aid to local governments
16.5 – cuts to Tuition Assistance Program aid to students
56.7 – cuts in base aid to community colleges
30.0 – eliminate STAR benefits to homeowners with $1.5+ million dollar homes
7.0 – close four (4) upstate prisons
And, finally, $1.1 billion, a 5% cut in school aid.
Next, Latimer listed some proposed new revenue streams, which he called “painful new fees”:
$465.0 – tax on soft drink sugar syrup
218.0 – increased cigarette tax (extra $1/pack)
216.0 – health care providers’ tax
92.0 – selling wine in grocery stores
“I voted against the 2009 budget,” Latimer told Rotarians. “I didn’t like the level of taxation or the type of taxation, and the levels of spending. But it got passed, and signed by the Governor. It would be irresponsible of me – or anyone – to spend all my time criticizing those who did vote for it by claiming ‘I’m not to blame.’ That type of attitude, in my corporate life, would have gotten me a quick trip out of the door and onto the unemployment line. We now face an even more unpleasant 2010 budget.”
“I’ll do the best I can,” Latimer promised, “to best represent the majority of the people in my district, who are pragmatic enough to know we cannot spend what we don’t have, and are principled enough to know that we cannot use this legitimate crisis to whack away at programs without any analysis or evaluation. This is what ‘making the hard decisions’ means.” But the assemblyman noted that there are political realities which must be recognized, such as the influence of New York City on the rest of the state, as evidenced, for example, by the MTA Tax, which was enormously unpopular in Westchester.
A supporter of stronger ethical standards in Albany
Assemblyman Latimer reeled off a lengthy list of ethical woes and disgrace practices in Albany. “It erodes public confidence. It makes the cynical comments of those who hate government seem all the more valid,” he commented.
In his presentation to the Chappaqua Rotary, he also called for full disclosure by legislators of outside sources of income and the elimination of campaign funds used for private purpose. “Most importantly, he said, “I support an independent ‘cop on the beat,’ an ethics enforcement board not beholden to those in elective office, to root out corruption, not just whenever it is disclosed, but beforehand.”
Latimore believes that “only that type of on-going presence will force those who would do wrong to consider their actions before they act, knowing someone’s wa”ching and they will get caught.” He speculated that it will affect legislative behavior like “speeders slowing down to sixty-five when they see a police car on the side of the road.”
Latimer concluded, “The citizenry has a job, too. Not just to read salacious details of bad going-on in the press, and express their anger, but to take the time to differentiate the good guys from the bad guys. Structurally, the ethics cops must find and punish the bad guys. The citizens’ task must also be to find and honor the good guys. We must recognize and reinforce good behavior as well as punish bad behavior.”
Reforming property taxes
According to Assemblyman Latimer, “we need any number of actions to correct our state’s problems, but Public Enemy Number One in our home area is rising property taxes. The lump sum payments in the thousands of dollars each year cripple seniors and others on fixed incomes, and young families just starting out. They affect people whose jobs do not pay huge salaries, and they also affect those who are successful, and pay $30 or $40 thousand per year in property taxes.”
“There are three key components to local property taxes, and three sets of strategies to deal with them,” Latimer said, breaking out three elements of the property tax and listing possible actions to reduce each:
School Taxes – 65% of your property tax bill (Percentages vary by community)
* Reduce unfunded mandates
* Shift costs of school districts away from local property taxes to state income taxes
* Incentivize shared services between districts
Latimer said he is co-sponsoring a bill, A.7209, with Assemblyman Steve Englebright, which would change how New Yorkers pay for public education—by an income tax rather than a property tax.
County Taxes – 20% of your property tax bill
* Reduce unfunded mandates
* Shift costs of Medicaid programs away from county property taxes to state
* Support regional services
Latimer announced that he intends to sponsor a bill to reduce the county’s contribution to Medicaid costs from 25% to 10%, with a dollar-for-dollar decrease in county property taxes achieved from the savings.
City/Town/Village Taxes – 15% of your property tax bill
* Allow for non-property tax sources of revenue (i.e. leasing naming rights; hotel occupancy fees)
* Reduce unfunded mandates
* Incentivize shared services between governments, but with decisions made at grass-roots level rather than by Albany-driven merger plans
Latimer invited New Castle residents to feel free to email or phone him with questions or comments, by visiting his website.
Copyright 2012 NewCastleNOW.org