Over the past few weeks and months, we have used this blog as a mechanism to get you information, to give you a voice on important matters and as a means to make light of the complete dysfunction that exists within the walls of the state capital.  But today, I’d like to share something serious with you.

As you know, we have committed to supporting the right candidates for office. To facilitate that process, we created a Legislative Scorecard (to be released soon) showing exactly how elected officials voted on key issues.  And when you confront “politics as usual”, you are taking on and battling political opponents and entrenched incumbents.  It’s not easy.  People will fight back.  We’ve taken our lumps.  But I am pleased to say that we’ve dished out a few of our own.  But the real “fight” begins now.

Earlier this year we launched UPAC, the political action committee of Unshackle Upstate. UPAC, a completely nonpartisan entity, will be actively supporting a tightly focused group of NY State candidates who want to fix this state and put it back on the right fiscal track and make it work for us.   But we cannot do it alone. To be effective, we need your support. Employers and employees are fleeing New York for economic opportunities elsewhere, driving up unemployment and leaving fewer of us to bear a tax burden that continues to increase despite these economic realities.

Unshackle Upstate created UPAC for the specific purpose of altering this dynamic. Our mission: Reshaping New York’s tax and regulatory structure which today, quite candidly, is extremely hostile toward employers and the jobs they create, as well as to taxpayers. We envision the New York of the future as a state where people can thrive. But to achieve this vision, we need people in elected offices in Albany that truly share our vision and will actively move it forward. We need people who will represent the best interests of New York’s state’s largest special interest group – its taxpayers.

That means we must vote out those who are blocking our recovery…incumbent state legislators whose voting records have empowered the “tax and spend” mentality that has long dominated Albany, whose refusal to adhere to fiscal responsibility and spending restraint demonstrates an openly hostile attitude toward the state’s business and taxpayer community. It also means that we must get solidly behind challengers to those Albany incumbents, candidates who are committed to reining in our state budget.

Please join us today. Make a donation to UPAC (www.unshacklepac.com) and help us bring a new attitude to Albany, a new group of dedicated leaders who will actively support the business and taxpayer community by reducing taxes and creating more private sector jobs. Proceeds from contributions will be used to promote and support candidates across the state who champion Unshackle Upstate’s core ideals

Time is running short, and New York State’s future is at stake.

Help

The other day, I was sitting with my son flipping through stations and we stopped on Nickelodeon.  There was a show on called Rugrats: All Grown Up.  I stopped for two reasons.  The first was because I remember watching the youthful Rugrats with my older son so I wanted to see how they made the transition (don’t ask why I cared).  The second was because it made me chuckle.  I started to think…I wonder what our state government would look like if it ever grows-up?  And you know what? It’s about time that it did.

When our state government grows up…they will realize that we can no longer afford the size and scope of the services provided.  Take, for instance, Medicaid.  At nearly $1 billion dollars a week (it will be more than a billion next year), our Medicaid system (http://bit.ly/dzlXDR) is too costly and needs to be brought in line with what other states are providing.   It has been said that by 2012, potentially 1 out of every 4 New Yorkers will be enrolled in federal/state supported insurance program.  We can’t afford the Mercedez-Benz anymore.  But we can afford a Ford Taurus.

When our state government grows up…they will realize that property taxes that are 79% above the national average (http://bit.ly/b5uGC5)  are too high.  And let’s not offer gimmicky solutions that only move the pieces of the puzzle around.  That’s what kids will do.  Grown-ups would roll up their sleeves, identify the core reasons for the failure and start rebuilding.  It’s what GM just went through and guess what…it was painful, nobody liked it, but GM is again a stable business with a bright future (and I believe has paid back their bail-out money).

When our state government grows up…they’ll stop adding taxes and fees to our energy and our healthcare and insurance industry.  Currently, nearly 25% of every dollar is for taxes and fees (http://bit.ly/bO7oFu).  That’s disgusting.  We (actually it is the insurance companies…but it gets to us eventually) pay more than $4 billion dollars a year in taxes, fees and assessments on health insurance or healthcare.  When health insurance is already so expensive, more taxes, fees and assessments are irresponsible and wrong.

