It may not appear on HBO, but this fight will resume in the middle of this week coming to every TV, newspaper and blog near you.  On Sunday, Governor Paterson announced that he is calling the state Legislature into special session to try and reach a final agreement on the 2010/11 budget.  On top of the budget, the governor wants the legislators to also vote on items they previously said no to including: enacting a property tax cap, selling wine in grocery stores, taxing sugary drinks and letting public colleges set tuition rates.

So who are we waiting for? The Senate, who have yet to approve the revenue bill to complete the budget.  Who keeps getting unfairly knocked around? You do! Although we are the ones watching the fight, we are the ones most affected by those in the ring, with high taxes, increased spending and dare I say the b-word…borrowing.

Gov. Paterson also included many of his legislative initiatives from earlier, hoping to put the legislators on the spot if they do not accept his agenda items.

What is the fight about and how long do we have to sit back and watch? Well, the budget the governor wants passed is a $136 billion budget. Not so cheap, is it? Don’t forget the $9.2 billion deficit.  Considering it has taken so long for the budget to be passed, that means more revenue will be needed, with less and less time to raise it.  The revenue bill that the Senate has yet to approve also contains nearly $1 billion in new taxes.  It’s a game of cat and mouse, who’s right and who’s wrong?  If our representatives had really represented what NYS taxpayers need and want, perhaps a stronger and more fiscally sound budget would have been passed already. Wishful thinking.

Paterson’s other agenda items besides those already mentioned, include:

• A contingency plan in case NYS does not receive the $1 billion in Medicaid funding.
• A new program, Energize New York that will replace the Power for Jobs program, which provides more accountability in providing lower cost electricity to selected employers to add or retain jobs.

So tune in today for the fight of the decade….well, the past few months.  Before you get too excited and prepare for the final bell to ring, while the Legislature must report to Albany, they are not required to vote or debate the issues, let’s just hope they do and do it right.

Either way, someone will eventually get tired. Let that be YOU. We have sent them off to Albany, time and time again, to fight for us, some of them instead fight each other or make the fight and focus about their own reelection.  Let November 2^nd really be JUDGMENT DAY! Remember what some of our lawmakers failed to fight for and those who made promises that they couldn’t keep.

It’s time for a 16^th Round TKO. Judgment Day style.

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?

Last week, the Legislature – just returned from a 10-day Passover-Easter break – made little progress toward the 2010-11 state budget, which by law was supposed to be enacted April 1.

Gov. Paterson said that he is preparing new “bare bones” budget extenders to be taken up by the Legislature this week. Both legislative leaders told reporters that while no budget deal is imminent, the budget could be finalized before the end of the month.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, the governor announced that the emergency spending bills he is preparing will not include the money for the 4-percent raises some 100,000 state employees are due. Paterson has already excluded state funding on hundreds of construction projects, delayed $2.1 billion in school aid, delayed income tax refunds and aid to nonprofit groups, and keeping parks closed to help the state pay its bills.

The Public Employees Federation (PEF) and the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) threatened legal action, saying that the Governor’s action violates their respective contracts.

Adding fuel to the budget fire:
• State Comptroller DiNapoli’s report which found that New York State has masked budget deficits and spending growth for more than a decade by shuffling money between accounts, off-loading operational spending to dedicated funds and borrowing.
He said the most common practices used to obtain apparent fiscal balance in a given budget year are “fund sweeps” (which he calls “the fiscal equivalent of robbing Peter to pay Paul”), off-loading general fund spending to hide spending growth, misusing temporary loans and borrowing.

• In a letter dated Mar. 31, federal officials threatened to withhold millions of dollars in state funding if the Paterson administration moves forward with its plan to close parks around the state. National Parks Service (NPS) Northeast Regional Director Dennis Reidenbach wrote that the closure plan could put New York in “non-compliance” with the requirements for taking funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund and Federal Land for Parks Program. The letter said that NPS could also initiate suspension and debarment procedures to have all Federal funds withheld from the State (including housing, transportation, education etc

• On Wednesday, Senate Democrats released a budget reform package, sponsored by Sen. Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan), which provides for long-term financial planning, the use of stricter accounting principles, and mandating stringent standards of accountability for State-financed programs and services.

The plan would establish a two-year budget process; require the use of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP); create a non-partisan Legislative Budget Office (LBO); shift the start of the State’s fiscal year from April 1 to June 1; sunset all tax breaks after 5 years; require a cost-benefit analysis of all of the State’s tax breaks; and create a 15-member Empire State Performance Commission “to design a performance based management and budgeting blueprint to streamline government and end waste and fraud.”

