Lt. Gov. Bob Duffy stopped in Batavia today to draw attention to cost savings for Genesee County, and other local governments, from recently enacted pension reform.
The plan could save the county $186 million over 30 years, though most of that savings is deferred as employees hired before the new Tier 6 plan was passed either quit or retire.
Chamber President Lynn Freeman said pension reform is critical for a region long seen as burdened by taxes and regulation.
"I live in Le Roy and it's discouraging sometimes to watch the two-, three- and four-employee company leave our community," Freeman said. "One of the reasons they are leaving is driven by our taxation.
"What's happened to us with our mandates has caused those taxes to go up and up and up every year. What the governor and lieutenant governor were able to accomplish last week is truly remarkable."
Mary Pat Hancock, chairwoman of the Genesee County Legislature, said the reform is one big part of needed mandate relief for local government.
In Genesee County, in the past 10 years, the cost of government mandated pensions has gone from $400,000 a year to $4.4 million.
"I’m proud to have supported the governor and his effort to bring fiscal responsibility back to Albany and relieve localities of this out-of-control mandate," Hancock said.
The reform won't effect government employees with even one day on the job before the reform was passed, Duffy said.
"If this was done 10 years ago we wouldn’t be having this conversation," Duffy said. "If we did it back then, we wouldn’t be in the situation we’re in today."
Hancock, who is also president this year of NYS Association of Counties, said the biggest unfunded mandate weighing down on counties is skyrocketing Medicaid costs.
Duffy said a recently initiated plan by Cuomo will help control costs, but not totally eliminate the Medicaid burden for counties.
At the end of three years, all cost increases will become the responsibility of the state, Duffy said.
"I think you’re seeing big steps right now in trying to lower the costs for local governments," Duffy said.
Duffy, who said he has relatives who live in Batavia, said that Genesee County is on a roll in attracting new business, pointing to the recent successes, particularly, with the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park.
"This is place is starting to move," Duffy said. "I think it points to the great potential this area has."
Currently, the Genesee County Economic Development Center is seeking legislative support to fund shovel ready development of the STAMP Project in Alabama.
Duffy said he isn't familiar with the project but said the governor's office will follow the recommendation of the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council.
"The governor looks for any way to support anything that grows jobs and grows the economy," Duffy said. "As a lifelong Upstate New Yorker, I'm amazed at the level of attention that is now paid to Upstate.
"I haven't seen the project on paper yet. But I think, as with any project, it might not get a line item in the budget yet, but if it's plausible, you will see people line up to try and make it happen."
Top photo, Duffy; inset, Freeman.
how come the politicians dont
how come the politicians dont lower there pension plains and health care ?
I do believe that these
I do believe that these changes affect the politicians in the state you site, the same way they affect other pensioners.
NO ONE is having thier healthcare cut, that is not what was said
NO current pensioner will be affected in any event.
I love the way everyone wants our budgets kept under control until it affects them.
William, the simple fact is that we d not have the money to keep doing what we are doing now
the poor get poorer and the
the poor get poorer and the rich get richer, samo samo bull crap
Pension reform bill is for
Pension reform bill is for people the state has even hired yet....We need relief now..Its a step in the right direction...But the need to lower property taxes is now ......Not years down the road.........
"I live in Le Roy and it's discouraging sometimes to watch the two-, three- and four-employee company leave our community," Freeman said. "One of the reasons they are leaving is driven by our taxation.......The county's budget is going for pensions and Medicaid costs..The increases in medicaid costs will still be the county's burden for the next three years..So that means for the next three years taxes will be going up..The counties need relief NOW..How much will medicaid's cost rise over the next three years..Stop the mandates on what a county has to cover for medicaid services....Most people have health care plans that have way less coverage then what medicaid covers..It's not right....Where is the reform to medicaid..Time to cut back on some of the services medicaid offers..To many who have it abuse it...Going to the doctor for things most of us would not...Going to the ER because they can,knowing that they don't have to pay for it......Welfare is a big burden on this state..It needs reform.........
William, no offense, but what
William, no offense, but what is really samo samo is the CLASS ENVY CRAP
I work with a lot of wealthy people in my business, few had it handed it to them, and Almost everyone of them works thier tails off, usually getting there long before thier employees and long after thier employees leave. I have had many a meeting on Saturdays and Sundays with business owners as well metings wy into the night.
This article is not about rich vesus poor, it is about controlling the State and County budgets which are paidforby every tax payer including you. In this State, the rich as you put it pay about 55% of thier income in taxes.
There simply isn't enough money to go around doing business the way we have in the past.
There are relatively few
There are relatively few people in this country who had it handed to them.
Depending on what stats you emphasize, more than 90 percent of today's millionaires got their money the old fashioned way -- they earned it (or most of it). (http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2008/01/14/the-decline-of-inherited-money/)
Howard, they call in envy.
Howard, they call in envy.
Amusing that wealth-building
Amusing that wealth-building can be limited to earned or inherited. Don't overlook theft, fraud and price-fixing.