While Governor Andrew Cuomo’s budget cuts may have a huge impact on schools, it has yet to be determined what the effect will be on villages, towns and the county.
Unlike school districts, villages and towns do not get much state aid and fund their budgets, which are much smaller than school districts, through revenue and local property taxes.
Though the cuts may not be large for the villages, Schoharie Mayor John Borst and Middleburgh Mayor Bill Ansel-McCabe, said state aid cuts in general will have a wide impact.
The state cut aid to villages by about two percent last year and officials are talking about cutting another two percent this year, Mayor Borst said.
Schoharie gets less than $10,000 in aid from the state which means the cut will only amount to a few hundred dollars, he said.
He said he is more worried about the decreases in revenue form drops in the mortgage tax and sales tax.
Belts are going have to be tightened, Mayor Borst said.
“If he’s [the Governor] going to cut back, everyone’s going to have to cut back,” he said.
Mayor Ansel-McCabe also saw a wide impact.
“There’s going to be less money for everyone and there’ll be more taxes for everyone on every level.”
The cuts could lead to more unemployment and more foreclosures, he added.
“No matter what he does,” Mayor Ansel-McCabe said of the Governor, “he knows he’s in trouble no matter what.”
The village does not get a high percentage of their aid from the state, but he added, “every bit that’s taken away will add to our taxes.”
Cobleskill Mayor Mark Galasso said he was on vacation last week and had not reviewed the Governor’s proposed budget. He planned on reviewing the budget this week.
On the town side, the towns get sizable amount of aid for highways but little else in actual aid.
Both Schoharie Supervisor Martin Shrederis and Middleburgh Supervisor Dennis Richards said the state should begin cutting its own spending first.
“New York State needs to stop spending and needs to stop shifting costs back to the counties,” Mr. Richards said.
“On thing we learned during the county budget process last fall is that New York State demands that the county provides mandated services but then it takes New York State 18 months to reimburse our county for providing these services.
“We’ll see what comes out of the process but I am not optimistic that things will change much in New York State.”
Mr. Shrederis added, “If they have to look at cutting some place maybe they should look at Albany.”
He said he has not completely reviewed the budget and does not know the full impact on the town, though highway funds are important.
“I don’t know where that’s going to stand this year.” The highway funds come through the Thruway Authority, he said.
Cuts at the school level will hurt everyone, Mr. Shrederis said.
“It’s a shame he’s cutting on the school side,” he said.
“Either state mandates have to be cut back or they have to come up with a new funding source.”
County Treasurer Bill Cherry said the Governor’s proposed budget carries little impact on counties.
“There’s not a significant change for counties,” he said. “There’s no single bullet where you say, ‘Oh my God.’”
He did like the Governor’s idea of a property tax cap, which would go into effect next year.
“It’s a good tool to help find the fat in a budget. It teaches you to live within your means, just like we do in our homes.
“A lot of people will disagree with me, but I think a tax cap is a great idea.”