January 18, 2008
NYSAC 2008 Legislative Conference
Join nearly one thousand of your county colleagues from across the state as we gather at NYSAC’s 2008 Legislative Conference. Governor Eliot Spitzer, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, Speaker Sheldon Silver, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Comptroller Tom DiNapoli will all speak at the conference.
The line-up of workshops will provide valuable insight into the issues and challenges facing today’s county leaders.
There is still plenty of time to register for this important event. Walk in registrations are accepted. For more information and to register, visit our Website at www.nysac.org.
Governor Details Upstate Economic Development Plan in Historic State of Upstate Address
Governor Eliot Spitzer detailed his proposed Upstate Economic Development plan in the first ever State of Upstate address on the campus of Buffalo State College in Buffalo, New York this week. The speech was the culmination of a comprehensive Upstate listening tour on the economic development challenges of Upstate New York conducted by Empire State Development and its Upstate Chair, Daniel Gunderson over the past year.
In opening what he indicated would be an annual State of Upstate address, Governor Spitzer said, “The vision I will outline today is one we all share: to make Upstate New York the best place in the world to live, work, raise a family and run a business…We need a world-class education system from Pre-K through graduate school. We need an affordable health care system that’s available to all. We need lower taxes, strong infrastructure, great places to live, and above all, good jobs. We need all of these things throughout New York – Upstate and down, from Western New York to Westchester from the Adirondacks to Long Island.”
“While this vision remains the same, we are here today because we recognize that the economic challenges facing Upstate or so numerous, significant, particular and urgent that the traditional State of the State Address alone is not sufficient to hold us accountable for meeting them.”
The Governor announced that he will propose a $1 Billion Upstate Revitalization Fund as the cornerstone of his economic development strategy. The fund would be used for several initiatives designed to stimulate Upstate economic growth and job creation.
$350 million Regional Blueprint fund
The $350 regional Blueprint fund will be used to assist in the implementation of development priorities identified by local officials through the regional blueprint strategy sessions conducted in all of New York’s regions by Empire State Development over the past year. The Blueprint fund will be used to:
- create additional development ready sites in Upstate communities, including capital for the construction of development ready industrial parks. A key part of this initiative will include new legislation to reform the state’s brown fields cleanup program;
- implement a small business loan program for machinery, equipment and real estate;
- creation of a $10 million venture capital fund to provide seed capital to businesses in emerging technologies; and
- create a new program of international marketing, including the creation of a new Upstate office solely to promote the development of new markets oversees for Upstate companies and to encourage new foreign investment in Upstate communities.
City by City Initiative
The Governor announced that a portion of the $1 Billion Upstate Revitalization fund would go to fund a new round of the City by City Initiative grants recently awarded by the Governor. The grants are designed to stimulate projects in Upstate cities that will have regionally significant economic spin off effects. The second round of city by city project awards will be targeted to smaller Upstate cities. Projects already awarded included funding for project such as the Buffalo waterfront district, a new agricultural distribution center in Batavia, Genesee County, funding for development of the former Plattsburgh Air Force base in Clinton County and the creation and cleanup of a new industrial park operated by the Broome County IDA, on an abandoned industrial site in Binghamton.
Housing Opportunity Fund
The fund will allocate $100 million for Upstate housing and community development, under a State Housing Opportunity Fund. The fund will be used for strategic investments in new affordable workforce housing or the rehabilitation of existing units.
Upstate Agribusiness Fund
The Upstate fund will be used to create a $50 million Upstate Agribusiness Fund. Investments from the fund will include programs to support the development of new markets for agricultural products, new and expanded food processing and distribution centers and development of alternative fuels. The Governor also stated that ground will be broken this year on a Pride of New York Wholesale Farmers Market in the City of New York to connect Upstate farmers with New York City consumers.
The Governor also announced that a new position of Director of Agriculture development will be created in the Empire State Development’s Upstate office to promote New York agricultural products.
