Several Onondaga County town and village leaders have joined CenterState CEO and the Committee to Save New York (CSNY) in support of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposed mandate relief plan.  In Onondaga County mandated costs have increased 75 percent since 2009. Under Governor Cuomo’s proposal, Onondaga County taxpayers would save $24 million over the next five years.  Additionally, his pension reform proposal will save $1.6 billion over the next 30 years.  Click here to read more about the support for mandate relief.

Keep New York Working

The Committee to Save New York of which The Business Council is a member, has just released a new video that gives support to recent legislation. They posted the following statement on their website.

“In the past year, Committee to Save New York has supported Governor Cuomo and the Legislature in their successful efforts to cap property taxes, pass an on-time budget without raising taxes, and cut spending. This week, the Governor and Legislature began to tackle the mounting deficit by passing a plan that provides tax relief for small businesses and 4.4 million New Yorkers, and by implementing a job creation program that will put tens of thousands of New Yorkers to work.

Governor Cuomo and the Legislature are working together to lift our economy – cutting taxes, creating jobs, and spurring economic growth.

We made dramatic progress during the past year, but there is a lot more to be accomplished in 2012. We must continue to restore New York’s economy by locking in a commitment to reduce state spending. We must accomplish regulatory reforms and mandate relief, both of which are necessary to make the state competitive and affordable for business and residents alike. Our objective for 2012 is to demonstrate a permanent commitment to fiscal discipline in state government and dynamic growth in all sectors of our economy across every region of New York State.”

To watch the video click here.

The Committee reform agenda includes:

Continue Fiscal Discipline: Working to reduce spending by $2 billion will help balance the budget and increase New York’s competitive edge.

Enact Pension Reform: The growth of spending in Albany is not sustainable. The Governor and Legislature must take steps to control long term spending if our state is to remain competitive. We must develop an affordable pension plan for local and state government employees which is fair to workers and taxpayers – a plan that eliminates the use of pension-padding schemes in pension calculations. The Administration demonstrated earlier this year that it can work with public employees to avoid layoffs and ensure New Yorkers have access to government services, all while recognizing the dire financial straits the state is facing. Albany must address this problem in the upcoming year to ensure the financial stability of our state.

Pass Regulatory Reform and Mandate Relief: Reducing the red tape that chokes job creation and results in unnecessary costs will encourage businesses to bring well-paying private sector jobs to our state. Similarly, the legislative mandates that force localities and agencies to incur obligations that far exceed their ability to pay must be rolled back. These are the steps that will ensure that the state unleashes the entrepreneurial talents of both individuals and local government to tackle the twin challenges of improving our quality of life and growing our economy.

Legalize Casino Gambling: New York has seen a huge drain of economic opportunity as gambling operations have grown in other states. Allowing casino gambling in New York will ensure that our state gets its fair share of regional and international gambling revenue. This would bring 25,000 jobs and $3 billion in revenue to New York that is currently going to neighboring states.

The Committee to Save New York was founded in 2011, at a time when the State was facing a $15 billion deficit, businesses were fleeing and unemployment was growing. CSNY is dedicated to restoring fiscal sanity to state government in order to ensure that future generations of New Yorkers will have the opportunity to get a great education, find a good job or start a new business and prosper.

New York’s lingering budget problems are a result of poor economic performance influenced by a bad business climate, topped with unsustainable growth in government spending.

In the last decade, New York went on a massive spending spree, with total state spending up by nearly $70 billion. As a result, New York spent far more than other states on major programs like Medicaid and school aid, with no proportional improvements in outcomes.

New York taxpayers are paying the price. Even with the lingering effects of the deep national recession, state tax and fee receipts in New York are up $12 billion over the past five years. Thanks to more than 130 separate tax and fee increases (adopted prior to 2011), we are taking proportionately more money out of a shrunken economy. Yet we face another multibillion-dollar budget gap.

This cycle of ever increasing taxes and spending was broken this spring. With Governor Cuomo’s leadership, the state passed the first budget in decades with an actual reduction in spending and no new taxes.

New York needs jobs and this is the time for Albany to focus on our tax policies to help create them. In 2012, lawmakers must continue to reduce the cost of government, with further reforms in major state spending programs, and mandate relief that reduces the cost of local government.

But most important, the state’s long-term future requires renewed economic growth in high-value sectors.

Between 2000 and 2010, New York suffered a massive loss of middle and upper-middle income jobs – and the tax revenues that go with them. Over this period, the state lost 496,000 jobs in the state’s top paying private sector industries - finance/insurance, management/administration, utilities, information, professional/technical services, wholesale trade, construction and manufacturing. These sectors pay high salaries and produce significant tax revenues and economic spin-offs.

In contrast, virtually all job growth in New York over this ten-year period was in below-average wage sectors, including those like health and social services that rely on significant government funding.

New York has been replacing high paying jobs with lower paying jobs. Jobs that compete in the international economy are being replaced with jobs that are tied to regional markets and state and local government funding.

Going forward, New York needs to make the state more attractive for private sector investment in higher wage occupations. New York needs to lower state-imposed costs on business and capital, and remove regulatory and procedural barriers to new private sector investment and job growth. Renewed economic growth will benefit workers and families, and produce the tax revenues needed to finance necessary public services. An improved business climate – jobs - needs to be Albany’s top priority in 2012.

- Heather Briccetti, Acting-president and CEO, The Business Council of New York State, Inc.

Jeremy Smerd writes in Crain’s New York Business(subscription-based)- “Business groups are hopeful that the climate in Albany is ripe for changing New York’s “scaffold law,” which, they argue, makes employers, contractors and property owners liable for nearly all workplace-related injuries.

