New York State Fiscal Crisis

[helicopper 1,050]

Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed the first cut in state spending in more than a decade Tuesday, saying the state is "functionally bankrupt" and for too long has been reliant on unsustainable spending growth.

Cuomo proposed a $132.9 billion budget for fiscal 2011-12 that would cut spending by $3.7 billion, a decrease of 2.7 percent, as he seeks to close a $10 billion budget defecit for the upcoming fiscal year.

http://www.lohud.com...e/2010110201028

School districts that have been bracing for the deepest state-aid cuts in memory got the bad news they were waiting for in Gov. Andrew Cuomo's budget proposal Tuesday.

Cuomo's plan would cut education aid by $1.5 billion to $19.4 billion, a whopping 7.3 percent drop.

For districts, most of which have made deep spending cuts in recent years, the state-aid loss would amount to 2.9 percent of what they were expected to spend statewide in the 2011-12 school year.

http://www.lohud.com/article/20110202/NEWS01/102020327/Schools%20hit%20with%20+'perfect%20storm+'%20of%20aid%20cuts+,%20tax-cap%20plan

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is pushing to close prisons and reduce the number of beds at juvenile-justice centers in the coming year's budget, part of an overall plan to restructure the way the state spends money.

http://www.lohud.com...on%20opposition

Cuomo 2011 Budget Briefing Book.pdf

[Alpinerunner 61]

It's pretty amazing that the state didn't cut spending even through the worst of the financial crisis. Tough times to come for NYS for sure.

[38ff 250]

The municipality "you can only raise taxes by 2% a year" stuff applies to fire districts also. This could lead to interesting times. With "pork barrel" $ being cut big time, I think this is going to hurt alot of small districts. The yearly increased costs of insurance, apparatus, turnout gear, utilities, and everything else wont be capped at 2%, thats for sure. It would be nice if NYS picked up the cost of the audits that they imposed on the districts a few years ago. The average cost for a small district's audit is 10-15K, and it is a yearly state requirement to have done.

Edited February 2, 2011 by 38ff

[Bnechis 3,961]

The municipality "you can only raise taxes by 2% a year" stuff applies to fire districts also. This could lead to interesting times. With "pork barrel" $ being cut big time, I think this is going to hurt alot of small districts. The yearly increased costs of insurance, apparatus, turnout gear, utilities, and everything else wont be capped at 2%, thats for sure. It would be nice if NYS picked up the cost of the audits that they imposed on the districts a few years ago. The average cost for a small district's audit is 10-15K, and it is a yearly state requirement to have done.

This will hurt all services, not just the small ones. Our financal experts have told us this will mean no bonding for stations or new apparatus (potetialy for years) layoffs of personnel. The predicted increase for pensions next year is 6% so that means laying off of all municipal employees (fire, police, DPW, etc.). Fire Districts will be in the worst shap because they have no other means to make up the shortfall. If something radical changes in your district (big new development, need to hire EMS or other personnel, need to replace uninsured lost or damaged equipment/vehicle) to bad. Live without it.