GROUPS URGE LEGISLATURE TO REJECT GOVERNOR'S BUDGET

GROUPS URGE LEGISLATURE TO REJECT GOVERNOR'S
CUTS IN EDUCATION, HEALTH CARE AND HUMAN SERVICES
AND MAKE THE BETTER CHOICE FOR NEW YORK

Local and Statewide Organizations Release Data on Impact of State Budget on Education and Healthcare in Oneida-Herkimer Counties

GROUPS URGE LEGISLATURE TO REJECT GOVERNOR'S
CUTS IN EDUCATION, HEALTH CARE AND HUMAN SERVICES
AND MAKE THE BETTER CHOICE FOR NEW YORK

Local and Statewide Organizations Release Data on Impact of State Budget on Education and Healthcare in Oneida-Herkimer Counties

Local and statewide organizations at a news conference yesterday in Utica urged the New York State Legislature to support fair and adequate funding for public schools, and to reject the proposed cuts to human service, youth, and health care programs. The organizations called on State Leaders to make better choices in raising the necessary revenue to continue to fund vital services instead of passing the burden onto local property tax payers. The groups also asked the Legislature to reject increases in sales and other regressive taxes that hurt working families and healthcare facilities. The organizations called for local residents to contact legislators to support a fair budget that preserves services for the most vulnerable citizens while equitably sharing the tax burden among all New Yorkers.

The news conference, which was sponsored by the Utica/Central New York Citizens in Action, Cornhill Community for Change, For the Good, Inc., SENSES, Hunger Action Network of New York State, and the Fiscal Policy Institute, was held at the First Presbyterian Church in Utica as part of a community forum on the New York State budget. Utica City School District Superintendent Daniel Lowengard was also one of the presenters.

Tracy Besancon, Utica/Central New York Citizens in Action Vice President, called for a more balanced approach to the balancing of the state budget. Ms. Besancon stated: “Governor Pataki’s proposed budget makes the Wrong Choices for New York. He places the burden of a $5 billion deficit on the shoulders of our most vulnerable citizens – children, elderly and poor. The Governor has proposed to re-impose a tax on hospitals and nursing homes, significantly cut benefits to public assistance and freeze school aid. Not only do these revenue options target populations with the least ability to fight back, the measures proposed by the Governor to save the state money forces a tax shift to localities and increases the sales tax. The sales tax is a regressive tax which hurts New Yorkers with the lowest incomes. The Governor can pride himself in saying he is not raising taxes, but he is shifting the tax burden to our towns and cities, and to the consumer.”

Data was released which showed that the overwhelming majority of the 26 school districts in Oneida and Herkimer Counties would benefit substantially from a reform of the state’s school funding system that aligns resources with student needs and which establishes a fair division of responsibility between the state government and local school districts for providing those resources.

According to Frank Mauro, Executive Director of the Fiscal Policy Institute, “All of the school finance reform proposals that have been advanced to date recommend that additional resources be provided to school districts with the highest concentrations of needy students. All of these reports have proposed using the percentage of students eligible for free or reduced price lunches (FRPL) as the measure for accomplishing this targeting of resources. On this measure, over 60% of the 26 school districts in Herkimer and Oneida counties have greater concentrations of needy pupils than the majority of the state's school districts. Statewide, 50% of the 680 major regular school districts have FRPL eligibility rates of less than 29%. In the two-county Utica-Rome area less than 40% of districts are in this category. At the other end of the spectrum, over 40% of the local districts have FRPL eligibility rates of 43% or more.”

Utica City School Superintendent Daniel Lowengard said, “In order for the Utica City School District to be a viable place for all children, we must receive our
fair share and adequate funding for our children and our staff."

Healthcare providers are also hit hard in the Governors Executive Budget Proposal. The executive budget proposes $200 million in hospital, nursing home, and home care “sick taxes” and another $83 million in Medicaid cuts to nursing homes.

Ron Deutsch, Executive Director of SENSES, stated that according to data from the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS), “the healthcare facilities in the Mohawk Valley area would lose approximately $1.5 million in revenue by re-imposing the "sick tax" (a tax on hospitals, nursing homes and homecare agencies overall gross receipts) at a time when they can least afford it.”

HANYS figures show that healthcare agencies in the Utica-Rome area would lose the following amounts of revenue if the “sick tax” is re-imposed:

St. Elizabeth Medical Center: $650,000
Alllen-Calder Home and Rehabilitation Center: $286,000
Little Falls Hospital: $107,000
Little Falls Nursing Home: $51,000
Rome Memorial: $272,000
Rome Memorial Nursing Home: $125,000

Governor Pataki is also proposing to implement significant policy changes to the welfare system in New York State. “This is a mean-spirited budget which raises taxes on working families while cutting essential health care and human services. The poor, sick and elderly are being asked to bear the pain of paying for years of tax cuts for the wealthy and corporate welfare for big business,” said Mark Dunlea, Executive Director of the Hunger Action Network of New York State. “Governor Pataki’s proposals to cut welfare programs, totaling $77 million, unfairly target the poor – particularly families with a disabled member and children - while making little impact on a projected $5 billion state budget deficit." Anti-poverty groups oppose the Governor's proposals to cut SSI benefits for the elderly and disabled; harm children by imposing full-family sanctions; take more money away from welfare participants who work; and, cut the welfare grant.

John Furman, President of the Utica/Central New York Citizens in Action, took issue with the proposed elimination of funding for the Youth Employment and Training Program. Mr. Furman said: “The Governor is proposing to cut all funding for the Youth Employment and Training Program which serves 900 youth who are at risk of dropping of high school. This program, which serves about 100 youth in our area, has been successful in helping youth to remain in school. The program pays for itself through reduced incarceration and welfare costs. We are asking that funding for this program be restored to previous year levels.”

The organizations called on State Leaders to make better choices in raising the necessary revenue to continue to fund vital services instead of passing the burden onto local property tax payers. The Better Choice Budget Plan would seek to raise revenue by:

1 Close loopholes that allow multi-national corporations to avoid state taxes by hiding income and shipping profits out of New York – savings $1 billion.
2 Stop sweetheart deals to private consultants that are being overpaid to do the jobs state workers can do better – savings $250 million.
3 Lower drug prices for state and local governments by using New York’s purchasing power to force lower prescription drug prices- savings $1 billion.
4 End the abuse of the Empire Zones and other economic development programs that don’t create jobs - savings $ 250 million.
5 Give back the Nickels. Make the beverage bottling industry return unclaimed bottle deposits – generating $179 million.
6 Make polluters pay for Governor Pataki’s plan to cap carbon emissions – generating up to $500 million.

Citing the work of prominent economists, the speakers reminded Governor Pataki and the Legislature that cutting state and local services during the current jobless recovery will make the economic situation worse rather than better, and that the service cuts proposed by the Governor will have a much more negative effect on the economy than other kinds of spending cuts and most tax increases.