Once again, our state lawmakers are set to shift more costs from the State to the Counties. We all know what kind of mess Albany is in and I cant blame them for looking for looking for ways to cut spending in the face of the 6 Billion shortage in the state budget. But laying the costs of mandated programs at the feet of County Legislators across the state is anything but fair.Today I am focused on the Flexible Fund for Family Services. (Say that one a few times) The FFFS is the funding for New York's most vulnerable population. Housing, food, education and programs aimed at supporting families while preparing them for self sustainability. These programs are also known as Safety Net.
Currently, 97% of the FFFS is regimented very specifically to the programs I just listed with only 3% allotted as discretionary funding for the County to allocate for gaps in services. Both the Assembly and Senate plan to cut $100 million in this area state wide. One house offers a straight cut, the other aims to use stimulus funding for one year before doing the same. Both proposals will have a tremendous impact on the county taxpayers across the state. More so for taxpayers in Kingston and Wawarsing because of our Safety Net burden structure.We passed a memorializing resolution in the Legislature to urge our friends in Albany to reject this short sighted proposal which will only compound the problems already facing taxpayers across the state. These programs are mandated. MANDATED! We must fulfill these duties. Besides, it would be illegal and immoral to abandon our most vulnerable citizens during these tough times.
Proposed by the Health & Human Services Committee chaired by Walter Frey, (pictured right) this memorializing resolution is an attempt to wake up our representatives as to their basic responsibilities at home and get their funding cut priorities straight. I'm sure there are programs out there that could be slashed without placing more stress on smaller municipalities.I have an idea... let us have a look at that list.
11 comments:
It is about time that municipalities stand up and say no more. That means if the state wants to cut funding, then the local municipality should stop providing the service. This has happened over the years in different parts of the state with regard to building code enforcement and the state has been forced to step in and administer the program themselves.
Or you can just pass a memorializing resolution and pick up the slack for the state because "it would be illegal and immoral to abandon our most vulnerable citizens during these tough times", and our state reps will smile, keep cutting and keep campaigning for their own re-election. Just remember, it has been proven that voters aren't smart enough to realize that the state's actions in cases like this that raises their property taxes. So instead of taking it out on the state reps in Novemeber they will take it out on you and your peers.
Your Choice....
No problem for the politically connected in Wawarsing. They just declare their friends and families exempt from county taxes and stiff the rest of the townspeople. Nobody checks on the exemptions to see if they're valid or not. Maybe Auerbach needs to audit the corruption in his own backyard.
here's a program to look at,it's called rupco,there are numerous people on this program getting rental assistance,rupco pays a portion and the tenant pays a portion,guess what,rupco pays,tenant don't,rupco gets called and told hey,some people on your program are not paying their share,rupco says,get this,it's up to you to collect their portion or proceed with eviction,you think they would have said hey,if your not paying, we are not paying,this doesn't make any sense,they cut checks with no accountability
....or the county can do the same and cut costs and the taxpayers can finally get a reduction in taxes instead of the status quo of passing it along. Doesn't that make more sense?
A big AMEN to 10:20!!!! I really fear New York State. This action will only hastening the departure of many from this state and who will be left to tax for this crazy mandate???
Criticize the state for cutting? You can not criticize them for cutting and then curse them for high taxes. The smart thing would be to take advantage and proceed with equivalent cost cutting measures at the county level. The need for those tax dollars will then go away.
I ask you Mr. Madsen, when does the Legislature put the taxpayer first with actions instead of words?
In between black and white are all the colors of the rainbow... Let the auditing continue - in all departments - seriously! And don't forget to include those sitting comfortably [or not so?] on top of this fiscal / ethical disaster..
I doubt Eliott has the balls or the ethical where-with-all to cut off the branch he's standing on. He wants to take over the mantle of that local organized crime family that's crumbling as we speak.
I can only say that I hope that is not true.
Hope is nice but 20 years of watching and waiting has left me cynical. The whole group is doomed and a smart man would heed the warning and take the high road with a little risk rather than face certain ruin politically. I've been in his corner many times to back up what he does in the best interest of the public. I'll be there again if he chooses to stand up for the people.
Didn't Auerbach lie to the Middletown record about the Wawarsing Democratic Committee's endorsement for DA? Now he has a blog entry about the guy he lied about. Even Hinchey tried to back the spoiler. I wouldn't hope too much for any noble works for Elliot. His allegiances are suspect at best.
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