Burden of state’s fiscal crisis must be shared

By ROGER E. BENSON
In October, when the governor announced he would reduce the state work force by 5,000 through attrition, retirement incentives, and a hiring freeze, I applauded his willingness to deal with the fiscal fallout from the attack on the World Trade Center in a way that would limit the impact on our members and the services we provide. We understood there was a fiscal crisis. We expected pain in the budget, but we also expected that the pain would be shared.

While the state Executive Budget does not call for layoffs, it would disproportionately cut state expenditures and reduce critical public services. However, this austerity does not extend to the state’s wealthiest taxpayers and profitable corporations. The Executive Budget does not delay or defer tax cuts or ask similar sacrifices of other interests favored during this election year.

New York should take a lesson from other states, such as Florida and North Carolina. They made the hard choices of deferring enacted tax cuts or placing temporary surcharges on their wealthiest citizens. Those states struck a proper balance between revenue and expenditures. Put another way, they have chosen to share the pain between service cuts and tax cuts.

PEF is seeking to ensure the burden of the state’s fiscal crisis is shared equitably and the essential services we provide to New York’s citizens and most vulnerable are not sacrificed to pursue what, in the current fiscal climate, are gratuitous tax cuts to corporate New York.

We are lobbying and mobilizing to prevent the state’s leaders from embarking on a course where shortsighted cuts would make our jobs more dangerous and difficult, compromise services and, in the long run, actually cost taxpayers more.

We oppose poor public policy fostered by bottom-line budgeting.

We are fighting cuts in the state Office of Mental Health and Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, where staff reductions would create even more dangerous conditions for both patients and staff.

We are fighting cuts in the Department of Corrections, where model substance-abuse-treatment programs are being dismantled, increasing the chances of recidivism by felons and eroding safety in our communities.

Last October, we pledged to do our part to help during this fiscal crisis, but we will fight to ensure that vital public services don’t bear the brunt of the state’s fiscal crisis for the sake of tax cuts for big business and the wealthy.

We will lobby for fairness and call on state leaders to balance the budget equation by restoring the cuts that make for bad public policy and imprudent financial planning.

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