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WPCNR ALBANY ROUNDS. From Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Press Office (Edited)January 5, 2011:

Governor Andrew Cuomo established by executive order two commissions today, the Spending and Government Efficiency Commission to reduce the number of agencies,authorities and commissions by 20%, and the Medicaid Redesign Team to “find ways to save money within the Medicaid Program in fiscal year 2011-12. The governor also outlined a fiscal plan to close the $10 Billion deficit.

In a local note of interest,Larry Schwartz, former Deputy County Executive to former Westchester County Executive,Andrew Spano will chair the “Mandate Relief Redesign Team” to “review unfunded mandates imposed” by the state. Schwartz will be running a team that will include representatives from private industry, education, labor, and government to identify ways to reduce costs.

The Details:

Declaring New York State at a crucial crossroads, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today outlined during his first State of the State Address an action plan to fundamentally transform New York State’s government and economy by getting the state’s fiscal house in order, radically redesigning our governmental structures and operations, and restoring integrity and performance to state government. Governor Cuomo noted that the decisions we make now will impact our State for decades to come.
 
“We must turn this crisis into an opportunity to fundamentally remake our state into the progressive capital of the nation,” Governor Cuomo said in his message to the legislature. “We must seize this moment to build a new New York for future generations.”
 
In the first State of the State message open to the public and the first using internet-age technology to deliver the presentation, Governor Cuomo said he would open up government to the public and work in partnership with all stakeholders to address the serious fiscal challenges facing New York State and its local governments.
 
“We must transform the State of New York from a government of dysfunction, gridlock and corruption to a government of performance, integrity, and pride,” Governor Cuomo said. “This is not about budget trimming or cutting, it’s about looking at how we can fix government and make it work for the people. Together, we must take the significant steps needed to reinvent, reorganize and redesign government to restore credibility and to rebuild our economy by creating jobs all across this State.”
 
In light of the enormous fiscal challenges facing New York, Governor Cuomo’s agenda relies on rethinking core government operations and economic development strategies to provide better results and to maximize resources.

“We must begin by confronting honestly the challenges we face. Change is not easy, but we must change to return to prosperity,” Governor Cuomo said.
 
Governor Cuomo outlined the following initiatives as part of his State of the State message:
 

Under the Governor’s order, the Team is to begin work no later than Friday, Jan. 7, and must submit its first report with findings and recommendations to the Governor by March 1 for consideration in the budget process.
 

• Providing Mandate Relief: Governor Cuomo today issued an Executive Order creating The “Mandate Relief Redesign Team” (“Team”) to review unfunded and underfunded mandates imposed by the New York State government on school districts, local governments, and other local taxing districts.
  
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• The Team, chaired by Senior Advisor to the Governor Larry Schwartz, will include representatives from private industry, education, labor, and government and look for ways to reduce the costs of mandated programs, identify mandates that are ineffective and outdated, and determine how school districts and local governments can have greater ability to control expenses. The Team will begin working by January 7, 2011 and will submit a first set of recommendations to the Governor by March 1, 2011 for consideration in the Fiscal Year 2011-12 budget process. The Team will continue its review until the end of Fiscal Year 2011-12.
  
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• Redesigning Local Governments: Governor Cuomo is creating a program to reward local governments that save money by rightsizing. The Citizen Re-Organization Empowerment Grants will provide up to $100,000 to cover all or part of the costs of merger and dissolutions studies.
  
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• Redesigning Education: Noting that New York is first in spending but 34th in results, Governor Cuomo proposed restructuring a portion of our education aid to create incentives that reward school districts for improving student performance and implementing management efficiency policies.
  
• Transforming the ethical environment in Government. Governor Cuomo’s “Clean Up Albany” agenda includes instituting campaign finance reform to include a system of public financing for elections, limiting contribution levels, creating an independent redistricting commission, create independent monitoring and enforcement of ethics laws; and requiring full disclosure of outside income and clients. Governor Cuomo also proposed to outlaw “pay to play” to limit the impact of special interests, strip pensions for public officials convicted of a felony for abusing the public trust; and improving government performance and transparency through technology.

Transforming New York’s Economy:

Governor Cuomo said, “Business built New York, and we are declaring that New York is once again open for business.”
 
