Legislative Resources
CHIPS FUNDING APPROVED!
Shortly after State Leaders failed to pass a Budget on April 1st the NYSAOTSOH and NYSCHSA Board members took the lead in letting our elected officials know the huge negative impact this was having on our local roads and bridges. With the State DOT's budget cut by over $200 million and no authorization to move this year's capital projects, we decided to get our CHIPs funding, we must call on our local program to be treated like the MTA's Capital Program. The letters below are just some of the examples of the message we delivered to state leaders. The MTA got their Capital Plan approved on June 1 and we got our CHIPS program approved on June 7.
Our CHIPS funding for this fiscal year is $363.1 million and Marchiselli is $39.7 million. Again, your individual locality's allocation should be very close to last year's funding. Click here to see the updated statewide CHIPS runs now. Please thank your state legislators for supporting our CHIPS funding. While we all know it's never enough to do what needs to be done, please keep in mind when you are talking to them:
* The State is facing a $9.2 billion budget gap
* The State Budget is more than two months late with no agreement in sight
* The DOT still doesn't have funding for their capital plan
Please contact us if you have any questions.
Examples of letters delivered to State leaders:
Letter to Governor Paterson 05/18/10
Letter to Governor Paterson 05/28/10
2010 Budget Update: Action Required
The Legislators claim that they are powerless to help us because the Governor controls the content of the bills that enact emergency spending authority. Although a timely budget, which is the primary responsibility of the Legislature, would set aside the need for emergency bills and solve this problem.
Certainly, similar language provided for ARRA projects must be contained in future emergency spending bills to prevent the situation where state funded projects are being shut down and workers are laid off.
NYSAOTSOH and NYSCHSA have responded by sending a joint letter to Governor David Paterson (click here) to urge the inclusion of CHIPS authorizations in future emergency spending bills. We are asking all our members and affiliates to send a similar letter to the Governor as well.
Please click here for sample letter to sign and fax to the Governor's office at 518-408-2549.
We also want you to be aware that we are issuing a press release in the hope of drawing public attention to this situation--click here to view press release. Should you get any calls from the press and you would like any assistance or want to refer press to the Association please don't hesitate to call Association Headquarters at (518) 694-9313.
Funding Freeze Threatens Jobs
Legislative Update for 2009
Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch has said that the deficit next year could be more than $10 billion. Going forward there will be a continuation of the political turmoil of last year which will only be worsened as the Legislature is forced to address the deep budget gaps our state faces. Additionally, 2010 will be a year of important elections as we watch the Gubernatorial Race as well as races for every member of the state legislature. The Senate currently has a 32-30 Democratic Majority and next year will be particularly contentious as the Republicans try to retake the Majority.
Five Year Transportation Plan
The state has historically adopted five year capital transportation plans which include CHIPs funding. Our current five year plan will be completed on April 1, 2010. In the current five year plan, we successfully worked with our state officials to achieve a record level of CHIPs funding - over $200 million more than we received in the last five year plan. With the state facing a record deficit, there is a good possibility that the Governor will not propose a five year plan when he releases his budget in January. This is very disheartening especially in light of the fact that the Acting Department of Transportation Commissioner Stan Gee called for a 40% increase in funding for local roads and bridges in his draft five year capital transportation plan released in October.
As we reach out to our state representatives to let them know the importance of maintaining our local road and bridge infrastructure, it is imperative to remind them that our system received almost no stimulus dollars from the federal government. Our Board members along with Board members from the NYS County Highway Superintendents Association have held a number of meetings with key staff to Governor Paterson on this very issue. The PowerPoint we utilized during these meetings is available here.
