POSING SOLUTIONS — PEF President Roger Benson tells state lawmakers at a joint legislative budget hearing in Albany last month that proposed cuts to state services offer false economies. A better solution would be to tighten fiscal controls on outside contracts, shadow agencies and public authorities. Benson is flanked by PEF Director of Civil Service Enforcement Tom Cetrino and Legislative Director Brian Curran. — Photo by John Epting
False economies flaw NYS Exec. Budget proposal for 2005-06
By SHERRY HALBROOK
Close scrutiny of the governor’s $105.5 billion state Executive Budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2005-06 finds it is riddled with rejects and false economies, according to PEF’s analysts.
“Once again, we found this budget recycles many proposals that have failed to garner support, year after year,” said PEF President Roger Benson. “These proposals don’t get better with age. They are just as bad now as they were last year, the year before and the year before that.”
Like its predecessors, this budget proposal would reduce accountability and legislative oversight of public services by creating new shadow agencies. It also increases the state’s reliance on pricey private contractors and consultants. And it does so without building in any requirements that the cost and number of those contractors and consultants be open to public scrutiny.
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Among the more problematic spending cuts identified by PEF are:
• Privatizing SUNY hospitals;
• Cutting youth-services capacity and 99 positions at the state Office of Children and Family Services;
• Closing several state correctional facilities;
• Closing Middletown Psychiatric Center and sending its inpatients to Rockland Psychiatric Center;
• Cutting 67 full-time positions at the state Division of Parole.
• Increasing use of consultant engineers by the state Transportation Department; and
• Reducing inspections of the public food supply.
Scrambled services
“While Gov. George Pataki talked about building accountability in public services and spending for New York state, a closer look reveals his actual budget proposals could fall far short of that goal,” Benson said.
The plan would weave a tangled web of mergers and transfers of state services among various existing and proposed agencies, including measures to:
• Transfer the state Archives, Library and Museum from the state Education Department (SED) to the state Council on the Arts where they would become a “NY Institute for Cultural Education
(NYICE);”
• Transfer most of the adult services of the Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities (VESID) from the SED to the state Labor Department (DOL);
• Merge the Workers’ Compensation Board into DOL;
• Transfer the Welfare to Work Program from DOL to the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA);
• Abolish the state Hazard Abatement Board;
• Merge several licensing and inspection programs within DOL into a new Worker Protection License Unit;
• Merge the Public Employment Relations Board and the Employment Relations Board into a new state Labor Relations Board; and
• Merge the state Division of Probation and Correctional Alternatives into the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.
Benson told state lawmakers at a joint budget hearing in February to reject the notion these mergers would lead to more efficient services.
“They may look reasonable at first glance,” he said, “but they mean nothing in the way of savings and, in some cases, come with a cost, not only to taxpayers, but to clients that receive services from these agencies.
“These proposals are ill conceived with little, if any, advance planning,” Benson said, “and are not worthy of your support.
“Unfortunately, these mergers and closures only add up to ‘shell games’ in which personnel and equipment are shifted from one agency to another. We should think of our institutions and public servants as resources to be valued, not as political game pieces.
Focus on accountability
“If we work together,” Benson told the legislators, “we can save services, save jobs and save money — all while increasing accountability to the people of New York and giving them the public services they need and deserve.
“We need you to approve bills that call for an end to unaccountability in state shadow agencies, public authorities and public-benefit corporations. We need legislation that would require a cost-benefit analysis before a state agency enters into a contract for personal services. And we need a requirement that the Executive Budget disclose for each state agency the cost of all personal service contracts and number of private contractors.
“These are not costly proposals. These are proposals that will save money, save our institutions, save our services and return the accountability for state government back where it belongs: to you, our elected representatives.”
Stay on message
PEF is running newspaper ads in Albany and affected communities around the state to educate legislators and the public on these important budget and policy issues.
The union’s political activists are also holding legislative receptions at the Capitol and in the regions to meet with lawmakers and talk about these issues. And in early March, the activists will come to Albany for PEF Lobby Day to sit down with their lawmakers and review these same key issues. Some members are also building strong letter-writing, petition and community-support campaigns to save their services and jobs.
“No single strategy is enough to achieve our budget goals,” Benson said. “We have learned that it takes a broad range of strategies and constant effort to keep our issues alive and viable in New York’s intensely competitive budget environment.”
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