It’s a quaint notion that the state legislature may be working for the best interests of the people of the beleaguered state of New York, rather than trying to score political point after political point. In this case, the multibillion dollar deficit that New York State is facing and cannot maintain is being addressed in special session, and there’s typical sniping and stalemate. Par for the course for the most dysfunctional, useless state government in the history of state governments.

Is there ever good news that can come out of this place? While about-to-be-Senate-minority-leader Dean Skelos sits on his hands, Governor Paterson is sounding a lot like the principal who just caught the Republicans spraypainting graffiti on the side of the school. Paterson has called off a planned vote, and will try to get leadership back for negotiations:

His announcement came around 9:20 p.m., after an evening of roundabout posturing between both Republican Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat, in which it became apparent that no existing bill could pass both houses.

Skelos, who has become an increasingly prickly thorn in Paterson’s side, called the governor’s bluff and said he would respond by bringing draft legislation to a floor vote. Skelos said he personally would not vote for Paterson’s plan because it calls for mid-year cuts to education, but claimed that he instructed senators to vote as they pleased. Observers - including the governor - realized this doomed the legislation.

And it infuriated Paterson.

“All of this back-and-forth and he-said she-said is not helping anybody,” Paterson said during a press conference attended by four reporters in the flesh and several others teleconferenced in from a local wine bar. “This is the way that good-faith efforts are manipulated by people who are not being serious.”

…and why, pray, do the Republicans oppose this bill?

Since the package was unveiled last week, it was lambasted by Skelos and other Republican senators because it cut aid to schools. Skelos also said he believed the cuts for the next fiscal year should be addressed in December, when Paterson is due to unveil his complete budget.

Last week, Skelos denounced Paterson’s proposal, saying “I don’t see anything creative in this proposal. It’s just hack away, hack away.”

Monday, he attacked the governor for only presenting draft bills.

That criticism may have seemed foolish, given complete drafts that were posted online for a week. But the distinction is important: draft bills can be negotiated, but not formally considered. Since it’s his special session, Paterson sends the bills (and the required message of necessity to waive a three-day waiting period) to the legislature to consider. So Skelos can’t force a vote on the bills - a vote which would embarrass the governor - unless Paterson gives him something to vote on.

And the governor won’t do that. “I’m not going to do that until we have a public leaders meeting,” he said. “I am willing to send bills for a vote if the senate is interested to cut spending in the state of New York.”

He had choice words for Skelos: “He has decided to play this political game, which I think is an insult not only to the public of the state of New York but really to this entire process.”

The Republicans are against spending cuts and are against a reduction of the state budget. That’s what this all boils down to, as far as I’m concerned. This is lame-duck about-to-be-minority posturing by Skelos and the Senate Republicans (Ranzenhofer will fit right in, with the empty naysaying and minority status).

Naturally, Skelos’ motivation is pure like the driven snow:

An actual senate vote on Paterson’s plan would bring political pain. Democrats who go on record on behalf of the cuts would be blasted by interest groups and unions. If they vote against them, they’ll have run afoul of Paterson.

But Skelos has little incentive to agree to anything. The longer he waits, the longer he can make Paterson and other Democrats push for either cuts to beloved services or tax increases that may hurt them politically. While this will cause the state’s financial health to deteriorate further - Paterson and fiscal officials warn the state’s credit rating may slip - it will strengthen Skelos’s hand as Republicans try to win back the senate.

Time to make tough decisions. We all want and expect Albany to get to it. The crowd at dysfunction junction need to start considering fewer band-aids and instead reduce the size and scope of New York State government at a very fundamental level. Otherwise, we’re going to be even more doomed than we’ve been over the past several decades.

The Comptroller’s office has enrolled in a program to pay county vendors using a Visa transaction. Press release:

Erie County Comptroller Mark C. Poloncarz today announced a partnership with Bank of America (“BoA”) in which participating County vendors will receive their payments electronically and in so doing, generate additional revenues for the County while expediting the vendors’ payments.

During the past six months, Poloncarz’ office has been working with BoA to develop and offer an electronic payment (“e-payables”) program to the County’s vendors. Through the e-payables program, instead of receiving paper checks from the County sent via US Postal Mail, enrolled vendors receive their County payments through a Visa credit card transaction. These transactions reduce the time for the vendors to receive their payments. In addition, the e-payables program saves the County money by having fewer paper checks printed and mailed, including reduced labor expense.

The program also involves BoA providing the County with an annual cash rebate for utilizing the e-payables process. Based on the initial enrollment of County vendors representing more than $50 million in payments, in 2009 the County is projecting receiving a rebate of more than $458,000, with the potential for a larger rebate as payments to enrolled vendors increase.

