NYSAC Policy Briefs
State Programs Funded by Property Taxes
This report represents NYSAC's continuing efforts to raise awareness of the systemic inequity of the State’s public service delivery system that relies on property taxpayers to fund State programs, services and policy decisions. Read more...
Reforming the Way We Finance Medicaid
Counties' number one mandate relief priority is removing county property taxpayers from funding Medicaid. This report details property taxpayers’ costly $7.3 billion role in the Medicaid program and identifies the ways and means to fund a State takeover of county costs. Read more...
Achieving Balance With Pension Reform
For more than a decade county government officials have also raised significant concerns about high pension contribution cost increases.These increases largely stem from a combination of generous pension benefit expansions enacted by the State Legislature in 2000 and inconsistent investment returns over this same time frame. Read more...
Counties Should Not Be In PreK Program
Counties have no role or oversight of the preschool special education program, but our taxpayers fund 40.5 percent of the entire program. Additionally, nearly $150 million is spent on transportation alone, all paid for by the counties. Read more...
The Need for Early Intervention Reform
Despite the fact that half of the children receiving Early Intervention Services have access to private health insurance, counties pay 51% and the State pays 49% for the program. Requiring health insurers to pay for medically-necessary services would provide hundreds of millions in saves for State and local taxpayers. Read more...
New York Land Bank Act
This NYSAC brief report is a summary of New York’s Land Bank Act, which is designed to provide counties and municipalities with the ability to manage the redevelopment of vacant, abandoned, and tax delinquent properties in their communities. To download a PDF of the report, click image or link:
The Power New York Act
The Power NY Act was enacted to reauthorize the State's electricity generation siting law that expired in 2003. Local government leaders have expressed concerns that provisions in the act undermine home rule authority. This brief outlines the act and addresses some of those local home rule concerns.
For the full policy brief click here.
2011 Legislative Session: The County Impact
Counties were on the forefront of almost all of the major State budget and public poilcy issues. It goes without saying that New York State has experienced significant challenges the last several years. The roller-coaster economy has taken its toll not only on the State, but has also tremendously affected our counties. For the full policy brief click here.
State Local Pension Rate Setting Process, July 2010
With the state, counties and all local governments facing skyrocketing employer contributions rates for public employee pensions in the coming year, a frequently asked question has been: “If Wall Street is doing so well, and the assets of the pension fund are increasing in value, why are public employer contribution rates increasing so significantly?”
This new NYSAC policy brief addresses this question by highlighting elements of the Common Retirement Fund that explain the process the New York State Comptroller uses to set annual employer contribution rates. For the full policy brief click here.
Federal Health Care Reform: The County Perspective
The full ramifications of federal health care reform and its impact on county government will not be known for years. Much of the uncertainty is related to the gradual phase in of many of the most significant components of reform and the fact that a lot of discretion is vested with the Secretary of Health and Human Services and other federal officials to define the rules for operating in the new environment. For the full policy brief click here.