New York State Assembly

As winter bears down on the Northeast, imagine the possibility of having to clear a couple of feet of snow with a shovel from your driveway year-round - sounds exhausting, right? Unfortunately, that is exactly the situation facing local municipalities and school districts across the state as Albany continues to dump piles of burdensome unfunded mandates with no end in sight.

AS MANDATES MOUNT, TAX BILLS GO UP

An unfunded mandate is a policy or regulation that requires a local government to perform certain actions without providing funding to fulfill the requirement. As unfunded mandates rise, costs increase for localities. As a result, those localities are forced to increase property taxes on homeowners. I have introduced and supported legislation that would relieve the mounting pressure from unfunded mandates.

• The "Taxpayer Protection and Mandate Relief Act" (A.6546, Kolb) prohibits any new unfunded mandates; freezes county Medicaid costs at their current level; allows counties to opt out of optional Medicaid services; caps state spending; and

• Places a three-year moratorium on any unfunded state mandates on local governments and school districts; requires fiscal impact notes on bills; and requires the Mandate Relief Council to review existing mandates to determine which shall be eliminated (A.6343, Oaks).

MISSED OPPORTUNITY TO ASSIST NEW YORKERS

Assembly Majority members on the Local Governments Committee voted against these two bills earlier this week. This marks another inexplicable rejection by members of the Assembly Majority of common-sense measures that would directly help put dollars back into taxpayers' pockets.

Localities and taxpayers can no longer be asked to shoulder this load at an increasingly unsustainable rate. There are more than 40 state unfunded mandates that must be paid using local tax dollars. The most costly state mandates include:

• Medicaid - Annual county cost statewide is $8.9 billion;
• Preschool Special Education - Annual county cost statewide is $707.9 million;
• Safety Net Program - Annual county cost statewide is $997 million;
• Child Welfare - Annual county cost statewide is $800 million;
• Early Intervention Program - Annual county cost statewide is $330 million;
• Indigent Defense - Annual county cost statewide is $300 million;
• Probation - Annual county cost statewide is $340 million;
• Community College Funding - Annual county cost statewide is $520 million;
• Public Health - Annual county cost statewide is $388 million; and
• Pensions - Annual county cost statewide is $900 million, excluding New York City.

Incredibly, that totals more than $14 billion that counties must pay to fund programs under New York State law. With just over 19.5 million people living in New York, that equates to an annual tax bill of $721.77 for every person to cover just 10 of the costliest state mandates.

It's painfully clear why New York continually ranks among the highest taxed and as having one of the nation's most unfriendly business climates - unfunded mandates. What's so disheartening, and frankly disappointing, is the Assembly Majority's opposition to common-sense legislation to relieve this growing burden on our financially-strained municipalities. Simply put, taxpayers in New York deserve better.

What do you think? I want to hear from you. Send me your feedback, suggestions and ideas regarding this or any other issue facing New York State. You can always contact my district office at (315) 781-2030 or email me at kolbb@assembly.state.ny.us.