When our state government grows up…debt, borrowing and bonding will not be words they use.  New York’s debt burden is roughly $48 billion dollars.  That means that about 17% of every dollar collected in taxes is dedicated to debt service.  That’s WAY TOO much.  And when you have that much debt, you shouldn’t even consider bonding projects so that you have more dollars available for operations.  And you should NEVER even thinking about borrowing to cover the deficits you refuse to control.

The bottom line is that it is time for our elected officials…all of them…to grow up.  The job you hold is not about you.  It’s about the people who elected you to represent them.  The recent Siena poll is a clear indication that New Yorker’s do not want more taxes, fees or borrowing.  They want the issues addressed, they want real solutions to the problems, and they want them now.

Just like the characters from The Rugrats, it’s time for our government to grow up.  It’s time to stop using our government as your personal playground.

November 2, Judgment Day (http://bit.ly/dmPv2N), is only 108 days away.  Incumbents and challengers alike have 108 days to convince voters why we should elect them to office.   It’s time for the grown-ups to step forward and start making the right decisions for New York.

Let’s clear the air on the debate about property tax relief.  To me, when elected officials talk about relieving some of our property tax concerns, they should be talking about long-term solutions.  Not simply relief for a year, but something that will last for many years.

Yet, members of the Senate and Assembly Majority want you to believe that they are working hard to give you some relief on your taxes.  How are they doing that?  By adding back more than $400M in education spending and telling certain districts that all or part of it needs to get returned to you… the property tax payer.  Yes, that’s right.  They want to add to state spending so that SOME of us can get a rebate check right around election time.  Not all of us… but some of us.  How generous!

The rationale for such a move?  Since most districts have already passed their school budget they are planning on not having the money this year.  They have either cut their budgets or are dipping into reserve funds.  So the state will reinstate some of the education cuts and potentially direct it to you and me.

Friends, I hope you can see what this really is.  It is absolute hogwash and politics at its best.  They are trying to conjure up some good will with the constituents by telling them we got some relief on property taxes.  And that relief will come right before we head to the polls to cast our votes.  How convenient!

Let’s not be fooled by words.  We cannot and should not accept one-time political shenanigans as property tax relief.  If our elected officials were serious, they would have advanced our plan to cap annual increases and remove all unfunded mandates.  At the very least, Senate Majority Leader John Sampson and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver should have accepted the Governor’s budget plan that included a cap.  But they didn’t.  And what they don’t want to tell you is that in their revenue plan is more than $1B in new taxes and fees to cover the increase in spending… the rebate checks.

This fall, don’t be fooled.  If for some reason you do get a “relief” check, remember that the check is covered by more than a billion dollars in new taxes/fees and hidden borrowing (on top of the $8B we got last year).  Don’t believe the words of justification that come from your elected official.  And remember, only in New York could property tax relief be justified by a tax increase.

Judgment Day for the New York State Legislature is coming. The clock is ticking… 124 days and counting.

During crunch time, we put our hopes in the leader to pull out a win – the best athlete on the team, the quickest mind in the office, the most determined member of the family.

Well it’s crunch time for the New York state budget, but unfortunately, we’re not seeing any hero emerging to resolve this crisis. In fact, as a collective group, our elected officials are doing just the opposite.

Let’s take a look at some of the turning points in this game.

For one, the state budget is two months late. Do they act like heroes, dig in with a burst of adrenaline and go for a decisive victory, pull an all nighter to resolve the problem? No, they continue to pass budget extender after budget extender, without passing an actual budget.  Then when the governor’s threatens a government shutdown, they rush to push ahead whatever product they’ve got, whether it’s good or not.

Second, they need to reach a balanced budget and close the mounting deficit. Do they act like CEOs, make the tough decisions and willingly accept the consequences, in other words, cut spending?  No, they spend more to give more, adding new taxes, fees and assessments in a state that already has one of the highest tax burdens in the nation.

Third, they’ve been asked to approve a property tax cap, an idea already proven highly effective in neighboring Massachusetts. Do they recognize a good idea when they see it, give credit where it’s due and give the green light for implementation? No, they look for gimmicks that will make it more popular with certain constituent groups,  like circuit breakers that really are only a shell game benefiting a few.

