PEF to Obama: Send more stimulus $$
By SHERRY HALBROOK
Last year, President Obama asked a group of leaders from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) to check and let him know if the federal stimulus funding was helping their members and communities.

PEF President Ken Brynien was one of those SEIU leaders and, in August, he posed Omaba’s question to the PEF Executive Board. In November, Brynien sent a summary of those responses to Dr. Jared Bernstein, deputy assistant to the president on economic policy.

PEF’s message: It’s helping, but it’s not enough. Keep it coming.

“When asked about the impact the ARRA (stimulus funding) has had on their agencies, on the whole, my union leaders across state agencies indicate that in many it has saved jobs and in others it has not yet made an impact,” Brynien wrote.

Brynien said 35 percent of PEF board members reported the stimulus funding had created or preserved jobs at their agencies and another 9 percent said they expect it will. Also, 29 percent reported the stimulus had preserved or created jobs in their communities, and 7 percent believed it would help their local economies in the future.

The agencies in which PEF members identified a positive effect from the stimulus were: the Departments of Housing and Community Renewal, Health, Transportation, Labor and the Office of Parks and Recreation and the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance.

“Our deepest concern is that, as the economy begins to recover, the tax revenues needed by the state will not grow fast enough to compensate for the loss of stimulus funding,” the PEF leader added.
The threat to New Yorkers is very real, Brynien said.

“The specter of tens of thousands of layoffs and job losses in state and local governments, should the stimulus funds run out before tax revenues recover, could have a devastating effect on state services, not just in New York, but across the nation. It could lead to additional job cuts and threaten a fragile economic recovery, potentially leading to a ‘double dip’ recession, as occurred in the early 1980s.”

Brynien went on to cite two national studies that estimated nearly 600,000 public employees were furloughed in the 2009-10 fiscal year and projected state deficits would top $140 billion.

“Most economists project state budgets will continue to be affected by drops in tax revenues between 12 and 24 months after an economic recession has ended,” Brynien wrote.

“For the nearly 60,000 members I represent, it means many will continue to face continued job cuts until as late as October 2011, well after the ARRA funds are depleted. I encourage you to seriously consider a second stimulus program directed to state and municipal governments to help them weather the revenue shortfalls prior to the recovery of tax receipts.”

Since PEF sent this letter in November, Gov. Paterson has balanced his 2010-11 state budget proposal on the assumption New York would get $1.06B in new federal stimulus funding.