When the state legislature returns to Albany later this month to work on New York’s wrenching financial problems, Pete Lopez sees an opportunity.
The Assemblyman representing Schoharie County believes the time is ripe for not only getting the state budget in line but also for overhauling government itself.
Governor David Paterson is expected the call the legislature back about the middle of the month following November’s failed emergency session to make mid-year budget cuts.
That session failed, Mr. Lopez said, because Senate and Assembly leaders didn’t want to put themselves in the position of posing drastic cuts first. The shifting forces in the lame-duck majority in the Senate compounded the stalemate, Mr. Lopez said.
“Nobody wanted to be the first to come out with mid-year reductions,” he said. “To get our attention, the Governor had to call us back.
“The one positive is that people agreed that yes, we do have a problem.”
Mr. Lopez wouldn’t predict what will happen in the December session, but the Governor’s across-the-board cuts that he proposed earlier are likely to be back on the table, he said.
Those cuts may not appear fair, Mr. Lopez said, but they would at least result in sacrifice shared by all.
Mid-year cuts would be a foundation for further, deep reform, Mr. Lopez said.
He noted that the state is pushing school districts and small municipalities towards merger to become more efficient and cost-effective.
Albany should do the same, Mr. Lopez said.
“Why shouldn’t we?” he asked. “DOT and the Thruway Authority could be merged. There’s probably duplication in equipment and purchasing there. And we should be looking at other agencies and departments, too.”
Mr. Lopez argued that the state should also reform its policy of “use it or lose it” when appropriating funds. Agencies tend to spend down their state money––often on unnecessary items––in order to get the same appropriation in the following year’s budget, he said.
“If you don’t use the money, return it,” Mr. Lopez said. “You’ll still get the same amount next year.”
Unfunded mandates that raise local property taxes, overlapping services, inefficient programs––the state must reform them or get rid of them all, Mr. Lopez said.
Part of the issue, he added, is the way agencies and organizations view state government: As an endless stream of money, with more flowing each year. That issue is linked to the “cut-them-but-don’t-cut-me” attitude promoted by agencies at all levels.
“Don’t cut me or you’re a bad person is what we hear,” Mr. Lopez said. “That has to change. We have to be willing to do with less and believe in shared sacrifice.”
This is a deep-seated problem because state government for decades has been in constant growth, and those people receiving state funds expect as much or more each year, Mr. Lopez said.
But the current situation dictates a shift, he added.
“Homeowners and businesses are adjusting,” Mr. Lopez said. “We should, too.”
One question is whether legislators have the courage to cut when agencies and unions lobby for more while offering votes and support as rewards.
Mr. Lopez related one instance at a legislative meeting about cutting member items––pork, in other words.
“Someone asked who would support cutting member items, and a few hands went up. I whispered to a colleague sitting next to me, ‘Who’s going to lead by example?’ And he whispered back, ‘There are no leaders here.’ ”
That attitude must change, Mr. Lopez said, because the situation demands it. The state is strapped for money, young people and businesses are fleeing New York and property taxes are at the limit.
“We have to have a strategic shift in the culture of how we do business,” he said. “We have to seek reform when we’re at our lowest ebb.”
Saying so and doing so are far apart, and legislators may be reluctant to, in Mr. Lopez’s words, “step out and get hit by the bus first” by proposing drastic cuts.
So how does it happen?
“The media and the public have to keep applying pressure,” Mr. Lopez said. “The time is ripe for reform.”