New York’s families and businesses are struggling under the weight of the greatest property tax burden in the nation – 79 percent above the national average. A tax cap, in our mind, is a highlight of Gov. Paterson’s budget proposal, which must be why the majority leader took it out of his fiscal plan.

Then there’s a whole bunch of other last-minute legislation that hurts Upstate, such as a census change to count prisoners as residents of their original counties rather than as living in the county where they are incarcerated.

Good thing Judgment Day is coming. Only 126 days until Nov. 2 when we as voters can take back our state and choose some real leaders, some real heroes who will be there during crunch time and really deliver.  If you need to know who needs to hear from you TODAY click here. Send your elected officials a message that they either act like clutch players and vote NO on this bloated budget or we’ll send them to the bench, to the unemployment lines come November.

There is a funny thing that happens in Albany around budget time.  There are pieces of legislation that are hiding in the bushes that end up being a tax on you and I.  Some taxes are in your face, while others get to you in a more circuitous route.  And just remember, that even though you can’t see or directly touch a “tax”, there are many of them out there.

Take for example some of the bills that are being considered this week:

Solar Renewable Energy Credits (S.7903-B Thompson/A.11004-A Englebright)

(http://open.nysenate.gov/legislation/bill/S7093B)

Telecom Merger Bill (S.7263 Foley/A.2208-C Brodsky)

(http://open.nysenate.gov/legislation/api/1.0/html/bill/S7263)

Limitations on Greenhouse Gas Emissions (S.4315-C Thompson/A.7572 Sweeney)

(http://open.nysenate.gov/legislation/bill/S4315C)

Now, while some of them may seem like good things, the reality is that they are hidden taxes.  And those hidden taxes will ultimately find their way into our pocketbooks through increased rates for electric, gas and telecommunication services.  Yet, we will hear from the elected officials that the effected company shouldn’t have to pass on those increases to the end user.  That’s hogwash.  Many of the companies that we get our utilities through are either publicly traded and have a responsibility to their shareholders or they are for-profit companies that need to make money to grow and invest in new technology as our demands grow.

Think back to last year.  In the budget bomb of 2009, where we got hit with more than $8 billion in new taxes and fees, there were some clearly in your face increases.  Things like a car registration rate hike, a fishing license increase, and the all too obvious personal income tax increase.  But there were lots of hidden ones.  Take for instance the more than $700 million in changes to healthcare reimbursement rate cuts and increases to carriers.  Now, none of those were directed at you and me.  But guess what?  Nearly every single one of us saw an increase in the rate we pay for our health insurance coverage.  That is a hidden tax.  And then there was the $525 million dollar increase in the 18-A assessment which taxes energy.  Yes, you guessed it.  That is also a hidden tax and many have seen the cost to heat and cool your home and business rise in the past few months.

So as this budget gets finalized, keep in mind the difference between an obvious tax and a hidden tax.  Unshackle Upstate is keeping track of all the taxes and will share them with you.  And when you go to the polls on November 2, remember all of those Senators and Assembly members that voted to pass on taxes to you.  And if your elected officials voted to hit you with more taxes and fees, then you hit back with a no vote for them returning to the Capitol to represent you.  It is time we take responsibility for our votes and make each and every elected official accountable for their actions.

As I left the house this morning, my son was watching an episode of Scooby Doo and of course Scooby uttered his famous line.  I laughed. Yet it reminded me of dealing with our state government. Every time you turn around, there is another bill or budget item that makes you say “ruh roh.”

We were in Albany yesterday partnering with several other business groups advocating that a list of bills we dubbed “Dirty Dozen” be killed off due to their impact on our economy. Our message was well received and we got commitments from several members that they would not support the passage of the bills. That was positive.  And it got a bit better after we met with Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson (no relation) who reiterated his commitment to no new taxes and fees in this year’s budget.  And later on, when we met with Senate Minority Leader Skelos, he also said they wouldn’t support any more taxes or fees. We even had a chance to thank him and his members for recently voting down a budget extender that included a new $2 million dollar tax on manufacturing firms in New York. Yep, you got it, an actual vote against a new tax.  Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, always a champion of Unshackle Upstate and our efforts, was again rock solid with his commitment not to raise state spending or create more taxes and fees. It was great.

