SPEAKING OUT
County, state officials call on Cuomo to restore AIM funding
EAST GREENBUSH, N.Y. >> In the face of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s state cuts to Aid and Incentives for Municipalities or (AIM), many counties, towns and villages are voicing their opposition.
In a showing of bipartisan support, officials from multiple Capital Region counties, including Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin and Albany County Executive Dan McCoy, joined together in East Greenbush on Thursday to call for the restoration of those funds.
“We have worked hard to provide quality services to our residents at an affordable cost to our taxpayers. These surprise reductions are simply the state passing down the cost of bad decisions made on the state level and causing even more damage to counties, towns, and villages. The state needs to do the right thing and re- store this important funding,” McLaughlin said of the $600,000 reduction in funding affecting 16 municipalities across Rensselaer County.
Town supervisors of those said municipalities could be forced to raise taxes and adjust their budgets if the state aid isn’t restored. One such municipality is the Town of East Greenbush.
“We think that the latest ideas on the AIM funding, which that the county will make us whole, really isn’t something that makes us whole. We think it’s something that basically robs Peter to pay Paul. We request that the state restore AIM funding in our case. We have a $10 million dollar tax levy, every $100,000 dollars is a 1% tax increase, so the almost $75,000 dollars we’ll lose under the Governor’s proposal will be a three quarters of a one per- cent tax increase on the residents of East Greenbush,” East Greenbush Town Supervisor Jack Conway said of the state attempting to create divisions between his town and other municipalities throughout the county.
“I feel like this is a proposal that pushes tax increases down with the state abrogating its responsibility and putting it back on localities. Most of the Rensselaer County supervisors, we manage towns and villages of 15,000 people or less and we think they matter as much as people who live in New York City or Syracuse or any other city that’s being kept whole by this proposal,” Conway added of the state passing the buck onto localities.
During the administration of former Governor Democratic Eliot Spitzer, state aid to municipalities increased anywhere from three to nine percent depending on their level of financial distress in 2007- 08. Yet as Assemblyman John
McDonald III, D- Cohoes noted, localities haven’t received an increase in AIM aid since 2007.
“AIM aid has not been increased to local governments throughout the state of New York since 2007. I wonder how many households are running on the same income they had in 2007?” McDonald III said of the lack of aid.
McDonald also added districts he represents stand to take a hit, including a loss of $40,000 dollars to Green Island and Waterford and about $100,000 to North Greenbush.
“That’s real money. It makes a difference. Whether it’s to salt and plow the roads, whether it’s a part-time po-
sition to help with enforcement, it has a large impact,” McDonald III added.
McDonald’s fellow Assembly colleague Jake Ashby, RCastleton, echoed those sentiments and the need to restore AIM funding.
“Communities in my district operate on tight budgets and do great work maintaining services and programs under challenging conditions. A sudden reduction in AIMfunding will only create new challenges for those small communities or counties. The state needs to make better choices and restore AIMfunding,” Ashby said of the burden facing local municipalities.
Over in the state Senate, Sen. Daphne Jordan, R-Halfmoon, also threw her support behind counties and municipalities in her district as well.
“Governor Cuomo’s Executive Budget has taken aim at upstate communities and his proposed AIM cuts will do serious harm to our local towns, villages, and taxpayers. In our 43rd Senate District alone, the Governor’s AIM cuts total more than $1.1 million. That’s why I’ll continue partnering with Assemblyman Jake Ashby and my fellow Senate Republicans in advocating for a full restoration of Governor Cuomo’s deep and painful AIM program cuts. I applaud Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin for his continued strong leadership on this important issue and for always standing up on behalf of our Rensselaer County taxpayers and local communities,” Jordan said in a statement.
In order to attempt to make up the cut, Cuomo re- cently proposed using revenue from internet sales tax, which has yet to be officially passed into law in the state.
“Our budget puts local businesses on a level playing field with online retailers while raising $220 million in sales taxes for counties outside New York City, meaning it will generate enough revenue to ensure towns and villages are kept whole following changes to the AIM program while still leaving most of the new revenues to counties to bolster their budgets or provide tax cuts,” New York State Division of the Budget spokesperson, Morris Peters said of projected internet sales tax revenues, $59 million of which he says will go toward keeping towns and villages whole, with the rest being new revenue.
Peters also pointed out other ways the state has been working to assist county governments.
“The Budget maintains support for the takeover of county Medicaid costs by eliminating required growth over the prior year. In addition, the State is continuing its multi-year effort to assume Medicaid administrative responsibilities from the counties. Local Medicaid savings are estimated to total $3.7 billion in [Fiscal Year] 2020. The incremental savings over last year is $128 million,” Peters added of how much more in county Medic aid costs they’re absorbing into the state budget this year, compared with last year.
For McCoy though, it’s potential revenue his county has yet to see and what he views as dictation by the state of how those revenues must be allocated.
“Before we even get to the sales tax revenue, they already decide how we’re going to spend it. That’s not government, that’s not a partnership, that’s a dictatorship,” McCoy said.
“While we understand there is a multi-billion deficit at the state level, cutting funding to our municipalities that are used to keep our communities safe, including law enforcement and fire departments, is simply shifting the burden onto local businesses and homeowners. Albany County alone stands to lose more than $1 million and this proposal would reverse so much of the progress we’ve made in practicing fiscal responsibility and making our neighborhoods more affordable for hardworking families,” McCoy added of the impact the funding cuts could have.