State Deficit Reduction
During the past few months, the Legislature came to Albany several times to pass a deficit reduction plan. Eventually, both houses agreed on a $2.7 billion plan which only contained $700 million in real cuts. This was far short of the two year $5 billion reduction the Governor had called for in October. The cuts and shifts in funding were to health care, local assistance, SUNY, CUNY, Community Colleges, the MTA, the Environmental Protection Fund, the Dormitory Authority, and RGGI Funds. Because there were no mid-year school cuts included in the plan, Governor Paterson decided that the Legislature had not gone far enough to solve the deficit. As a result, the Governor stopped the December 15th local assistance and school monies, but this did not affect CHIPs.
Bidding Threshold Raised
On a positive note, during one of the many special sessions to solve the budget deficit the Legislature passed S66002 Stewart-Cousins/A 400002 Hoyt to address the efficient operation of local governments. The legislation that was signed into law in November raised bidding thresholds on public works contracts from $20,000 to $35,000.
Bills to Watch
In 2009, there were several of pieces of legislation that were important to us we will be closely monitoring during session next year. One of these is A8628 Koon/S5728 Aubertine that will allow municipalities to "piggy-back" on county contracts. Assemblymember Koon and Senator Aubertine are both Chairs of the Commission on Rural Resources and introduced the bill at our request. During our 2010 lobby day we need to educate our local Legislators on the importance of this bill and the financial flexibility this will give our members, ultimately lowering costs for our municipalities. Also, we will be tracking the low volumes road bill and another piece of legislation that would allow county highway superintendents to rent road machinery from cities, towns, and villages. The ability to rent our already owned road machinery will give us a new funding stream for its maintenance or the purchase of additional equipment.
DEC Proposes Regulation on Content of Pavements and Coatings
In the fall, we met with the Governor's Office of Regulatory Reform regarding a proposed regulation of the Department of Environmental Conservation that would lower the volatile organic compound content of pavements and coatings. This specific language of the proposed regulation has not been released, but depending on the numbers, we believe it may lead to a 20-30% increase in price to our municipalities. This increase in price would prove disastrous to our local budgets. During our meeting, the staff of DEC and GORR were both receptive and asked for more information about the impact on our towns.
NYSAOTSOH must continue educating our local and state elected officials on the implications of legislation that affects our members. Our most important goal must be to maintain CHIPs funding at its current level or higher to keep our system safe for the drivers of New York. If you have any additional questions or are interested in any specific legislation please contact our Albany Headquarters at 518-694-9313 or us directly at 518-436-6202.2009 Budget Update
• MAINTAINED CHIPS AT LAST YEARS $363 MILLION LEVEL DESPITE THE $103 MILLION CUT PROPOSED BY THE GOVERNOR
• STOPPED CONSOLIDATION EFFORT TARGETING OUR MEMBERS
Last week with NY facing a deficit of $17.7 billion, the Legislature passed the budget. The State's All Funds total spending to $131.8 billion for this fiscal year with assistance from the Federal Stimulus funding totaling $6.2 billion, reductions between $5.2 and $6.5 billion and $6.3 billion in new revenue proposals. In the tightest state budget ever NYSAOTSOH delivered on its member's priorities. Coupling this with the outstanding turnout we had this year at out Albany Lobby Day - Our State Legislators heard our message and reacted very favorably. Please thank your Assemblymembers and Senators.
When the state budget was finally passed on Friday April 3rd the combined efforts of all our members' hard work paid off:
• CHIPS capital funding was increased by $103 million over the Executive's Budget proposal and we were able to restore the total SFY 2009-10 CHIPs funding to $363 million.
(Click here to see SFY 2009-10 CHIPs Allocations)
• The Legislature rejected an effort by the Executive make it easier for town governments to appoint rather than elect Highway Superintendents. Recognizing our concerns the Legislature removed this proposal along with other consolidation language.
LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES
During the next few months our Association will not only be supporting measures that assist with efforts to provide safe and affordable roads for New York's drivers but also opposing those measures that hinder our efforts to achieve this goal. Similar to last year we will be supporting low volume road legislation that will allow municipalities to decide which roads on their system will remain seasonal roads and which if any will be upgraded. We will also be again opposing legislation that will amend the New York State Mined Land Reclamation Law and several bills which dictate changes in the prevailing wage laws because they will significantly increase the cost for localities to perform highway maintenance and replacement.
In order to maximize cost efficiency we are also introducing and supporting legislation amending General Municipal law section 103 to permit towns to purchase paving materials under county contract. This will allow a town to insure the lowest cost of road paving and maintenance for its taxpayers. We have met officials from the Department of Labor, they have agreed that such a measure is appropriate because prevailing wage rate is still being paid.
Together we have accomplished a great deal this year but we still have many major outstanding issues facing our membership. We look to more success before the state legislative session concludes in June.
Governor’s Executive Budget Released
In December, the Governor released the Executive Budget a full month earlier than usual in an attempt to address the growing deficit in New York State. According to projections, the deficit gap to be addressed in the 2009-2010 Budget has ballooned to $12.5 billion. While deep cuts were made in virtually every sector, highways were particularly hard hit.
CHIPs
The Governor’s budget reduced CHIPs funding to its lowest level in over 14 years. The proposed funding level of $250.9 million represents a 31 percent reduction of $112 million below last year’s appropriation of $363 million. CHIP’s was scheduled to receive $313 million this fiscal year, so the Governor sees it as a $58.8 million or a 20 percent reduction. Taking into account the inflation rate of 22 percent this year for highway construction materials, Local Roads would get the equivalent of a 50 percent cut!
Every effort must be made to educate the Legislature about the disproportionate cut Local Roads are getting vs. local transit which saw a 4.4 percent cut. Drivers on Local Roads pay nearly 50 percent of the more than $2.3 billion the state collects annually in highway user fees and taxes. Under this proposal, Local Roads receive an unacceptable 10.9 percent!
New Fees and Taxes
In addition, local drivers will be paying more should this budget pass:
· Increase vehicle registration fees by 25 percent ($60.5 million)
· Increasing driver license fees from $50 to $62.50 ($21.9 million)
· Increase auto rental tax from 5 percent to 6 percent ($8 million)
· Increase fees for trucking permit renewals from $4 to $5 ($4.6 million)
· Lift the cap on the gas tax ($225 million @$3. Per gallon in general fund)
Consolidation
The Governor’s proposed budget also contains recommendations from the Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness. Sections 26 through 28 amend the Town Law to allow a town board to convert the positions of town clerk, town highway superintendent, and town receiver of taxes and assessments from elected to appointed, subject to permissive referendum.
A permissive referendum is a vote by the town board which passes unless opposed by a petition submitted to the town clerk or a resolution adopted by the town board within 30 days. If opposed, then the referendum goes to a special election. Under current law, a town board can convert these positions from appointed to elected, subject to permissive referendum, but a mandatory referendum to the voters is required to convert from elected to appointed.
It also amends town law to allow first class towns to consolidate the positions of town receiver of taxes and assessments and the town clerk. Under current law, towns of the second class already have this power. It also amends the town law to allow a town board to consolidate the positions of public works commissioner and town highway superintendent, subject to permissive referendum.
Albany Politics Hinders Dialogue
Some members have asked what became of the possible press conference. The challenge has been determining who the sponsor might be from the Senate for any bill the Association might propose. In the October election, the Democrats won a majority in the Senate (32-30) for the first time in decades. The situation became more complicated when three Democrats from New York City threatened to join the Republicans if they were not granted better leadership opportunities. So even though the Democrats won the election, the Republicans were given an opportunity to retain the majority (29-33). The Democrats at one point struck a deal which has since unraveled. As a result, it is very hard to define who the leaders are in the Senate right now.
Meet with Your Representatives
The best approach in the meantime is for everyone to meet with your representatives at home. Also, please be sure to reserve the date for our 2009 Advocacy Day—scheduled March 10-11, 2009.
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