Nancy L. Zimpher, chancellor of the State University of New York writes in an letter to the editor of the Syracuse Post Standard.

“With the state’s finances at a crisis point, it is time for bold ideas that will not only get us through these difficult times, but return New York to greatness.

The Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act is an idea of that magnitude.
This landmark legislation shields our students and our campuses from the worst effects of the fiscal crisis while maximizing our potential as a driver of economic recovery.

The legislation removes tuition from the state budget, allowing SUNY to expand enrollment and increase access to excellent educational opportunities. It enables SUNY to engage in partnerships with the private sector, which means new revenue to support SUNY and the ability to create 2,000 faculty positions and a total of 10,000 jobs across the system — along with 65,000 construction jobs for capital projects. The principles of collective bargaining and union worker rights are specifically protected.

Finally, the legislation cuts the red tape that costs SUNY time and money and stifles economic activity.
Unfortunately, some critics continue to defend an indefensible status quo, providing no alternative solutions — only criticisms. In contrast, we understand the need to be proactive and strategic about the future. If current projections are accurate, there will be even less money to go around next year. Business as usual will be nothing short of disastrous.

Read more »

Charles Brecher of the New York Daily News gives reader five way New York City can cut cost without having to reduce its workforce.

“Mayor Bloomberg’s preliminary budget presents a “doomsday scenario” in which more than 18,000 city employees - including 7,019 teachers, 3,150 police officers and 1,050 firefighters - will have to be laid off due to state funding cuts.

But if five far more painless changes are made, those jobs can be saved and major hits to the quality of life can be spared - even if the state slashes its aid. These proposals would save nearly $2 billion annually without reducing city services.

To find out what these five changes are click here.

“There isn’t enough money to spend our way out of the crisis facing New York’s schools,” that is the case made by Questar III BOCES District Superintendent James N. Baldwin in an op-ed in today’s Albany Times-Union.

He writes: “Like many superintendents, I’ve participated in the annual procession to Albany — hat in hand. But not this year. Pleas for more dollars by superintendents, school boards, teachers and others to the Legislature and governor will likely fall on ears that may hear and want to help but can’t.

While New York taxpayers spend more than $50 billion annually on public education, no amount of money will alleviate the systemic issues facing our schools. With no more money available, the Legislature, governor and Regents, as well as school boards, superintendents, parents, teachers and the public, should focus on making schools better and more sustainable. ”

He goes on to offer sensible reforms that would make education more sustainable.

The Business Council supports high-quality education in New York, but with current spending patterns that are by far the highest in the nation we have unsustainable spending without getting the highest quality results.

Read the rest of the column.

George Pyle of the Buffalo News writes - “A century ago, the suggestion that New York’s working men and women could band together to bargain for better wages and working conditions was considered a radical, even a revolutionary, idea.

Today, labor unions are an established part of the state’s economy and its politics, as settled as Wall Street or any government entity.

New Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers out this month show that New York State continues to lead the nation in the percentage of unionized workers, with 25.2 percent of employed workers paying union dues. Buffalo and other New York metro areas, with rates of unionization that also tend to run at about a quarter of employed people, are also near the top of the list of most unionized cities…

But it is the strain on the taxpayers that most concerns Michael Moran, spokesman for the Business Council of New York.

Moran notes that New York’s high rate of unionization is fueled by growing the government class at a time when the private sector is contracting. In New York, 72.4 percent of the government workers at the local, state and federal level are union members. In New York’s private sector, unions represent only 16.5 percent of the employed.

“You can’t maintain an economy based on government spending,” Moran said. “You have to have a vibrant private sector.”

To read the rest of the story click here.

The Business Council of New York State supports this bill, which would establish an information access infrastructure to support and promote teaching, scholarship, research, innovation and economic growth. This legislation builds on recommendations found within the New York State Commission on Higher Education 2008 Final Report which identified academic libraries as key to maintaining global competitiveness in a knowledge and innovation-based economy.

