State fiscal picture
as DOB projects it for FY2008-09:
Special session spending cuts + $427M
Personal income tax shortfall - 950M
Business taxes shortfall - 350M
Other revenue shortfalls - 300M
Total Shortfall (budget deficit) $1,172M

By SHERRY HALBROOK
New York state is preparing to add more holes to its fiscal belt that’s drawing ever tighter as a result of the Wall Street meltdown and floundering economy. And it’s state employees who are feeling the squeeze.

“It’s a disgrace,” said PEF President Ken Brynien. “The Bush administration, with its dismissive, hands-off approach to government regulation and its pro-tycoon/anti-public-interest mindset, has saddled our nation and our state with a nightmare that we all must work hard to put right.

“This is a time when the real value and critical role of good government and true public service must be recognized,” Brynien said. “The focus must be shifted to the public good.”

Needed now more than ever
“As New York State’s bedrock of public professionals, PEF members are needed more than ever now to give state leaders the hard facts, in-depth analysis and insights, and dedication to serving and helping New Yorkers through the bad times as well as the good.

“State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, speaking at our September convention, recognized the invaluable professionalism of our members at his agency the very day this storm broke. Now, our members at the state Banking Department, Insurance Department and Taxation and Finance also are on the front lines of the state’s efforts to bring this crisis under control. Our members at all of the state’s human services agencies, including the Labor Department and the Division of Housing and Community Renewal, are or soon will be stretched to the limit as they struggle to help ordinary New Yorkers cope with the economic whiplash.

“This is the time to value public service and focus public resources on using our state workforce to help all New Yorkers move safely and securely through these troubling times,” Brynien said.

Most valuable players
Not only are the experience and expertise of New York’s professionals essential, they are cost-effective, Brynien said. “The state can no longer afford to waste money giving jobs to private contractors that can be done as well or better, and at far less cost, in-house.”

“As we have assured Gov. David Paterson and state legislative leaders in our meetings with them, we are ready to do our jobs in ensuring New York successfully meets this challenge.

“The tired, old knee-jerk response to lagging revenues of laying off state employees would only make the problem worse. State agencies have been working hard all summer to cut costs wherever they can and we have worked with them. Our members are straining now to make up for all of the unfilled vacant jobs at their worksites as the aging workforce continues to retire in droves.

“Don’t forget, our members and retirees feel the same financial pressures as all other New Yorkers,” he said. “Our savings, home values and deferred comp investments are hit just as hard as our neighbors’, but we feel privileged and proud to be giving them the services and help they need now more than ever.

Time for courageous change
“It is time for new, courageous leadership. We must increase state revenues and we should start by insisting on fiscal fairness,” Brynien said. “When our Legislature returns to Albany November 18, it should act swiftly to shut down the tax loopholes and raise taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers to make the people whose unregulated greed destroyed our economy pay to restore it.

“Why should hardworking, taxpaying New Yorkers do without the public services they need — such as safe bridges, food, water and air, education, employment and health care — while the super wealthy do not pay their fair share of taxes, yet whine for more public bailouts? It’s wrong, and we can’t afford to go on subsidizing them any longer.”

Ready to help, or speak out
Just as PEF stands ready to support wise, strong leadership in Albany, Brynien said, it is equally ready to defend state services and its members who provide them.

“We are on full alert, in Albany and at every agency and worksite. Our leaders and members are ready to act if we see the big-money interests pushing this burden any further onto the backs of ordinary New Yorkers and depriving them of the services they have paid for and deserve. We will not turn our backs and we will not be silent.