“I am delighted to report that through our partnership with BoA, my office will not only help reduce County expense, but help generate new revenue,” said Poloncarz. He added, “This program will speed payments to our trusted vendors as well as provide a new revenue stream to assist the County in our operations.”

The first e-payables transaction occurred on November 6, 2008. The County expects additional vendors will participate in the e-payables process moving forward. Vendor participation is voluntary.

Poloncarz concluded: “This is a win-win for vendors and the County taxpayers.”

From the New York Times:

Gov. David A. Paterson dropped the budget hammer on Wednesday, proposing $5.2 billion worth of cuts over the next 16½ months, with Medicaid and education, the two largest pieces of the budget, bearing the brunt of the pain.

The governor said he would not seek layoffs, but state workers are being asked to forgo a previously negotiated 3 percent pay raise for next year, a move that would require the labor unions to reopen their contracts. Labor leaders have already expressed reluctance to make such a move. The governor is also proposing to make state workers pay for a greater part of the bill for their health care benefits.

The governor said during a press conference on Wednesday morning that Wall Street had “bailed us out” for years, but “now the well has run dry” amid Wall Street’s turmoil and the state must halt its free-spending habits.

“We’re not going to get out of this quagmire we’ve built until we reduce our spending,” he said.

The budget is $1.5 billion short this year and expected to be over $12 billion out of whack next year, and by law it must be balanced. The unions have “started to lay the groundwork for a fight” about it, which must mean they’re getting ready to SCREAM BLOODY MURDER!@$@$!!!

The tuition bill for SUNY schools will go up, and aid to cities and schools will go down. Medicaid and other health care programs will also come under the axe.

While I joke about the failidity of this, one holds out hope that some prudent slashing now will prevent future panicky budget explosions.

Right?

At 5pm on the fourth floor of Old County Hall at 92 Franklin Street, the Erie County Legislature will hear from practically every single group that gets so much as a penny of county money. Culturals, health clinics, refugee agencies, libraries, animal shelters, etc. will all be represented in what will surely be a standing room only meeting.

As Matt Spina writes in the News:

Erie County lawmakers are expecting a full house for their public hearing Wednesday on the 2009 budget, which cuts aid for some community programs, such as Cornell Cooperative Extension, and raises taxes, fees and the salaries for some top department heads.

Lawmakers already are dialed into the Cooperative Extension’s problems, which would include the elimination of its 4-H Youth Development program, Master Gardeners, Eat Smart New York Nutrition program and the Heat Smart New York program if the extension loses a $295,000 grant from the county.

Meanwhile, lawmakers hope to reduce the tax increase. The budget proposed by County Executive Chris Collins requires about 8 percent more in property tax revenues over last year, when not including the property tax money set aside for the Buffalo and Erie County Library System. However, the increase in the tax rate amounts to 3.6 percent.

Collins says that adds just $18 a year to the county tax bill on a $100,000 home.

Collins did, indeed, pledge during his campaign that a tax hike was not on his agenda, yet here we are. What I’d love to find out, and I don’t know if it’s been released or studied in any meaningful way, is how much waste and inefficiency have been excised from county government through Six Sigma implementation or from city government through CitiStat. What I’d also like someone to point out is that the county charter was amended a year or so ago to mandate a performance-based budget. The 2008 budget was not, nor does the 2009 budget appear to be, performance-based. So how is it legal? It’s violative of the fricking charter - the county’s constituent document.

I’d also like to know why some department heads and other Collins appointees deserve a massive raise - a RAISE - when the county budget is such that a tax hike is necessary? If one is running county like a business, don’t you defer the raises until they’re revenue-neutral? A politician raises appointee pay in a year when services are being slashed and tax hikes are needed - a politician does it to guarantee loyalty.

So tonight, all and sundry will complain, beg, and cajole. Bring popcorn.

Liz Benjamin at the Daily Politics has the painful facts:

Calling the fiscal crisis facing New York “unprecedented,” Gov. David Paterson today called on legislative leaders to whack another $2 billion from the current budget when they return to Albany Nov. 18 for their second emergency session in three months and stressed that nothing is off the table when it comes to cuts…

…Paterson revealed the state’s four-year deficit projection has grown to a whopping $47 billion from $22.6 billion in July. That is the largest cumulative deficit in state history.

According to the state Budget Division, while the current deficits are the largest in absolute dollars in history, as a percentage of the general fund budget, they are similar to those faced in 2003-04.

