Who will take the heat for state budget cuts?

   Budget disruptions experienced in other states, most notably California, have come to roost in New York State following the release Wednesday of Gov. David A. Paterson's plan to cut $2 billion in spending in the current  budget year.

   To hear those who rely on state funding tell it, the effects will be many: cuts in classroom and after-school programs, less access to care in hospitals and nursing homes, fewer housing options for low-income people, higher costs for college students, and less money for not-for-profit social service organizations.

   Critics find it say curious that a Democrat who railed against a proposed package of cuts by then-Gov. George E. Pataki in 2003  now, as governor, offers proposals that have been branded draconian and devastating. Paterson --  considered a fiscal liberal as a lawmaker -- now talks of ending Albany's record of freewheeling spending.

   Will lawmakers be ready to meet him at the table during next Tuesday's emergency session called to deal with the huge deficit?

   Senate Republicans on  Wednesday hinted that more information is needed and that they want to see Paterson's  plans for 2009 before cutting the current spending plan.

    Delay may be just what is planned by GOP senators, who lose seven decades of  dominance in the Senate as the majority party come Jan. 1.

   Why not let Senate Democrats make  the unpopular cuts? they reason.

-- Tom Precious

Comments

[ted]

Lets start with the Governor, he should be the 1st to step up and take a 50% cut in pay. Let hime see how it is to live on about $32,000 like a lot of the retired or old people in area. How many state vehicles are used for personal errands, the gas alone is high enough. Start with pay cuts in his own department and he could adjust the ridicilous budget of his.

[Ron Weekes]

The Governor proposes that State employees voluntarily take a five-day pay deferrment and accept a zero-percentage salary increase in 2009 (even though a contract has been approved).

Fine! I'm on board if the State executive staff and legislature also are subject to the same rules.

See how that flies in Albany.

[Buffalo Libertarian]

Excuse me? Deferred pay? Doesn't that mean they'll be getting the pay later?

Governor Patterson is in a tough spot but I don't see any mention of cutting high-paying senior management positions. I don't see any mention of re-negotiating pay and benefits with the union rats (or maybe taking pay and benefits out of the hands of the union and putting them in the hands of the legislature). I don't see any mention of eliminating duplicative services.

Here's what I propose: divide the total amount to be cut among the various state departments and agencies and let them come up with specific cuts.

[UB-Professor on Job Market]

I am a UB professor. This is the last straw for me. I have seen the situation at UB deteriorate for the last year to the point that SUNY will never recover from the cuts. We don't even have money to offer our classes next semester, and everyone has to increase their workloads with slashed resources. Hiring has been frozen and we can't even replace people who have left for stable university systems in other states. The President is chopping our departments down with vigor, while sticking to the dead UB2020 plan with no concern for research, students, the quality of teaching, etc....

Now they want to defer our pay, freeze our wages, etc...

Most faculty at UB are now on the Job market, and the SUNY system is imploding.

Tuition increases on top of all of that. What a joke, asking students to pay more for less. The students in SUNY need to look into other universities in other states. SUNY is offering an inferior product now.

The real fix at UB is simple, cap salaries at $100,000 retroactively. That would get the budget under control and clear out all the dead weight. A lot of people at UB work for modest wages and should not be the ones punished for poor decisions in Albany, Wall Street, and Capen Hall. Let the fat cats at UB take the hits.

[hans]

My taxes in NY are about 4.5 times higher than my relatives pay back in Minnesota. Are the schools in NY 4.5 times better? Is the health care system of NY 4.5 times more effective? Are our roads in NY 4.5 times better maintained? The answer to all of these, of course, is no.

Yes, cuts are painful, but get real people! NY has lived high on the Wall Street hog for too long. Maybe by cutting some things, we'll realize that they weren't quite as important as we thought they were. In fact, I can almost guarantee it.

[Amarillo Slim]

Like that UB professor on the job market, I'd bet he never took an economics course in his/her life. Schools don't require it. Lawyers and doctors have never taken an economics course. Neither have journalists. The Bush palapropism, "misunderestimating", is an epidemic, starting with the public schools looking at larger and larger state funding cuts. They abused and finagled and worked the "system" to the maximum, no less than AIG, the GSE's, and Lehman Brothers. And, they are still "misunderestimating."
The stock market, according to Mark Dodson, CFA, has now lost $6.9 Trillion in asset value, ten times the $700 Billion TARP bailout (which magically, has morphed again under a Bush-Paulson-Bernanke combined "misunderestimating" effort.) What must be gotten right is that this is a failed financial system. It will never be fixed. Check Paulson's fears as he focused on "global imbalances." It is global, and it is total. It is time for Plan B, which has been known for some time. It is not about Cramer's claim of "stopping the decline in home prices, which won't, becauae the government is still subsidizing builders and increasing inventory". It is about currencies, those paper things and digital records called dollars, pesos, euros, yen, and reminbi. There is nothing standard or fixed in them, which means they are the ultimate instability. There are zero guarantees. Annuity policies based on stock performance (and sometimes bond performance) may be unable to pay off. The political malapropism is whatever government attempts to prop up, using trillions in newly printed currency. A sham. Better get a real education.

