The process helped 10 regions across the state to create regional plans and identify transformative projects that will lead to private sector job growth. The plans were submitted earlier this month, and while we wait to see which plans will win funding, we’re turning our attention to make the job creation conditions even better for all business by reforming the regulatory environment.

Our suggestions fall into two major buckets: speeding up approvals for economic development projects and improving the overall regulatory environment.

In the first category, we’re seeking changes to the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) Act. We’d like to see definitive timelines and deadlines established for the review process so that projects can get the go-ahead sooner, allowing faster job creation. As part of this, we want to limit the ability of the state Historic Preservation Office to only request archeological surveys for projects that exceed 25 acres. And we’d like to do more to encourage use of the Design Build method of planning to expedite project timelines.

The second category is more complicated and cuts across more programs.

On the list, we must encourage the use of Public Private Partnerships (P3) to facilitate improvements in the infrastructure of New York by passing S.5445/A.8487 – an act to amend the transportation law, the executive law and the public authorities law, in relation to authorizing innovative infrastructure development.

Second, we must find ways to lower energy costs. We’re calling for the state to allow the Article 18A surcharge on energy to expire, phase out the Systems Benefit Charge and encourage improvements in the utilities’ infrastructures and grids.

Another way to lower costs in this state would be to allow SUNY and CUNY institutions systems to lease space to private companies, a move that would encourage more partnerships.

On the subject of Medicaid, we’re calling for a $250,000 cap on medical malpractice claims. As of 2006, 32 states have already passed some form of medical malpractice caps.

And we believe it is vitally important to obtain unified support from across the state for any federally funded projects that will enhance private sector job creation.

The tax cap is moving New York into a brave, new world, one that will allow our state to prosper and grow. Let’s build on this important first step by enacting the business mandate and regulation relief that will make it all work.

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Loss-of-stimulus-cash-to-hurt-state-814681.php

In what is an annual event, the various finance gurus from  the state’s Division of Budget, the Senate, Assembly, and Comptroller’s office get together and forecast the state’s financial picture. Little surprise here – the information is not good.  All agree that the state is facing at least a $9B deficit for next year.  Some say it’s higher.

So what are the root causes? You can boil it down to a few areas:

• Revenues, while up, are lower than forecasted.  Why?  Income tax collections are down.  If you recall, in the 2009 state budget a Personal Income Tax (PIT) increase was passed.  Called the “Millionaires’ Tax,” we were led to believe that people wouldn’t leave because their taxes went up.  Really?  Guess at least some of them did.
• Federal stimulus money will go away.  That means that roughly $5B worth of state spending that was moved over to the stimulus program (even though we were told it wasn’t and that the state actually cut spending) will now be coming back.  That includes about $4B for Medicaid and $1B for education.
• Speaking of Medicaid, the projections are now that nearly 1 out of every 4 New York residents will receive some form of assistance in 2011-12.  All told, the Medicaid rolls have grown by 700,000 during the past three years.  While I understand that the recession has been longer than anticipated and people need help, this isn’t the solution.

In a statement yesterday, Comptroller DiNapoli said “It is time to take off the rose-colored glasses and face the grim economic reality.  We cannot allow this year’s problem to fester. Doing so will only make these problems that much harder to deal with.”

Unshackle Upstate couldn’t agree more. it is time for the re-elected and newly elected members of the Senate and Assembly to heed the comptroller’s recommendation.  We simply have to stop this practice of kicking the can down the road, of waiting until tomorrow to find answers to our problems.  The only solution for our economic woes is to lower spending, reduce taxes and fees, and stimulate private sector jobs.  Anything less is just unacceptable.

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.

As we shared with you this week, Upstate NY is home not to just nine, but now the 10 highest-taxed counties in the country as a percentage of home value. What does that mean? Those of us in Upstate NY now pay more in taxes for the same priced home than most of the rest of the country. Isn’t that a great distinction to have?

People wonder why are our taxes so much higher? We don’t have enough time to cover all of the reasons, but here are a few:
• Education: we pay more per capita than any other state, yet our results are not commensurate.
• Medicaid: at roughly $51 billion, NY’s Medicaid budget is larger than the entire budget of more than 40 states.
• Labor: NY has far too many public employees who have an expensive pension system supported by taxpayers.

The three areas listed above account for roughly 66 percent of state-controlled spending. And they all deal with people and services. So the concept of cutting into those services makes some elected officials very nervous. That often leads to other “solutions” that entail giving something back to taxpayers, while failing to fix the real core issue of what is driving up our taxes.