But, alas, it wasn’t all good news. We got wind that the budget discussions were moving along and we could be looking at a budget within the next two weeks. And while a budget would mean that we finally have some form of a functioning government, the numbers we heard we startling and appalling.

The rumor was that spending levels would increase by about 4% over the current budget. That would place it somewhere in the $136-137 billion dollar range. Frankly, that’s way too much.  And to make matters worse, instead of actually cutting spending, they are talking about bonding $2 billion dollars of the deficit.  Imagine that.  Instead of cutting spending (not controlling growth– don’t get the two confused– we need actual spending reductions) they want to borrow the money and pay it upcoming years. But even with that, there will still be more tax and fee increases in the budget…perhaps as much as $2 billion dollars. That would be on top of the $8 billion in new taxes and fees they hit us with last year.

Friends, we simply cannot allow that to happen. We need each and every New York resident that has had enough of the tax and spend culture to send a message to their elected official right now.  We don’t have an option. If we don’t raise a stink about this then the numbers I shared earlier will become a reality. We’ve made it easy for you. Just follow this link. And please don’t hesitate.  We really are running out of time to send our elected officials a clear message…we will not tolerate more spending and taxes!!

And while you’re at it, we still need that property tax cap. We have to find a way to start to control the unsustainable growth of school and property taxes. Wow, wouldn’t it be something if in the course of preparing the budget, they actually put a REAL tax cap in place to start providing us some relief? Again, it is easy to tell your elected official you want the tax cap. Just follow this link.

Now is not the time to be bashful my friends. Let’s not put ourselves in a position where a couple of weeks from now, when we are analyzing the budget, and saying “ruh roh.” Now is the time to say we’ve had ENOUGH.

And if they aren’t going to listen, then Judgment Day is coming on November 2, 2010.

Your house may feel warm in the winter, but all of the money you’re paying won’t be going to heat.

Yesterday, the prevailing wages for service workers bill was passed by the Senate, generally along party lines.  Sponsored by Sen. Eric Schneiderman and Assemblyman Michael Gianaris, the bill will extend wage mandate requirements to private businesses with a focus on energy companies.   New York State’s high energy costs did not just occur overnight, but result from an extensive history of being subject to high taxes, fees and regulations in this country.  If enacted, the bill will dictate to many companies across NY that they will need to pay prevailing wage to various levels of service workers.  This bill, if signed, would be another hidden tax on Upstate homes and business owners.

There is good news and the bad news on this bill:

• Good news:  The bill has not yet passed the Assembly
• Bad news: The bill was passed by the Senate last evening.

If the Assembly follows suit and passes this bill, it will mean that each of us will be paying more for our utilities.  This is simply the wrong time to be passing on more wage mandates and hidden taxes.

Keep in mind that state and local government taxes make up more than a quarter of New York electric bills, according to a report released by the Public Policy Institute in March of 2010.  Now with this bill, homeowners and business owners will have to deal with their energy costs going up and the reliability of the energy grid becoming compromised.  While taxes and fees go up, the amount of available resources goes down.  Disasters such as the 2006 Queens blackout and the 2007 explosion outside Grand Central Terminal occurred due to older and out of date equipment.  This legislation will take away some of the critical pieces of New York’s energy production & delivery, which are necessary for the energy infrastructure to be capable of serving the needs of a 21^st century economy.

For your records, the bill was passed along party lines with the Democratic Majority and one GOP Senator (Frank Padavan) all voting for it.  That includes Senators Bill Stachowski, Antoine Thompson, David Valesky, Darrell Aubertine, and Neil Breslin…all of whom are from Upstate NY and supposedly looking out for our best interests.  This is the third time that bills have been passed that will hurt Upstate NY.  That includes:

• The 18A Assessment from last year’s budget was a $575 million dollar tax
• The bill that was passed last week to open all of the State Parks, which included a new tax on some manufactures with the bulk of that tax being covered by Upstate businesses

We need each of you and your organizations to help us continue to battle this bill.  There are three things we need you to do:

1. If your Senator voted no (all GOP Senators except for Senator Padavan opposed the bill), please call them and thank them for supporting their constituents and doing what was right.
2. For those of you that had a Senator vote to pass the bill, call them and remind them that it is the senseless pandering to big, organized labor unions that continue to erode the economy of our state and drive away our private sector jobs and our citizens.  Remind them that this issue will appear on our Judgment Day Scorecard and they will be responsible for their actions.
3. Call your Assembly members and strongly urge them to vote NO on A.10257A.  We need to stop this bill from getting passed in the Assembly and to do that we must begin the calls now.

