Specifically the legislation (S.2323/A.2922), which now goes
to the Senate Finance Committee for consideration, would ban the enactment of
any new state mandates that increase costs on local governments and school
districts without providing state funding to localities to pay for delivering
the required programs and services.
“The state enacted the local property tax cap in 2011 with a
promise to localities and school districts to roll back the heavy burden of
unfunded state mandates. We still have a
lot of work to do to lift that existing burden on local governments and local
property taxpayers,” said O’Mara, a member of the Senate Finance
Committee. “But we should also
immediately put an end to any future unfunded state mandates. This legislation proposes a commonsense step
that says the state will no longer pass the buck to counties, cities, town,
villages, or school districts. If the
state mandates a program or a service that increases costs, the state should
pay for it.”
O’Mara said the legislation serves to highlight the ongoing
need for New York to provide mandate relief to local governments and school
districts. It would also mark, if
enacted, the beginning of a true transformation of the state-local partnership,
he said. The state has taken some
important mandate relief actions over the past several years, including
long-term pension reform and the takeover of the growth in local Medicaid
costs, but it hasn’t been enough, according to O’Mara.
“Some meaningful steps have been taken to rein in the cost
of Medicaid, for example,” O’Mara said.
“But we can’t keep turning our backs on the fact that more needs to be
done. Mandate relief has to remain a
state priority. Localities and school
districts facing tough fiscal challenges still have their hands tied by too
many unfunded state mandates.
The New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC) “strongly
supports” the legislation O’Mara co-sponsors.
In a memorandum of support, NYSAC states, “It is true that the permanent
hard cap on local Medicaid contributions and reforms to the State and Local
Pension System have saved county taxpayers from the consistent growth of both
of these programs, but more needs to be done. Local taxpayers need greater
protection from future state cost shifts and the creation of new mandates.
Enactment of this ‘no new unfunded mandates’ legislation will improve
accountability to all New York property taxpayers, as it will require those
setting statewide public policy initiatives to finance the cost of these initiatives,
instead of shifting the cost to local governments and taxpayers.”
Before it can be become law, the legislation needs approval
by both houses of the Legislature and Governor Andrew Cuomo.