To read the bill memo in support of the bill click here.

The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports this morning - “Kraft Foods Inc. has made a verbal commitment to retain its New York state plants, including a facility in Avon, in the wake of its acquisition of British candy maker Cadbury.

As Kraft was in the process of trying to buy Cadbury for $19.5 billion, the U.S. company had indicated it planned to keep open a Cadbury plant in the United Kingdom.

But after completing the acquisition, Kraft this week said the U.K. plant would close after all, with the work sent to Poland.

That prompted Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., to seek assurances from Kraft that the jobs of its approximately 2,000 workers in New York were safe. Schumer said Wednesday he had a conversation with Kraft CEO Irene Rosenfeld in which she said the Cadbury deal shouldn’t result in any layoffs in New York.”

To read more click here.

State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli’s office identified $880 million in excess funds unnecessarily held in reserve accounts, missed cost savings and questionable payments by school districts across the state, according to a report DiNapoli released today. DiNapoli’s office completed 733 audits of all of the state’s public schools and Boards of Cooperative Educational Services from August 2005 through February 2010, before the statutory deadline of March 31, 2010.

DiNapoli’s auditors found 285 school districts and BOCES across the state improperly retained a total of $615 million in taxpayer money in various reserve accounts, with the majority of the money held in employee benefit accrued liability reserves (EBALR). This total reflects the amount of money in the reserve funds that exceeded reasonable estimates of the districts’ anticipated liabilities for the reserve funds.

To read the comptroller’s press release click here.

Patrick McGeehan writes in today’s New York Times -”New York City’s unemployment rate dropped to 10 percent in November, as professional services like law and accounting firms hired more workers after many months of cutting jobs, the State Labor Department said Thursday…

Indeed, there still were slightly more than 400,000 city residents unable to find jobs last month, according to the state’s figures, which were adjusted to account for seasonal fluctuations. But that was the lowest total recorded since July, according to James Brown, an analyst with the Labor Department.

Employers in the city added about 10,700 jobs in October, but that was less than half the average increase in employment in the last 10 Novembers, Mr. Brown said. Some of that gain came in the retail sector, where stores have been adding to their holiday staffs more slowly and in smaller numbers than usual.

For the last few months, though, the city’s labor force has shrunk, suggesting that some people have given up looking for jobs, said James Parrott, chief economist for the Fiscal Policy Institute, a liberal research group. The number of city residents with jobs has barely changed this fall, but the situation would be worse if the federal government had not pumped so much money into the economy through the stimulus program, he said.”

To read the rest of the story click here.

“President Obama’s Job Plan recognizes that small businesses are the engine of job creation and need help to create new jobs and lead us out of this recession,” said Kenneth Adams, president and CEO of The Business Council of New York State, Inc. “But for New York small businesses to truly benefit and create jobs the state must also ease their tax burden.”

The Business Council supports several of the President’s proposals including:

· A one-year elimination of the tax on capital gains from new investments in small business stock.

· The extension of a provision that allows small businesses to immediately expense up to $250,000 of qualified investment.

· A provision that accelerates the rate at which business can deduct the cost of capital expenditures.

· A short-term tax incentive to encourage small business hiring and eliminating fees for businesses that take Small Business Administration loans in 2010.

To read the full release click here.

Brian Tumulty writes in today’s Democrat and Cronicle - “Administration officials have received plenty of advice in advance of the “forum on jobs and economic growth” that President Barack Obama will hold today.

Sen. Chuck Schumer wants the Census Bureau to go to unemployment offices around the state to hire temporary workers for the 2010 population count.

“They are good jobs,” he said. “They pay up to $20 an hour.”

New York’s junior senator, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, wants the administration to back a tax credit for new job creation. Such a tax credit, pegged to offset the cost of payroll taxes, could help produce an estimated 3 million jobs, according to the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute.”

Read the rest of the story click here.