Now is not the time to be shy my friends.  With roughly three weeks left in this session, there are still many problematic bills that remain in play.  Let’s keep the conversations going and the noise level high… we are united in our efforts to reform NYS Government and make it work for the people.

You should know that this is a scorecard issue for Unshackle Upstate and the Unshackle Army.  Those who took the initiative to oppose this bill will be rewarded with a clearer conscience, while those who were in support will have to suffer consequences for decisions that were made.

We will not forget this when we go to the polls on Judgment Day 11/2/10!

The bubble I am talking about is your property tax bill.  As we continue to battle through another budget, there has been a great deal of conversation about how to lower the burden of property taxes for New Yorkers.

In June of 2008, Governor Paterson issued a report on the effects of property taxes in New York.  In that report he states the following, “The growth rate of property taxes in this state is unsustainable, especially for the elderly, working families and small businesses just starting out. All of us understand that the cap is a blunt instrument, but it is needed to force hard choices and to address the fact that New York’s local tax burden is the highest in the nation. No matter what else happens, the choice of raising property taxes above a capped amount without voter approval is not an option.”

One option that has been advanced is a circuit-breaker.  We have not endorsed this process over a hard property tax cap for three key reasons.  They are:

1. A circuit-breaker reduces property taxes that exceed a certain percentage of a particular taxpayer’s income. Circuit-breakers identify the individual taxpayers for whom property taxes are most burdensome and reduce their tax to a manageable level.
2. New York has 4 million property taxpayers outside of New York City. Depending on how the circuit-breaker was structured, it may only benefit one quarter of those taxpayers, whereas the cap would benefit all of them.
3. This process simply moves the money around.  It’s a shell game and does nothing to get to the root causes of what drives up property taxes.

Unshackle Upstate has recommended a REAL property tax cap proposal that has a proven track record in Massachusetts.  You remember that joke from a decade or so ago when we referred to them as “Taxachusetts”?  Well, when it comes to property taxes we can no longer say that.  Here’s why:

• New York State has the highest local taxes in the United States – 79% above the national average.
• Property taxes are rising at more than twice the rate of inflation and salary growth.
• When property tax rates are calculated as a percentage of home value, the top ten counties with the highest rates in the country are in New York State. In addition, Nassau, Westchester and Rockland Counties are in the nation’s top ten in terms of total household taxes.
  • Outside of New York City, 62% of property taxes are school property taxes. (The remaining 38% is divided among counties, cities, towns and special districts.) Despite record increases in State Aid for Education and funding for the School Tax Relief (STAR) Program, school property taxes continue to rise beyond what many property owners can afford.

We need you to help us get property tax reform enacted in this legislative session.  It’s time to take action and demand that our elected officials enact a tax cap at no more than 2.5 percent NOW! Click here to send a message to your state representatives. We don’t have time to wait for their political gamesmanship to end.

Judgment Day for the legislature is coming… and we are watching.

Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey continues to be a glimmer of hope for those of us in New York.

In my opinion, he has advanced a plan that would certainly stop the bleeding in New Jersey and at least get them pointed in the right direction. He understands that when spending far outpaces revenues you need to cut your spending – not arbitrarily increase taxes and fees. So he continues to ignore taxing recommendations from the public employee unions, such as raising the tax on millionaires. Side note: Remember NY did this in last year’s budget – but millionaires were deemed to be people making more than $200,000 as well as businesses with profits of over $250,000.

In addition to his fiscal controls, Gov. Christie has also embraced a plan put forward by Unshackle Upstate. He believes that all public employees, those that get their pay and benefits from the taxes collected by state and local governments and schools, should be moved out of their current defined benefit plan (fully guaranteed by taxpayers) into a defined contribution plan (a 401K, if you will) for their pensions.

By doing so, you remove a great deal of liability on taxpayers that exists when the investment market (Wall Street) falters, as it has happened regularly over the past 18-24 months. He believes, as we do, that taxpayers can no longer foot the bill for a pension system that is simply not affordable and cannot be sustained.

