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County Executives Meet with Governor and Lieutenant Governor to
Discuss State’s Fiscal Challenges and Ways to Address Them
December 4, 2009
County executives from across the state convened in Albany today for the annual business meeting of the New York State County Executives Association.
The executives talked about the need to make dramatic structural differences in order to realign the state’s programs and services delivered at the county level—a system that has driven New York’s property taxes to be among the highest in the nation, according to Orange County Executive Ed Diana, president of the County Executives Association.
The county executives voiced concern with the potential that state payment for local programs and services are delayed by the Governor in order to keep the state from running out of cash. The areas that would be affected by delayed payment include public health, mental health, social programs, transportation projects and public safety.
“Most of our counties do not have the reserves to absorb delayed or denied state reimbursement. In some cases they would have to borrow for short term to keep their budgets balanced for the remainder of the fiscal year,” said Diana.
The New York State Association of Counties is a bipartisan municipal association serving all 62 counties of New York State including the City of New York. Organized in 1925, NYSAC’s mission is to represent, educate and advocate for member counties and the thousands of elected and appointed county officials who serve the public.
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