Don’t skim local VLT aid
What’s a governor with a budget deficit to do? Why, take money from other governments with budget deficits of their own, of course.
That’s become one of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s default budget strategies in recent years. Once again, he proposes to strip $9.3 million in video lottery terminal aid from all the municipalities that now get a piece of VLT funds, except Yonkers. Saratoga Springs would lose more than $2.3 million, or about 5 percent of the city’s budget.
We recognize that the state faces a tough financial situation right now. It’s fundamentally unfair, though, to balance the state budget with strategies like this. This may be called “aid” on paper, but it’s money the state promised communities years ago in exchange for hosting VLT parlors. It’s as much theirs as the state’s.
New York has more progressive options for raising revenue than putting the burden on local property tax payers. They include a small tax on stock transfers that the state stopped collecting 40 years ago, or raising taxes on high-income people.
We’re not fans of gambling , which tends to be a tax on poor people, but we’re even less enthused with the state breaking promises that sold communities on gambling in the first place. Surely New York has better hands to play.
A fresh idea on healthy food
Between all the supermarkets, bodegas, and convenience shops in the Capital Region, and all the farms in the area, who could want for food?
More than you might realize. In the 11-county region, around one in ten families on average is food-insecure, and upwards of one in five children in some areas.
Here’s some encouraging news, though: A four-year study, the Greater Capital Region Food System Assessment, finds that for the most part the region has an adequate network of outlets for providing fresh, healthy food to everyone. The challenge is to get the food to the stores.
The study, led by Capital Roots, a nonprofit focused on local food production and food security, recommends, among other things, helping farmers expand their offerings, creating a better farm-to-market distribution system, and enabling more minorities to get into farming.
A next step, the study suggests, would be a regional food policy council to carry those and other objectives forward. Local stakeholders — county executives, mayors, town supervisors, food wholesalers, retailers, growers and processors — should take this study to the next level and not let it just gather dust on some shelf.
Bring ghost gun bill to life
In just the last month, the Capital Region has seen two cases involving “ghost guns” — firearms made by people who were able to get around gun laws — and background checks — by ordering them in parts. They lack serial numbers, so they can’t be traced.
Congress has failed to do anything about this loophole, but New York can fill some of the void with a pair of bills that have already passed the Senate and are now before the Assembly.
The Scott J. Beigel Unfinished Receiver Act (S.13) and the Jose Webster Untraceable Firearms Act (S.14) would allow parts used to manufacture firearms to be sold only to licensed gunsmiths, and require gunsmiths to put serial numbers on firearms they produce.
The sooner these bill pass and are signed into law, the safer.