In that year, the state closed an $11.2 billion budget gap, which represented 28.4 percent of the then $39.5 billion general fund.

Governor Paterson says that nothing - nothing - is sacred, and everything is up for discussion. Oh, and he’s going up to Capitol Hill to ask for a bailout of New York State. FAIL.

If you have no job and/or all the time in the world, here’s a copy (.pdf) of the proposed 2009 Erie County budget that Chris Collins released yesterday.

The budget contains a 3.6% increase in property taxes, and cuts out funding to Vive la Casa and Meals on Wheels, to name a few.

With the hatchet being applied to certain services and a tax hike still being proposal, what hast Six Sigma wrought?

Collins has said his biggest challenge was closing a multi-million dollar budget gap created by such rising costs as fuel, health benefits, and asphalt. He said despite Six Sigma savings and cut-backs there was still not enough money to create a balanced budget without a tax increase.

Collins said he hopes to spend $50 million per year for the next four years on major capital projects across Erie County. He said major road and bridge improvements are needed and the county can’t afford to cutback in that area.

“It’s an appropriate expenditure to keep the quality of life vibrant in our community and to create a nice atmosphere for folks to come visit,” Collins said. “The fifty million dollars compares to past years that ranged from thirty-eight to fifty million.”

Road and bridge improvements are basic infrastructure - not something that contributes to our quality of life or a nice atmosphere. I can’t recall the last time someone lauded the way of life in Western New York for the phenomenal roads. I can just imagine a prospective Buffalo n00b saying, “Hey, the taxes are sky high and getting higher, and the libraries and cultural institutions are underfunded, but gosh darn Goodrich Road is smooth like glass.”

This, however, is the kind of stuff that is inexcusable given the prospect of a tax hike:

A $27,000 dollar bump for the Deputy Commissioner in the Division of Youth Services.

More than $21,000 dollars for the Social Services Commissioner.

An $11,000 dollar raise for the Budget Director and $10,000 dollars for the Health Commissioner.

County Executive Chris Collins says, “I did give out 2, 3 raises. I will defend them as those individuals as being deserving of an increase and me needing to do that to make sure they stay.”

Comptroller Mark Poloncarz says, “At the time he’s asking the taxpayers of Erie County to pay more, you would think this would have been an austerity budget on its face value but it really isn’t.”

Poloncarz says the biggest increase is indefensible. The Director of Information and Support Services was making $86,511 dollars. That position goes away and a new Chief Information Officer replaces it. That position pays $134,173 dollars.

Poloncarz says, “All they did was change the title, but by doing that, they’re creating a new job grade and as a result giving an almost $50,000 dollar raise. That’s almost unheard of. That person would be one of the highest paid people in Erie County.”

Well, in Erie County government, anyway. I never thought people went into government jobs because of how lucrative they were, and government jobs don’t need to be that competitive with the private sector because, frankly, the benefits are usually much better - easier hours, holidays left and right, pension & other benefits. Government work has its own attraction not to mention the fact that one’s motivation to take a high-level county position should also be, at least in part, a desire to be a public servant rather than personal enrichment.

But raises aren’t the only thing. Collins can cut money to culturals - which actually do contribute to our quality of life - but he’ll create new pinheaded management positions:

Collins is creating some new positions, too. There’s a new Assistant Commissioner of Administration in Social Services making $87,000 and a new Deputy Commissioner of Health making $85,000 dollars.

Collins says, “We’re restructuring that department and bringing in a business level manager to oversee business operations there.”

At least he’s not Assistant to the Commissioner of Administration in Social Services /David Brent & Michael Scott

Operating government like a business shouldn’t mean rewarding your loyal employees with raises or creating new $87,000 jobs. In Erie County, it should mean making do with less and trying to cut the tax burden - not raising it. Just imagine if Collins had run on a “big raises for management and property tax hike” platform. I doubt the CE race in 2007 would have been such a rout. Six Sigma is supposed to maximize those efficiencies, identify and eliminate waste. Collins ran to lower taxes, identifying our tax burden as part of what holds us back. So what gives? Instead, Collins is busy making bizarre, inappropriate budgetary and personnel decisions in very tight times indeed.

I don’t get it.

(PS - to the person who inevitably comments “Keane wouldn’t have been any better”, that’s 30,000 miles beside the point. KTHX).

That credit rating? Movin’ on up.