Governor Cuomo said that restoring the State’s historically thriving private sector will require holding the line on taxes and working to lower taxes in the future. His economic development agenda seeks to help government to be job facilitators and not frustrating job creation through the following initiatives:
 

• Creating regional Economic Development Councils: Noting that those working at the local level know their area economies best, he will create regional economic development councils to work with state agencies to allocate resources. To ensure that state agencies and the councils are working to create jobs, Governor Robert Duffy will lead these councils, which will be drawn from the private sector, local governments, state agencies and academic institutions.
  
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• Fixing the recently-enacted Excelsior Tax Credit Program: Governor Cuomo proposed to revise the recently enacted Excelsior Tax Credit Program to produce better results for New Yorkers. His proposals would restructure the value and length of the tax credit to provide greater incentives for job creation; restructure incentives for improving properties; pay credits as job-creation milestones are met rather than at the end of the proposal; expand research and development tax credits; and streamline the application and approval process.
  
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• Create a permanent Power for Jobs Program: To help keep manufacturers in New York State, Governor Cuomo introduced a permanent Power for Jobs program to provide predictability and stability of supply with long-term contracts, and incorporate efficiency incentives to reward improvements.
  
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• Enacting Property Tax Relief: Governor Cuomo’s property tax cap will set the cap at the rate of inflation or two percent, whichever is less; prohibit any property tax levy above the cap unless endorsed by both by the local governing board and a 60 percent majority of the people during an election; and provide only limited exceptions such as extraordinary legal or capital expenditures.

Making New York the Progressive Capital of the Nation

Governor Cuomo seeks to reclaim its status as the progressive leader in the nation in the following ways:
 

• Better protecting consumers and investors: A newly-formed Department of Financial Regulation will merge the Insurance Department, Banking Department and the Consumer Protection Board to better regulate modern financial services organizations. A primary mission will be to stand up for consumers, protect them from predatory lending and unlawful foreclosure practices, and provide access to good, honest and capable financial services at competitive rates.
  
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• A cleaner, greener environment: Governor Cuomo will create the “NY Cleaner, Greener Communities Program” to provide competitive grants that will encourage communities to develop regional sustainable growth strategies in housing, transportation, emissions control, energy efficiency. The program will emphasize revitalizing urban areas through smart growth, creating green jobs, building green infrastructure including roof and rain gardens, and strengthening environmental justice and protection.
  
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• Expanding Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (MWBE) support: Of the 1.9 million business entities operating in New York State, more than 50 percent are owned by women or minorities. The vast majority of these companies are small businesses and a critical driver of the New York State economy.
  
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• To ensure that MWBE’s have the opportunity to earn their fair share of the State’s business, Governor Cuomo directed State agencies to double the current MWBE participation goal from 10 to 20 percent and ease bonding restrictions that they will face and expand the Owner-Controlled Insurance Program model to expand opportunities for small businesses.
  
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• Juvenile Justice Reorganization: With a goal of reducing wasteful spending, Governor Cuomo will undertake an immediate reorganization of the State’s youth detention facilities with the goal of consolidation, while providing current staff the priority for relocation to other facilities, retraining and/or reemployment opportunities. He proposed a repeal of the requirement mandating a 12-month notice requirement to close facilities to avoid keeping facilities open that have few or no children.
  
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• Expanding fresh food into urban centers: To help revitalize urban areas and develop markets for New York farmers, Governor Cuomo will seek ways to expand the presence of locally-grown food markets in urban areas. This will include working to revitalize the Hunts Point terminal Produce Market in the Bronx, which supplies a large portion of the produce for New York City’s and the region’s food consumption, and creating a “Share NY Food” Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program that develops partnerships with farmers and residents to expand access and resources and make fresh food available to consumers in urban areas.
  
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• Providing for marriage equality for all New Yorkers: To end discrimination against same–sex couples who wish to get married, Governor Cuomo called for the passage of legislation legalizing marriage for same-sex couples as has been done in many states and other countries.
  
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• Protect Reproductive Rights: To protect a woman’s right to choose options in the face of an unplanned or problem pregnancy, Governor Cuomo will fight for passage of reproductive rights legislation to protect the fundamental right of reproductive freedom and a woman’s right to make private health care decisions.

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WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From County Board of Legislators. January 3,2011:

The Westchester County Board of Legislators today announced that the special election to fill a seat vacated in the 12th County Legislative District will be held Tuesday, February 15, 2011.