[UB-Professor on Job Market]

I have actually taken several economics classes, and taught them as well. There is no debate that the economy is in trouble. The debate is over who will pay for it, and how the cuts are distributed.

Look at the salary spread at UB (www.seethroughny.net). Ask yourself why some faculty and deans earn more than the governor of the state. Do they generate more revenue than the governor, or are they just over-compensated henchmen for the governor.

I guess they have to pay them well, so they can justify freezing salaries of their subordinates. The truth is, there are numbers of faculty and administrators making over $100K at UB. Some of them work partial time, and even commute to UB from out of town. Many of these faculty barely teach and have stopped doing research for decades. It is well known that productivity and compensation are inversely related at UB, particularly after the 100K mark is hit. More sad, this group doesn't have to match state contributions to their retirement accounts (since they usually have 10+ years service).

So cut the big ticket items first. The same thing is true for UB2020. It needs to be reconsidered. Why lock-up funds in the pet project of a lame duck president. The Buffalo News reported a year ago that Simpson is on the job market. So, let the next president make cuts in a way that is fair and weeds patronage out of the university.

[Amarillo Slim]

Thank you for the additional information. This economic education process has a lot further to go. In economics it's popular to use pie charts. When looking at data, as in compensation, salaries, pay, I refer to it as a layer cake, not a pie to be divided up. What gets divided up is the lower layer of the cake, while the upper layer(s) are reserved for the power structure. Check with the New York State Authority network that operate off the state budget plan. But, also realize that 19th century economics courses are historical, and will not apply the further globalization proceeds. You may want to look at Argentina, which I read has nationalised pension plans to try and avoid bond obligation defaults. Now read what Karen McMahan from the Carolina Journal wrote on November 4, "Dems target Private Retirement Accounts:
Democratic leaders discuss confiscating 401(k)s, IRAs"
http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/dems-target-private-retirement-accounts.html
In the 1930's a philosopher wrote about the millenia old "The Problem of Money." Educators and sociologists and economists have paid that problem no attention. Especially the deficient regulators. Now the costs associated with neglect will come to account.

[pgr88]

Blame Dick Cheney. Seems NY'ers like to blame all problems on him. Of course, WE are not to blame!

[Steven Court]

How about the state workers funding their own retirement like the private sector ..HEY, THERE'S AN IDEA!!

[Steven Court]

How about the state workers driving there own cars instead of tax payer supplied cars that many have.
HEY..THERE's AN IDEA!!

[Steven Court]

HEY NYS, make cuts WITHIN then come after the little guys when your done.

[WNYMind]

You are all missing the obvious. The federal government bailed out Wall Street, the Auto Industry, and other businesses to the tune of almost $1 trillion. NY State is only a few Billion in the hole. Where is the federal bailout for state government? Where is the justice?

If you want to get the economy going, bail out state government. That is where all the money is spent on direct services (i.e. education, infrastructure, jobs, etc...).

We've already bought equity shares in the banks (i.e. nationalized them to some degree), and we are about to do something similar with GM and Ford. So, where is the nationalization of health insurance, education, etc....

What a crock. Corporate welfare for the businesses that got us into this mess, but anti-government policy for the people who need help. Bush needs to start taking marching orders from Obama now. After all, Obama is the boss now, and his policy is what we all voted for!

[State Schlump]

Ok, I get it. State workers are going to get bashed by the public- just like they bashed County workers a few months ago. Here's the thing: a five day deferment in pay is called lag pay, and yes, you get it back- when you retire or leave service! State workers are already on a two week lag that we gave up in past budgets, at a rate of one day less wages per pay period until 5 pay periods have passed. I don't know about you, but I am having a hard time making ends meet on my full paycheck, much less a day minus. I have still to crack the $40,000 mark in salary after nearly 30 years with the great state of NY so I guess I should be happy to take less. After all, I can't afford most things now anyway. Poor me? No way- I deal every day with the marginally employed or unemployed. Their pain is greater than mine but I feel I have shouldered the economic burden of this state long enough. Get your hand out of my pocket, Governor, and start cutting from the top down.

[State Schlump]

Ok, I get it. State workers are going to get bashed by the public- just like they bashed County workers a few months ago. Here's the thing: a five day deferment in pay is called lag pay, and yes, you get it back- when you retire or leave service! State workers are already on a two week lag that we gave up in past budgets, at a rate of one day less wages per pay period until 5 pay periods have passed. I don't know about you, but I am having a hard time making ends meet on my full paycheck, much less a day minus. I have still to crack the $40,000 mark in salary after nearly 30 years with the great state of NY so I guess I should be happy to take less. After all, I can't afford most things now anyway. Poor me? No way- I deal every day with the marginally employed or unemployed. Their pain is greater than mine but I feel I have shouldered the economic burden of this state long enough. Get your hand out of my pocket, Governor, and start cutting from the top down.

[RKT]

New York needs to cut the state payroll and roll back on entitlements. The tax paying base is shrinking and they've been getting away with it all on Wall Street's back for years. Now its time to pay the Piper. Cut first and then come asking for more taxes. I pay enough already for mediocre performance. As for President elect Obama, I wish him well, but like many of my brethern in WNY , I no longer put my trust in politicians to do the right thing.