"INSULTING" OFFER ­ Secretary-Treasurer Jane Hallum shakes handful of single dollar bills during testimony before state lawmakers, to drive home her point that the governor's proposed three percent raise insults public employees. Hallum, flanked by PEF Director of Civil Service Enforcement Tom Cetrino and Legislative Director Brian Curran, told legislators the offer amounts to a mere 20 cents more per hour for the average member. - Photo by John Epting

Union also testifies against proposed state budget cuts
PEF seeks lawmakers' aid in contract battle with state

'Insulting' offer
"The governor's current offer of a 3 percent per year raise, which would be delayed for six months, amounts to an increase of only $12.69 per week for the average PEF member. What's worse, this $12.69 will only be in their pockets briefly, because the state's contract offer also raises the cost of their health insurance," the union leader added.
Dramatically illustrating her point, Hallum counted out 12 single dollar bills, subtracted four of them to represent the weekly loss from higher health-care costs, and finally threw two dimes down on the table.

"Once you do all the math, the state's offer winds up being worth only 20 cents an hour more for the average member," Hallum told the lawmakers. "With no rationale, this offer can only be taken as an insult," she said.

Hallum also noted that PEF members endured four years with no salary increases during the state's fiscal crises in the '90s, but now that the state's economy is robust and New York has a multi-billion-dollar budget surplus "our members rightly expect a fair and equitable salary increase."

Say 'no' to budget cuts
Hallum and the union's legislative director and director of civil service enforcement also warned lawmakers about several of Gov. George Pataki's state budget proposals. Specifically, the union reps urged them to:
· Reject the proposal to cut funds for law enforcement and rehabilitation and merge several agencies into a new Department of Justice.
· Reject any changes of appointing authority at the Office of Mental Health (OMH);
· Fully restore OMH shared-staff positions.
· Maintain appropriate inpatient staffing in OMH and restore the 100 positions cut at Pilgrim and Manhattan Psychiatric Centers.
· Provide funding for adequate professional staff in all Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities facilities.
· Provide additional quality-assurance staff for the NYS Creating Alternative Residential Environments and Services (NYS CARES) program expansion for the developmentally disabled.
· Add more state-operated beds for NYS CARES and accelerate development of beds already funded.
· Require the state Department of Transportation to hire more state engineers and reduce its reliance on costly consultants.
· Hire state computer professionals, instead of consultants, to fix the Connections program in the Office of Children and Family Services.
· Reject the proposal to cut the State Education Department (SED) and to abolish or transfer out key functions in SED.
· Provide adequate state support for the SUNY hospitals to eliminate the structural deficit.

Economic studies reveal disparities
Gov.'s proposals widen wage gap

By SHERRY HALBROOK

If you get the feeling you're losing ground financially while the national economy seems to be going great guns, there's a good chance it's not just your imagination.
When it comes to personal finances, New York is a state of extremes and Gov. George Pataki's budget, pay and tax proposals will only make it worse.
Whether it's tax cuts or pay raises, working families - especially those of state employees - consistently come up with the short-end of the stick, while the rich and powerful keep gaining ground.

The Executive Budget presented by Gov. Pataki in January is a painful exercise in "missed opportunities," according to Frank Mauro, executive director of the Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI) in Albany.

"The most important challenge facing New York state is the increasing divergence between the relatively small number of New Yorkers who are benefitting from the current economic recovery and the rest of the state's residents," Mauro said.
The state needs to use some of its budget surplus to do more for its citizens' unmet social and infrastructure needs and "to put its fiscal house in order," he said.

Tax cuts drive state budget
Instead, much of the surplus generated by the Wall Street boom, the tobacco settlement and federal block grants is being absorbed by the large state tax cuts enacted since 1994, which favor the rich, Mauro said. When fully implemented, those cuts will reduce state revenues by about $14 billion per year.
The tax cuts are so deep, that even the financial windfall can't support them, he said. So, the state continues cutting services, hiking fees and college tuition, shifting costs to local governments and borrowing for capital improvements.

Pataki would perpetuate New York's regressive state and local tax system which means the less income you have, the bigger the chunk going to taxes - a nice deal for the wealthy and people getting fat raises.

While the governor and lawmakers found plenty of money last year for 38 percent pay raises for themselves and their top appointees, Pataki has budgeted 3 percent for state workers.
"Over the course of the last eight years, New York state's expenditures for employee wages and salaries have declined in real terms by more than $1 billion, or more than 10 percent," Mauro said.

His research shows the average weekly wages of state employees have been stagnant and even lost buying power slightly over the past decade, while the average buying power for New Yorkers overall is up about 13 percent.

NY state of extremes
The contrasts between rich, poor and the middle come into sharper focus in New York state than anywhere else in the country, according to recent studies by FPI and two national research organizations - the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute.

The studies show the widening income gap between the "haves" and "have nots" is a national trend, and New York state is leading it.
Of all 50 states, New York has the widest income gap between rich and poor. And it has one of the widest gaps between rich and middle-income families.
New York is the only state with both one of the 10 highest poverty levels and 10 highest per-capita-income levels.

"Although Wall Street accounts for only 2 percent of all the jobs in the state, it has accounted for more than half of the direct growth in output and earnings," Mauro said.
In the '90s, only the richest 20 percent of New Yorkers saw their average incomes rise, he said, while middle-income families lost an average of 6.9 percent of their buying power.

The Communicator Home Page