Universal Broadband
A $15 million allocation will be included in the budget, tripling the current state appropriation, to promote access to universal broadband in rural communities and Upstate inner cities. Stephen Acquario, NYSAC Executive Director has been appointed to a Governor’s Blue Ribbon panel to provide recommendations on the State’s efforts to provide universal broadband access to all New Yorkers.
Transportation
The fund will provide $100 million to support maintenance and upkeep of Upstate roads, bridges and highways (see below). “We must continue to invest in our traditional infrastructure… that is why our fund will include $100 million to support critical maintenance of the Upstate network of State and local roads and bridges.”
According to a 2007 Department of Transportation study, of the more than 6,000 maintained by counties, nearly 30% have been deemed either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.
The Governor’s proposal comes, at least in part, in response to NYSAC’s call for expanded local infrastructure funding. The resolution, originally adopted at the 2007 NYSAC Fall Seminar, was sent onto the Governor’s office to insure this issue was addressed in 2008. The resolution was later adopted by several individual counties and the NYS County Highway Superintendents Association.
Parks
The Upstate fund will provide $80 million dollars to modernize state parks, both as an investment in tourism destinations and as a means of furthering the development of livable communities Upstate.
Higher Education
Stating that, “Human capital is the currency of the innovation economy…” the governor touted his proposal to endow a $4 billion Higher Education Endowment to fund excellence in higher education, particularly in the county community college system. This fund would provide $200 million per year to fund cutting edge research and investments in New York’s Institutions of higher learning and community colleges to build New York’s workforce of the future.
The Governor also detailed several other initiatives which were included in his State of the state address that will benefit Upstate, including:
- creating a bipartisan commission with Moreland Act powers to investigate the cause of rising property taxes and develop a cap on school taxes
- extending and reforming the Power for Jobs and Energy Cost Savings programs;
- creating a Doctors across New York plan to address shortages of doctors in rural communities;
- protecting the environment by passing the Great Lakes Compact; and
- building new Crime Analysis centers in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany.
The Governor’s Upstate Economic Development Blueprint will be the subject of a plenary session presentation by Daniel Gunderson, Upstate Chair of Empire State Development at NYSAC’s upcoming 2008 Legislative Conference on Wednesday, January 30th at the Desmond Hotel and Conference Center in Albany. A full conference agenda and registration information can be obtained by visiting the NYSAC website at www.nysac.org. (Jeff Osinski/Pete Savage)
Role of Counties Noticeably Absent in Governor’s State of Upstate Address
In his "State of Upstate" speech this week in Buffalo, Governor Spitzer offered his vision to address the unique economic challenges facing Upstate New York by promoting an agenda to advance economic growth, investment and opportunity, but the Governor did not discuss the integral role that counties play in Upstate’s economic future.
"There is no shortage of challenges that impact Upstate’s stagnant economic landscape” stated NYSAC President Lucille McKnight. “Counties understand how the cost of doing business, high property taxes, a decaying infrastructure, a skilled labor shortage, and an exodus of young talent all highlight the challenges facing our communities.”
One thing that we need to address if we are to invigorate the Upstate economy is the high cost of local property taxes in New York. Counties outside New York City collect $4.3 billion in property taxes each year. These public dollars are used to pay for unfunded State mandates – programs devised at the State or federal level and delivered locally.
"NYSAC supports the Governor's focus on the Upstate economy and we are hopeful that his budget proposal due next week will provide the means necessary to attain this goal without shifting the burden to local property taxpayers.” said NYSAC Executive Director Stephen J. Acquario. “Overcoming these obstacles requires not only an aggressive agenda, but hard work and focused leadership. It will also take an array partnerships aimed at the same objective.” (Ken Crannell)
Newest Medicaid Alert Puts Counties in a Difficult Position
The New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG) has issued new guidance regarding Medicaid claims submitted by counties and school districts for all Speech Therapy, Counseling and Special Transportation claims. This newest “Alert”, the third in a series from the OMIG, requires that a “provider certification” form must be completed. This certification form requires the signature of “the business official” attesting to the compliance with Medicaid requirements and understanding the consequences of filing false claims. According to the latest “Alert”, counties are now being directed to sign this new form or risk Federal False Claims Act penalties (ranging from a minimum of $5,500 to $12,000 per claim in addition to three times the amount of each claim, attorneys’ fees and costs). This issue has been ongoing—NYSAC first alerted counties to it last year when the State Education Department sent a letter stating that school districts and counties may only bill the Medicaid program for certain types of services that are Medicaid reimbursable. This newest ruling has caused concern among counties, school districts and other providers of these services. NYSAC has already been in contact with the OMIG’s office for further clarification and state assistance, as this new ruling has substantial fiscal impact on the local role in the preschool special education program. (Jessica Morelli)
Federal Court Decision on Election Plan Will Cost Local Taxpayers
This week, U.S. District Court Judge Gary L. Sharpe released a Supplemental Remedial Court Order compelling New York State to comply with the requirements of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).