Now, Christie has advanced one more idea: Having N.J. adopt the same property tax plan that was used in Massachusetts and which dropped their property tax rates from 3rd highest in the country to 33rd.

You’ve heard me talk about this before. It is the same plan that we at Unshackle Upstate have been talking about for months. This plan caps school and property taxes at no more than 2.5 percent annually, allows voters to override the cap if needed or underride it if they feel it is too high, and it prohibits the state from passing on unfunded mandates to local governments and schools. If the state wants a new law in place, state officials have to figure out how to pay for it. It is the plan we in New York state need passed so that we can begin to control property taxes that are 60-70 percent higher than the national average.

Take a moment to click this link and listen to the debate. Listen to what they are saying and ask yourself why they aren’t talking about NY.

Regardless of whether you like him or not, you have to acknowledge that Christie is talking the right game. And not only is he talking, but he is taking action. Upon taking office, he declared a state of emergency and froze all spending. He recently introduced a $29.3B budget that eliminates a projected $11B deficit. In N.Y., the recently lapsed state budget was $131.8B and the projected deficit is $9.2B.

When Unshackle Upstate proposed more than $12B in cuts, we were told that wasn’t possible. We were told that it was too much too soon. Maybe it is, but why can’t we try?

Christie recently told the Wall Street Journal, “You just have to stand and grit your teeth and know your poll numbers are going to go down — and mine have — but you gotta grit through it because the alternative is unacceptable.”

N.Y. will be electing a new governor this fall. Will our new governor grit his/her teeth or simply rollover as others have done? In the coming days, Unshackle Upstate will be asking you what you want our next Governor to do for NY. We’ll take your thoughts and share them with the candidates.

Let’s start telling them now that we need them to grit their teeth and make the tough calls.

Late Monday afternoon, Assemblyman Canestrari stated that he thought a budget wouldn’t get done until June at the earliest.  He indicated that the Assembly, Senate and the Governor are too far apart –  not only on spending cuts but also on increased taxes/fees and borrowing.  That means we’ll see another series of budget extenders next week so that our government can continue to function.  But will it?

Gov. Paterson recently introduced a program bill that would call for a one-day furlough for each week that the budget is late.  Although it is only a one-day program, he has been right in calling for a furlough of state workers to help balance the budget.   The leaders of the public employee unions have snubbed their noses at all of us by refusing to take any furloughs, pay cuts or pass on raises.   Of course, at this point the leaders of both houses of the legislature have rejected introducing furloughs.  They state that the governor has the power to do it if he really wants to.  So today, the governor indicated he would be advancing his furlough plan.

Unshackle Upstate has been pushing for a more comprehensive furlough program.  In our list of budget cuts for this year, we put forth a full 10-day furlough that would have saved the state significant money and help balance the budget this year.  It is time for the governor to be the leader we need him to be and not advance any budget extenders that do not include stronger furlough language.

So, if Gov. Paterson does include his language, the legislature will be forced to do one of two things:

• Accept the budget extenders, start the furlough process and keep government working or;
• Reject the budget extenders and potentially bring state government to a stand-still due to limited funding

This could be a really interesting time within our government.  If the governor finally takes action and puts the furlough language in his budget extender, he will be doing what many have called for…making public employees pay their fair share as we in the private sector have been doing for months.  Employees that are potentially furloughed shouldn’t be angry with the governor or the legislature.  They should be angry with their union leadership that has refused to even discuss the simplest of changes to help the state and thereby forced this move.

But what happens if the governor does put in the furlough language and it is rejected by some rank and file members of the legislature?  Those who oppose the language will be sending us one very clear message: They care more about what the leadership of the public employee union thinks  than they do about you, me and all of our neighbors.

It is time for our elected officials to do what is right for all of us – take on the tough issues, make the tough decisions and start acting like leaders.

So once again we have to ask…does Gov. Paterson have the willingness to act like his colleague, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, and take on the entrenched unions?  And if he does, will a majority of rank and file members join him?  Or could our government potentially grind to a halt?

If that happens, will you remember and act accordingly on Nov. 2 – Judgment Day?