• Senate Republicans criticized the Democrats for failing to follow the 2007 budget reform law – which requires the Legislature to hold public budget conference committees – and said that they should show they can follow the current law before enacting new ones.

Unshackle Upstate will be keeping tabs on the budget debate – and how it will affect you. We’re fighting to lower your taxes, create jobs, and improve New York’s failing economy. You can help by signing on to our cause, and learning more. To get the latest news, join the Unshackle Army, follow us Facebook and Twitter, check out our YouTube channel and watch this blog.

For background, Ravitch last month came out with a five-year plan to stabilize the state’s budget. That plan includes authorizing borrowing as much as $2 billion a year over the next three years to help close the deficit, but also outlines some oversight provisions intended to discipline state spending, such as a new financial review board and covenants that would inserted into any new bonds that would cut off borrowing if state officials did not maintain a balanced budget.

Now as the CEO of a chamber of commerce, my natural inclination is to seek a compromise, to find a mutual ground between what our elected officials can realistically deliver and what is in the best interests of our businesses and taxpayers. So I agreed to give it some consideration.

Then it hit me. What is there to consider? Agreeing to support this plan is like telling your children “Do as I say, not as I do,” a meaningless dictate designed to provide cover for bad actions.

I understand the state’s finances are in dire straits, and that bold action is needed. But why would you want to give more borrowing power to a group of people who have time and again shown a complete lack of restraint in how they spend our tax dollars? You could argue that the controls Ravitch has proposed would take care of that. But then you’d have to say you trust our elected officials to actually abide by those restraints, which is something I’m not willing to do.

Why? Let me explain by using another adage: Judge my actions, not my words. In the case of our elected officials in Albany, there’s a long track record of ignoring financial reality so as to curry favor with certain constituents.

Already, Assembly leadership is tinkering with Ravitch’s proposal, making changes that would give the Legislature greater power over deciding whether the budget is balanced as well as dropping the idea of bond covenants. And the budget proposed by Speaker Silver adds back more than $600 million in education funding that the Governor and Senate had proposed cutting, as well as hundreds of millions of other cuts. Does this sound like a group that you can trust to hold the limit on borrowing and spending?
Even if you don’t like cutting education funds, you have to admit that some of the proposed spending in the state budget is ridiculous, for instance:
• $778,000 on two trailers to allow for family and conjugal visits at the Five Points Correctional Facility,
• $500,000 to conduct an audit the Metropolitan Transportation Authority by the legislature, an authority already being audited by the comptroller, Inspector General, Division of Budget, Fiscal Staff of both houses of the legislature, NYC Office of Management and Budget, MTA Inspector General, MTA Audit Committee, an MTA public accounting firm, and the State Authorities Budget Office

New York state government has a history of robbing Peter to pay Paul. A recent report by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said that over the last decade, state government raided nearly $3 billion intended for programs and services such as road repairs and environmental protection to help close budget deficits. In the 2009-10 fiscal year that expired March 31, the state used about $6.4 billion in these shifts and temporary loans to help close a nearly $18 billion deficit.

DiNapoli said the state has replaced the funding shuffle with new borrowing, which now costs New York about $1 billion a year for debt on bonds used for budget relief. New York’s debt is already three times the national median, and its debt load is expected to increase from $60 billion to $67 billion by 2015.
Unshackle Upstate has a plan to right-size the state budget by 2015, and I’d like to see our elected officials consider that.

As I said, I promised I’d think about the request to support the Ravitch plan. And I did. It’s just that when you really think about it, you realize the only way out of this financial mess New York is in is to insist on no new taxes, no new borrowing – period. The state needs to end the madness, the reckless spending, and learn – like business owners and taxpayers must do – to live within its means.

Or as one fan on the Unshackle Upstate Facebook page implored our elected officials, “More debt/borrowing is NOT a solution! Use some (un)common sense!!”

With that, please see the following Memo in Opposition to the new license plate charge that was contained in last year’s budget.  We were told that it would be removed, but unfortunately is it still there and the state will begin to collect the fee from you when you register your vehicle.

Unshackle Upstate, a bipartisan coalition of over 70+ business and trade organizations representing a growing group of over 70,000 employers and employing upwards of 1.5 million people support the repeal of the $25 fee for the reissuance of license plates that was part of the 2009-10 Enacted State Budget.