Erie County Comptroller Mark C. Poloncarz announced that Erie County today received an upgrade to its credit rating from the Wall Street rating agency Moody’s Investors Service (“Moody’s”). Moody’s upgraded the County’s underlying credit rating from Baa3 to Baa2 and the County’s outlook from “negative” to “stable.” The Moody’s upgrade follows the July 18, 2008 announcement by rating agency Standard & Poor’s which upgraded the County from BBB to BBB+ (stable outlook), placing the County just under an “A” rating.

“For the second time in two weeks, an independent, third party that rates municipal debt for the benefit of investors – not the local government – has determined that Erie County is fiscally stable and improving,” said Poloncarz. “This rating upgrade from an independent Wall Street agency once again confirms what I have been saying for the past year: that the County has significantly improved its financial condition and merits an upgrade.”

Poloncarz noted that key factors identified by Moody’s affecting the rating upgrade include (1) stabilization of the county’s financial position, including structural operating surpluses in fiscal years 2006 and 2007; (2) Moody’s expectation of continued stable operating performance in the current year; (3) the county’s substantial tax base and signs of improvement in the county’s economy; (4) a manageable debt position; and (5) increased oversight by County management and the Erie County Fiscal Stability Authority.

Like S&P, Moody’s did note that while the County is progressing forward it still faces structural challenges including the expiration of most union contracts and the existence of projected budget gaps in the out-years of the Four Year Financial Plan. Poloncarz pledged to continue working cooperatively on these issues with the County Executive, Legislature and Erie County Fiscal Stability Authority.

People leaving, energy prices staggering, taxes higher than average, and it’s only now - at the doors of a crisis - that action is going to be taken. Governor Paterson estimates a $6.4 billion deficit for 2009 - 2010, and in the middle of an election year, he’s calling the state legislature back in mid-August to take a break from chicken BBQs and do some work.

Not just any work, but the kind of work that New York legislators are loath to do. They’re going to have to make extraordinarily tough choices with respect to spending and borrowing - the sorts of choices that piss of a great many of their special interest constituents.

But what I’d like our legislature to remember is that they work for all of us. Not for SEIU, not for NYSUT, not for CSEA, but for every single New Yorker. They work for you and me, and they have hitherto tended to abandoned their responsibility to the population at-large in favor of the big donors and powerful lobbies. Lax oversight and regulation of lobbying means that Joe Bruno can go to work as a lobbyist - he can’t lobby the legislature, but the governor’s door is open.

So, I don’t want to hear that such-and-such special interest is going to go ballistic over cuts that are desperately needed to fix what’s broken. I want to hear that these people who keep getting re-elected over and over again are making the hard choices and decisions that they supposedly get elected to make.

1. Chris Collins submitted a wild-ass guess as to what the county’s revenues and expenditures will be over the next four years.

2. The appointed, unchecked county control board has its own wild-ass guesses as to the next four years’ county finances.

3. The control board rejected Collins’ four-year plan. No soup for you.

4. The law creating the control board suggests that the control board ought to now bring up a counterproposal representing its own wild-ass guess.

5. The control board will do no such thing, remaining perfectly happy to pick hypothetical nits and come up with unique ways to say “no”.

6. We need Governor David Paterson to grow a pair on this issue and reconstitute the board with people who are less political and more professional. Ever hear much controversy coming from the Buffalo control board? No, because the political agenda is not there.

That was quiet, huh?

The 2008 budget was passed yesterday by a 10-5 margin. Kathy Konst and Michele Iannello voted with the three lonely Republican members.

In Giambra’s proposed budget, he had included about $1 million for the Convention & Visitors’ Bureau. The legislature took much of that away, and added some more money to cover other items, many of which the minority labeled as pork. (Whether or not it was “pork”, at least now the whole legislature gets to vet it and vote on it.)

The CVB predictably blew a gasket when its funding was cut, and many found it ironic that the day that John Cusack movie possibly coming to shoot in Buffalo was announced, the Erie County Film Commission was cut in its entirety. Of course, part of that probably has to do with the fact that it was headed up by Paul Clark’s brother Tim, and those guys have maybe kinda fallen out of favor a bit among Democratic insiders.

Clark also blew a gasket, and started an intense lobbying effort to save his job/his office.

The legislature reconsidered, and the CVB is getting a $1.3 million funding increase - 100% over last year, and fund the Film Commission to the tune of $150,000 out of that money. The idea is that there will now be some mandated oversight over how that money is spent.

The Erie County control board still has the opportunity to vote the budget up or down. Yay.

UPDATE: Giambra’s proposed budget had almost $3.3 million in it for the CVB. The legislature’s final amended budget had reduced that to $2.6 million, which still represents a 100% increase over 2007. Capital spending for the convention center itself is not included in that figure.