In this instance, the property tax “reform” that is holding up the budget in the Senate is a rebate program they propose to give to a very small segment of the population. Not one that is given to all of us…just a few of us. And that simply won’t work for us. We need concrete changes to alter the course of property tax rate increases.

Unshackle Upstate has advanced a bill that will do just that. We have presented a plan that will not only make our property taxes predictable, but will also lead to long-term reductions in spending, and thus a decrease in our property tax burden.

What is the plan? It includes:
• An annual property tax cap that will not exceed 2.5 percent.
• An annual school tax cap that will not exceed 2.5 percent.
• Mandate relief so the state cannot adopt new laws that pass cost down to local governments and schools.
• The ability for voters to override the cap for one year to allow special projects, emergency needs, etc.
• An underride provision that will allow voters to offer a cap lower than 2.5 percent.

The plan mirrors one that was passed in Massachusetts several years ago. And what happened in Massachusetts? The state we used to call Taxachusetts? They went from 3rd to 33rd in property taxes and it did not affect their school performance, with their students scoring well on national tests.

Better options exist then simply applying a Band-Aid to the gaping wound of property taxes. It is time for our elected officials to look at what other state governments have done to fix their ills.

We need real leadership on this issue. Who will come to rescue?

“…The bankruptcies extend to the usefulness of the governor and the legislative bosses. Albany is fresh out of leadership by Paterson and fresh out of vision and courage on the parts of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Senate Democratic Conference chief John Sampson and Senate Republican Minority Leader Dean Skelos.

Having overspent for years, having gotten through by borrowing and gimmickry, they shrink from the hard decisions that have been thrust upon them by an economic downturn that has irreparably cut the pins out from under New York.  Most outrageously, they won’t consider adopting honest accounting and slashing expenses that are unaffordable in Albany and in local governments…”

Image courtesy of the Empire Center’s Blueprint for A Better Budget

So what are some of those unaffordable expenses?  Lawrence Mone, president of the Manhattan Institute for Public Policy framed them nicely in a New York Post article from today:

“Are New York’s schools 65 percent better than the national average? Are our hospitals 73 percent better or our prisons 63 percent better? For that matter, is our Legislature 161 percent better than the average state’s? Because, on average, we spend more than the other states.”  For instance,  Mone writes, we spend:

• $15,987 per pupil on K-12 education, more than any other state.
• $7,927 per Medicaid enrollee, second highest in the nation, 73 percent above the national average.
• $36,835 per prison inmate, fifth among the 50 states.
• $989,892 per member of the Legislature on the budgets for the state Assembly and Senate.

So it comes as no surprise to us that we have a leadership void in this state and as a result, our spending is out of control.  But the articles got me thinking…what does it mean to be a leader?  What defines a leader?  What makes them different from every other person?  And why is leadership so difficult when it comes to politics?

According to Webster’s dictionary, the basic definition of leadership is the capacity to establish direction and to influence and align others toward a common goal, motivating and committing them to action and making them responsible for their performance.  From that perspective, someone like Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is a leader.  He has a goal, he motivates his members to agree with him by keeping a firm grip on the money and who gets it and as a result their action supports his goal.  That’s a leader right?  The same can be said for many political leaders across generations.  And as we have seen, political affiliation doesn’t matter.

But let’s focus on some real leaders.  People who took on unpopular positions, knowing there would be fallout, yet forged ahead to fix something that was so clearly broken.  Here in New York, we can point to our own Susan B. Anthony and her work on women’s right to vote.  Nationally, we think of Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks and the civil rights movement of the 1960’s.  Those are people who took on the status quo because they knew it was wrong.  They put their personal safety aside and stood tall in the face of adversity.  Those are true leaders.

Some are going to say that those are social issues and politics is different.  But are they really all that different?  I’d say they are not. There are winners and losers in both.  You make friends and enemies regardless of what you do.  And yet, in the end, things can and will get done when a leader stands up and demands that things be changed.

What New York needs now, more than anything else, is a leader.  Someone who is willing to tell their “leadership” that more spending, more taxes, and more debt is wrong and they won’t support it.  Someone who understands we have suffered a crushing tax burden for decades and that it needs to be lowered.  Someone that will do what New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is doing – acting in a way that demonstrates that  the status quo is no longer allowed by addressing systemic failure now.

Everyone is watching to see where the Legislature will take us.  Will it be known as the elected body that finally got state spending under control? Or will it continue us on the current path of reckless spending and high taxes?  Are there leaders out there willing to stand up for you, me and every other taxpaying citizen that has said enough is enough?  Who will be our Chris Christie?