The order states that New York State has "failed substantially to comply with the voting system requirements" and directs New York’s counties to place at least one Ballot Marking Device (BMD) in each polling place in time for the 2008 New York State primary and general elections. These machines are not HAVA compliant and will cost counties over $6,000 for the unit and another $5,000 to program and configure each ballot, representing a statewide impact in excess of $70 million.
New York State has received $220 million in federal HAVA funds to meet the requirements of this federal mandate. However, $30 million was set aside for the creation of a Statewide Voter Database, poll site accessibility and poll worker training. This left counties with a total of $190 million to purchase new polling machines. Counties will use more than $70 million just to complying with Judge Sharpe’s order to purchase one Ballot Marking Device in each polling place. That leaves counties with less than $120 million to replace the nearly 20,000 lever voting machines.
Judge Sharpe’s decision requires “the replacement of all lever voting machines in the State of New York must be accomplished as soon as possible but in no event later than in time for use of fully HAVA-compliant systems during the fall 2009 state primary and general elections."
The order also requires the State Board of Elections to file weekly reports with the court on their progress in implementing the terms of the order. The court, recognizing that time is of the essence, has offered to make itself available on short notice to any party to deal with any issues that may arise that threaten timely compliance with the order of the court. (Adriano Bongiorno)
NYSAC Partners With OTDA on Working Families Food Stamp Initiative
NYSAC staff met this week with the State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) to coordinate the state/local implementation of the agency’s new Working Families’ Food Stamp Initiative. The goal of the program is to provide enhanced nutrition and work support to 100,000 households throughout the state this year. There is no local share for the program and the eligibility process for the program has been expanded and simplified for all eligible working households across the state. In fact, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which oversees the Federal Food Stamp Program, approved New York’s specific simplification waivers in order to operate the Working Families’ Food Stamp Initiative. NYSAC and OTDA are working on a joint strategy to roll the program out on the local level and information on county specific events will be forthcoming. (Jessica Morelli)
Legislation fixing cold war vets real property exemption issues makes it way to the Governor
Late last session legislation granting a local option real property tax exemption to veterans of the cold war was passed and signed into law. Unknown to the bills sponsors, the legislation contained a significant technical flaw that inadvertently allowed veterans to receive multiple types of veteran’s exemptions. This flaw resulted in several counties not opting to grant the exemption.
Legislation which passed this week will change all that. S.6509 / A.9426 amends the 2007 chapter closing this loophole and removing the requirement that a veteran applying for the exemption had to have received a specific commendation known as the Cold War Recognition Certificate.
Several counties were waiting to adopt the necessary local resolution to provide Cold War era veterans with this exemption until the "clean up" legislation was signed into law. On Friday the bill was sent to the Governor’s office where he is expected to sign it by the end of January. The deadline for local adoption remains March 15th. (Peter Savage)
2008 County Directory
NYSAC is currently updating its roster of thousands of elected and appointed county officials in New York State. The directory will be available in April. To order a copy of the 2008 Directory, visit
www.nysac.org/About/documents/2007DirectoryOrderForm.pdf.
Coming Next Week
Monday, January 21st – Martin Luther King Holiday, State Offices are closed.
Tuesday, January 22nd – Governor Eliot Spitzer will release the details of his 2008-09 Executive State Budget proposal.