The seat was vacated when Assemblyman Tom Abinanti was elected to serve in the New York State Assembly and resigned his seat within the Legislature.

The 12th district in central Westchester includes Irvington, Dobbs Ferry, Hastings on Hudson, Ardsley and Greenburgh.

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WPCNR AIRWAVES. January 3, 2011:

Dan Schorr, the former candidate for Westchester County District Attorney is beginning a new weekly radio program on WVOX, Radio 1460.

“Crime and Justice with Dan Schorr” will air on Tuesday evenings and focus on the criminal justice system in Westchester and beyond.  The premiere will be tomorrow, Tuesday, January 4 from 7pm-8pm with special guest White Plains Public Safety Commissioner David Chong.  Listeners can call in with their questions at 914-636-0110.

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WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From Tara L. Martin, County Board of Legislators. December 30, 2010:

Today, Westchester County Board of Legislators Chairman Ken Jenkins (D-Yonkers) released a statement condemning Westchester County Executive Robert Astorino for his useless veto of the county’s tax levy.  The FY 2011 tax levy – which will deliver a 2.25% tax cut to all Westchester residents – was approved by a vote of 10-1 on December 27.  The final approved budget was adopted on December 23, when the Legislature overrode 249 of Mr. Astorino’s 260 vetoes.

In an interview with Tara Martin, spokesperson for the Board of Legislators, Martin said the Astorino veto was described as “symbolic” by Ned McCormack, the Director of Communications for the County. She also said that unless Mr. Astorino filed a Show Cause Order the tax levy would go into affect midnight tomorrow night. “He has 24 hours to decide what he (Astorino) wants to do. It’s illegal.(The Astorino veto)”

Jenkins in a statement said:  “It would appear that Mr. Astorino and his advisors need to brush up on their knowledge of the County Charter.  In Section 167.111, it clearly states that ‘when the county budget shall have been finally adopted, an appropriation act for such budget shall be passed by the County Board and taxes for the ensuing year, including state, county and special district taxes, shall be levied not later than December 28th. The County Board shall levy, assess and cause to be raised by tax upon real property liable therefore the amount of taxes determined by such budgets and in the manner provided for the levy of state and county taxes.

The Budget Act is not a normal Act.  The Budget Act is very specific in the actions that can be taken.  Mr. Astorino exercised his Charter authority to veto line items within 5 days of receiving the approved budget from the County Board.

The budget was not finally adopted until December 23, 2010 until his 260 line item vetoes were considered by the County Board.  The required Tax Levy Appropriation Act is ministerial, a result of the final adopted budget, beginning with the recommended budget, additions by the Budget and Appropriations Committee, deletions to the recommended budget and sustained vetoes.   In fact, the Budget Director develops the Tax Levy Appropriation Act and the Legislature is required to adopt such appropriations Act by December 28.   This is the Charter role and sole responsibility of the Legislature.

There is nothing for Mr. Astorino to approve, the news release states.

With regards to Mr. Astorino’s outrageous assertions in relation to the Budget process, every detail of the budget process as outlined in the County Charter was followed.  The Minority caucus chose not to make any additions to the budget.  The Budget and Appropriations Committee spent 3 weeks hearing presentations from the Commissioners and Department heads. 

Over 2,000 people participated in the public hearing process and the County Board web-streamed the committee meetings live and have all the sessions available on-demand.  The Budget and Appropriations Committee worked throughout the year, having regular meetings with the various County departments in fulfilling the role of the County Board in providing oversight of the County budget.  This budget is balanced, accessible and transparent.

Frankly, it is my expectation that in the ensuing year, Mr. Astorino’s administration will be more participatory in the open and transparent committee structure of the Legislature where his proposed initiatives will be vetted in public where good public discourse could take place.

Finally, I think it is completely counterproductive that Mr. Astorino and his staff to continue to use inflammatory and malicious language in various policy debates.  The people of Westchester expect their elected officials to be leaders and to act responsibly and respectfully while we develop creative solutions to Westchester’s challenges.

Reasonable people can disagree without being disagreeable and offensive.”

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WPCNR WINGS, WHEELS & RAILS. From the Metro-North Commuter Council and the Long Island Rail Road Commuter Council. December 29, 2010: