Last week, on this blog, I teased you with our post telling you to watch next week because there was going to be a big announcement. I hope that you got to see that announcement on Tuesday because it was a historic day in New York. Unshackle Upstate was joined by 10 other organizations representing small business, municipal government, educational organizations, farmers and realtors. Our message was clear…it is time for our elected officials at the state level to get to work on mandate relief. You can read the recommendations at: http://www.unshackleupstate.com/news/uu-media/let-ny-work.
So you might be wondering why this was historic. Well, it is the first time that these organizations came together to support a common agenda. In fact many of us were on opposite sides of the tax cap battle last year. But we all know one thing, and that is articulated well by this Editorial from the Auburn Citizen, http://auburnpub.com/news/opinion/editorial/article_aea6d92e-05ba-11e1-a694-001cc4c03286.html, that if the cap is to be as successful as we know it can be, then mandate relief has to happen this year.
But our challenges are deep. Shortly after we released the agenda, the leadership of CSEA said, “Their bile is a perversion of reality that misrepresents the facts about very complex issues facing our state.” There is nothing perverse in our plan. The simple fact of the matter is that when roughly 80% of local government spending is in workforce costs, you have no choice but to cut costs in that area.
What we have advanced is a fair, reasonable, and responsible way for the elected officials in Albany to make our communities affordable. And isn’t that what we all want at the end of the day…an ability to make our communities strong so that we can be proud to once again call New York our home? We cannot sit back and wait for others, those entrenched groups that want nothing to change so that their gravy train can continue on, to set the agenda for New York. It is up to us to determine what we want from our local governments and what we are willing to pay for it. It is our choice…the largest special interest group in New York…the TAXPAYERS!
I hope that you will join us in supporting Let NY Work: A Common Agenda for the Common Good – http://unshackleupstate.com/assets/news/Let_NY_Work_-_A_Common_Agenda_for_the_Common_Good.pdf. Sign up for the Unshackle Army now to get more information in the future about this issue and many others that are important to taxpayers and private sector businesses.