Starting on April 1^st, every New York motorists must pay a $25 fee for new license plates when their vehicle registrations are due.  This represents a $10 increase from the current price and a $19.50 increase since 2001.  Furthermore, if you want to keep your existing plate number, it will cost an additional $20.  This new and unnecessary license plate fee is in addition to the 25 percent increase in driver’s license and registration fees that took effect in August.

Moreover, in addition to the new DMV fees, the cost of using our cars on New York State roads and bridges has risen as well.  Recently, the fourth Thruway rate hike in five years went into effect, resulting in a 5 percent increase for all drivers.  This brings the cumulative increase since 2004 to 45 percent for passenger cars.  It is important to note that these toll and fee increases have a disproportionate affect on Upstate New Yorkers, who rely on their cars much more than downstate residents.

In November, after immense public pressure, Gov. Paterson admitted that the proposal was a “revenue grab” agreed to eliminate the new license plate fee requirement if the legislature could “identify real, responsible, recurring alternative savings measures” that would replace the projected $129 million in revenue to the state’s general fund.  Despite this new opportunity, the law remains unchanged and will take effect next month.  No such proposal has been put forward and the New York State taxpayers are set to incur yet another unnecessary tax burden in their everyday lives.

For these reasons, Unshackle Upstate strongly encourages the governor and legislature to implement a repeal of this onerous burden in the 2010-11 Enacted State Budget.

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I noticed the difference during a trip last week to talk with Legislative leadership and representatives of the governor’s office about our local economic development agenda.

On the positive side, I noticed how everyone we talked with seemed to be actually listening, not just being polite. Their attention seemed to be driven by a new respect for Unshackle Upstate, perhaps even a bit of what might be described as “fear” about the impact of our Judgment Day campaign and Scorecard on voter sentiment in the November elections.

That’s all good, because it’s important to remind our elected officials that they work for us, the taxpayers, and that they need to listen to all of us, not just select groups. As voters, we get to choose who we sent to Albany to represent us. The point of Judgment Day is that those legislators who don’t understand the problems caused by New York’s high taxes and stifling business regulations, and aren’t willing to support and work for change, simply don’t deserve – and shouldn’t receive – our votes.

Also good, I heard realistic dialog about the state’s financial problems. In the past, folks at the Capitol paid lip service to the ever-growing budget gap, typically downplaying it and the consequences of state government’s tax-and-spend philosophy. This time, the message seems to have hit home. From Legislative leadership to the executive branch and all points in between, everyone said closing the 2010 budget gap will be difficult and painful.

Unfortunately, the talk stopped there. And that’s what I find disturbing. Sure, they’re kicking around cuts and the usual new taxes and one-shot revenue enhancers to get through this budget cycle.

But no one we spoke with seemed to have the interest or the willingness or feel the obligation to fight for systemic changes that would result in long-term savings for the state, such as reexamining public employee contracts, furloughing state workers (something the private sector has been doing for two years to trim costs), overhauling the Medicaid system, or holding overall state spending absolutely flat.

That simply has to change – immediately. Because the taxpayers of New York simply can’t take it anymore. They, we, deserve better.

And that is what Judgment Day is all about.

Ok, so this may sound strange, but over the weekend I was looking at the proposed budget and something struck me as “off” (other than the whole budget, right)?  I was looking at the proposed mergers and something wasn’t sitting right.  It finally dawned on me late last night.

If you recall, just last year the Governor and Legislature passed Tier 5, the new employee retirement system.  It will save us billions, but not nearly as much as it could have because concessions were made.  One of those was that there would be no lay-offs.  In exchange for that provision, CSEA and PEF, the state’s largest public employee unions, would not fight the bill.  That’s what got me going on the consolidations.  How can you merge agencies, thus creating a savings, without actually eliminating positions?  Isn’t that why you do mergers…to save money by reducing redundancy?

So we checked.  Guess what?  The only reductions appear to be from retirements and not filling current vacancies.  Don’t get me wrong, we support mergers and consolidations.  The more the merrier in many instances.  We need to create efficiency through technological improvements and the use of private sector practices like Lean and Six Sigma.

But the truth is we’ll never get the true cost savings we need if our leaders continue to make concessions with the labor community.  In fact, we’ll leave you with this: when was the last time you read a newspaper headline declaring that the Governor or Legislature had reached an agreement with the taxpayers or business community?  The answer?  Never!

Clearly we have our work cut out for us.  And we won’t back down.  We can’t.  So this is an important week for Unshackle Upstate and for you.  We’ll be announcing two big projects later this week.  These projects will allow us to get you more information and turn up the heat on elected officials that aren’t taking us seriously.  We look forward to being able to share those plans with you on Friday.