WPCNR COUNTY TICKER From New York Association of Counties. March 4, 2008 (Edited): The 2008-09 Executive State Budget proposes two substantial cost shifts that will be added to county budgets and the local property tax burden. According to county calculations, the Executive Budget will require counties and the City of New York to pay at least $27.5 million in the current budget year and $50 million in the next from an increased share of welfare benefits and the full cost of local youth detention facilities.

Hudson Valley County officials convened in Westchester this morning to hold a press conference to discuss how the cost shifts proposed 2008-09 Executive State Budget would have an immediate and direct impact on New York’s counties and county property taxpayers. The press conference was one of a series of events being coordinated by counties across the state to voice opposition to the costs shifts in the proposed state budget budget.

"The state has traditionally viewed its counties as equal partners in sharing the costs of the public assistance and youth detention programs. But we have never been partners on policy decisions or how to best control costs,” said Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano. “George Steinbrenner and his family own more than 51 percent of the Yankees so they get to make all the spending decisions for the team. If the Governor’s proposed budget stands, it would change the historic state/county relationship by requiring counties to pay the majority share for state-mandated programs. There would be no partnership at all. We would be paying more than the state, but still lack control over management. Steinbrenner would never have allowed this and neither should we."

Spano was joined by Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, who serves as the president of the New York State County Executives’ Association; Rockland County Executive Scott Vanderhoef; Orange County Executive Ed Diana; Putnam County Deputy Executive John Tully; Westchester County Legislators Bill Burton, Peter Harckham and Vito Pinto; NYSAC President Lucille McKnight and NYSAC Executive Director Stephen J. Acquario.

“These are unjustified and unacceptable cost shifts that will have a direct cost to county property taxpayers,” said Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, the president of the New York State County Executives Association. “The property tax burden is already breaking the backs of our homeowners and businesses. The State cannot close the state budget gap by shifting more of the cost to county taxpayers. That burden is already a major cause of our economic stagnation and decreasing population.”

“This is a step in the wrong direction,” said Orange County Executive Ed Diana. “It makes no sense to balance the state budget on the backs of New York State property taxpayers, who are already paying the fourth highest property taxes in the nation.”

"This budget is a direct contradiction of promises the Governor made at the NYSAC conference last year. He said then, and I quote directly from his address - 'Our commitment to reducing unfunded State mandates will be measured not in words, but in dollars.' Either he was disingenuous then, or he doesn't understand his own budget," said Rockland County Executive Scott Vanderhoef.

“There is a direct correlation between the decisions made in this state budget proposal to the local property tax burden in New York State. Even as we try to put the focus on our solving our property tax crisis, state leaders shift more of the burden on our homeowners and businesses,” said NYSAC President Lucille M. McKnight, an Albany County Legislator.

“Most of what we do—as high as 80 percent of our spending—is mandated by the state,” said NYSAC Executive Director Stephen J. Acquario. “When the state unilaterally alters traditional funding partnerships with its local governments, we at the local level have two choices—cut services or raise taxes.”