Senate stalemate imperils local funding
Stalled legislation casts doubt on extensive range of community programs
Published: June 18, 2009, 8:11 am
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A week ago Monday, a Senate Democrat was about to introduce a resolution to release $85 million in pork-barrel spending for a variety of community programs statewide.
The Republican takeover cut him off. So programs expecting the flow of cash to begin — from local senior citizens centers to legal services for the poor — are now stuck in a waiting game.
So, too, are county governments across the state, waiting to see whether they will still have the legal authority to impose sales tax surcharges.
Upstate manufacturers are wondering if the state’s Power for Jobs program, which gives lower-cost electricity to qualified companies, will be kept alive when it expires soon.
Buffalo City Hall is asking if its ability to tap an alternative and less costly way to borrow money is going to die in less than two weeks.
Economic-development groups are in the dark about whether two key programs — Empire Zones and industrial development agencies — will be revamped to help or hurt job-creation efforts.
And talks about ways to control property taxes and state spending? Canceled.
For more than a week since the June 8 coup, all eyes have been focused on the Capitol in Albany and the drama being played out over who controls the State Senate, which has been unable to pass a single bill since the takeover.
“It’s really clear that nobody knows what’s going to happen,” said Gary M. Crosby, the Buffalo school system’s point man for a school reconstruction program. While a bill was introduced in the Assembly on Wednesday, no one knows its future in the Senate.
Will the deadlock continue and nothing get done at all? Will the warring sides agree to a bare-bones list of bills affecting, for instance, just statutes that are set to expire soon, such as county sales taxes? Or will deals be made to get the Senate back to work and play catch-up with the Assembly on a host of important pieces of legislation?
For the Buffalo schools, all sides — from the Legislature to the governor to state education officials—agree on the need for the construction program. If it doesn’t pass the Senate, construction will be delayed a year — likely driving up costs, hurting construction companies relying on the work and forcing the district to delay the closing of “swing schools” that temporarily house students while their home schools are being rebuilt.
“I’m still optimistic,” Crosby said. “If Phase 5 doesn’t get done and done right, it will taint the whole project. I don’t think anybody wants to be responsible for that.”
At the not-for-profit North Buffalo Community Center, officials were expecting $50,000 from the Senate pork-barrel pot. The money was to help refurbish the 21-year-old ice rink used by a host of community groups. The improvements also would allow the rink to bring in more revenues by making it more attractive to more tenants.
Deborah A. Cielencki, the center’s executive director, said, “It’s going to hurt” if the funds don’t come.
The ability of counties to add surcharges to local sales tax rates expires later this year. Hundreds of millions in lost tax revenues are at stake. Additionally, counties start planning next year’s budgets this summer and need to know in the coming months if those extra revenues will be available.
“We need to know if we have $8.75 million,” John R. Searles, Cattaraugus County administrator, said of the money the county earns from an additional 1 percent surcharge it levies. “It would be a significant impact on the budget.”
Dozens of counties are at risk because the Senate might not act on their sales tax request. For Erie County, a stranger situation exists. The extension of its tax surcharge has already been passed by both houses in Albany. The Senate controls the bill and determines when to send it to the governor for his signature.
But because there is a leadership dispute, there are growing concerns that the Senate might not be able to send bills such as the Erie County tax measure to the governor until the fight is resolved.
Several economic-development efforts also are pending. A fix is needed for the Empire Zone program, which gives tax breaks to companies. And a fight between unions and business groups over how to reform the industrial development agency program also is stalled; more than $2 billion worth of projects for not-for-profit agencies are on hold. And the low-cost power program is expiring in two weeks.
Business groups say the 2009 state budget was bad enough for upstate economic-development efforts. The coup battle just makes New York look more dysfunctional to companies. “It’s one more reason for companies to choose another location,” said Brian Mc- Mahon, executive director of the New York State Economic Development Council.
The governor’s office produced a list of more than three dozen laws that will expire unless the Senate acts soon. There are measures affecting powers of sheriffs, bond sales in New York City, hunting regulations, construction along the state canals, and a new pension tier to help avoid 8,700 state worker layoffs.
Some major promises could go unfulfilled. Sen. Malcolm A. Smith, a Bronx Democrat and former Senate president and majority leader, promised to provide $30 million for charter schools to offset aid cuts.
About $6 million of that money would be distributed to 16 local charter schools, but most of them are not including those funds in their 2009-10 budgets. “We’re remaining hopeful, but if Malcolm Smith is no longer in charge, it’s going to be a difficult task,” said Corrinne Cristofaro, executive director of the Western New York Charter School Coalition.
In the Town of Tonawanda, the Charter School for Applied Technologies was counting on $1.2 million to avoid layoffs and to build four high school classrooms and refurbish two science labs. If the funds are not going to arrive, school officials said, they will likely delay plans.
A host of groups were expecting Senate Democratic pork-barrel money, including $300,000 for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, $50,000 for the Boys & Girls Club of Buffalo, $35,000 for the Buffalo Niagara Convention & Visitors Bureau Foundation and $100,000 for the Women’s Business Center at Canisius College.
At the Buffalo Niagara Film Commission, officials were waiting for $35,000 to advertise 2008 state legislation providing tax credits for filmmakers who shoot in New York State. “A lot of people know you can get this in New York City,” said Tim Clark, film commissioner, “but they don’t really know about Buffalo or Niagara Falls.”
tprecious@buffnews.com and psimon@buffnews.com
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