Past attempts to repeal the century-old law have failed, opponents believe, because Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver protects trial lawyers. But with a moribund economy and a governor advertising that New York is open for business, that could change.

Business groups have also switched tactics. The Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York has joined with the Business Council of New York State, the New York Farm Bureau, the Associated General Contractors of New York State and other industry groups to seek reform, rather than repeal, of the law.

“It’s certainly going to be an uphill battle,” said Tom Stebbins of the Lawsuit Reform Alliance. “But New York state is looking for jobs. This can bring those jobs back.”

He cites a study by the Pacific Research Institute that says changes to the scaffold law could create as many as 86,000 construction jobs. The University of Albany is also working on a study this fall to reveal how much municipalities pay to settle workplace-injury cases.”

To read more click here.

Maury Thompson writes in the Glens Falls Post-Star - “Communication and cooperation will insure that Adirondack communities don’t fall through the cracks in a new state economic development strategy built around 10 regional economic development councils, the state’s top economic development official said Monday.

Under the new strategy, the Adirondack Park is cut up among three separate economic development councils, causing some local government officials and advocacy groups to question whether the vision for development in the park will be fragmented.

Kenneth Adams, president and chief executive officer of Empire State Development Corp., said he has advised that the best way to prevent fragmentation is for economic officials of Adirondack communities to create a “working group” that advises each of the three councils on regional development issues.

“Economic development in the Adirondack Park is a special situation, so I would suggest that they create a working group and focus on that within the structure of the regional councils,” he said, during an impromptu interview at Glens Falls City Hall after a meeting with Glens Falls Mayor John “Jack” Diamond.”

To read more click here.

Joseph Spector writes on LoHud.com about the need for Cuomo to name new heads to a number of important authorities and agencies across the state.

“Several major public authorities in New York are in the midst of trying to fill their top executive posts after a series of resignations.

The vacancies at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the state Power Authority and the Thruway Authority will be left to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and their boards to fill — key decisions that come as the agencies struggle with financial difficulties and shifting priorities.

“It’s a very good sign that he’s taking his time in filling these positions because these authorities each, for different reasons, are very important to the state’s economy,” said Heather Briccetti, acting president of the state Business Council.”

To read more click here.

Joseph Spector writes on pressconnects.com - “Gov. Andrew Cuomo began rolling out his regional economic development councils Tuesday, appointing a mix of leaders from business, unions, colleges and government to work together to revitalize the state’s economy.

Cuomo announced the members of the first three panels for the Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse regions, and is expected to detail seven councils for other regions of New York in the coming days.

Each of the 10 councils will develop a strategy for economic development for a specific region and compete for a piece of $1 billion in economic development incentives.”

To read more click here.

Heather Briccetti, Acting-president and CEO of the Business Council of New York State, Inc. said, “The Governor’s regionally-driven economic plans provides a community-first, bottom-up approach that will give business a more significant role in the shaping of their regions’ recovery and help them to creating private sector jobs”

The Business Council with our partners the U.S. Chamber have created a new action alert to send emails to lawmakers related to the debt ceiling debate.  Our stance is that the ceiling must be raised in order to avoid a devastating default.  The need to raise the debt ceiling provides leverage for meaningful, long-term, bipartisan action to rein in long-term deficit spending and entitlement reform.  Financial markets would be reassured and we’d avoid a potential spike in interest rates, which will only stall our struggling economy. To send a message to your congressional leaders click here and hit the “Take Action” button.

“The passage of a property tax cap is great news for all New Yorkers. It sends a signal to business leaders that the state is prepared to control the cost of government and begin to rebuild our private sector economy,” said Heather Briccetti, acting-president & CEO of The Business Council of New York State, Inc.

The property tax cap has long been a priority of The Business Council. It will contain the growth of local government spending and ultimately make New York more affordable for homeowners and businesses. New York State paid a staggering $48 billion in property taxes in 2010, up five percent from 2009.

The 2009 increase over 2008 was six percent. Businesses paid nearly 44 percent of the total tax levy, $21 billion, by far the largest non-federal tax on private sector employers. The passage of the cap completes a very positive legislative session in which much of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s and The Business Council’s fiscal reform agenda became real.

In addition to getting a property tax cap enacted into law during the 2011 legislative

session, The Business Council worked hard to advance a pro-business agenda in Albany.

As a result of our efforts we were able to proclaim the following victories for business:

• A state budget with no new broad-based taxes

• Caps on future Medicaid and school aid spending

• Improvements in the Excelsior Jobs program

• A new Article X siting law for power generation

• The Recharge NY economic development power program

• An initial local government mandate relief package

• Savings through negotiations with state workforce unions

The Council defeated legislation to expand the state’s Martin Act, with our advocacy efforts culminating in a rare defeat of legislation in the Assembly Codes Committee. The Council also led the fight against significant new energy costs, such as mandated utility purchase of expensive solargenerated electric power.

All of these achievements will lead to an improved business climate in New York.

To read more click on this link  end-of-session-flyer

“The passage of a property tax cap is great news for all New Yorkers. It sends a signal to business leaders that the state is prepared to control the cost of government and begin to rebuild our private sector economy,” said Heather Briccetti, acting-president & CEO of The Business Council of New York State, Inc. “The property tax cap has long been a priority of The Business Council. We believe it will contain the growth of local government spending and ultimately make New York more affordable for homeowners and business.”

Other highlights of the session include: the passage of a state budget with no new broad-based taxes, caps on future Medicaid and school aid spending, improvements in the Excelsior Jobs program, a new Article 10 siting law for power generation and the creation of the Recharge NY economic development power program.

The Business Council added that work remains to be done to lower the cost of government by providing additional mandate relief to schools and local governments and to bring down the tax burden on New Yorkers.

Read more.