Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Passport
  • Support WSKG
Donate
  • Donate
  • logo
  • logo
  • Donate
  • Home
  • News
  • TV
  • Radio
  • Schedules
  • Events
  • Arts
  • Education
  • History
  • Science
  • Donate
  • More
    • About
    • Contact Us
    • Passport
    • Support WSKG

WSKG - Local news and arts, broadcasting NPR radio and PBS TV.

WSKG thanks our sponsors...
  • Donate your vehicle to support WSKG

WSKG (https://wskg.org/news/local-governments-appreciate-shared-services-support-but-want-state-help-with-unfunded-mandates/)

  • Donate
  • Home
  • News
  • TV
  • Radio
  • Schedules
  • Events
  • Arts
  • Education
  • History
  • Science
Listen Live WSKG
Listen Live WSKG Classical

Watch Live WSKG TV
Watch Live PBS Kids
Learn at Home
Covid-19 information

Local Governments Appreciate Shared Services Support, But Want State Help With Unfunded Mandates

By Gabe Altieri | January 10, 2018
More
  • More on Andrew Cuomo
  • Subscribe to Andrew Cuomo

Karen DeWitt

http://wskg.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/ga0108sp.mp3

Part of Governor Cuomo’s State of the State address last week was an expansion of his shared services plan.

That’s a push by the state to get local governments to be more efficient to ease property tax burden.

Cuomo said property taxes have been a major burden on taxpayers for a long time, but a change to the federal tax law limits what people can deduct on their state and local taxes to $10,000. There had been no limit.

“Our property taxes have long been an obstacle to growth, but today with the federal SALT provision, it’s an economic cancer,” Cuomo said during his State of the State speech.

That’s why the Governor said he wants local governments to do more to find savings and ease the burden on local taxpayers.

Last year, Cuomo urged counties to create shared services panels. County leaders got together with cities, towns and villages to find ways to save money. It was optional. 34 counties did it and found around $200 million in savings.

Now, Cuomo wants the shared services panels to be permanent. The state will match property tax savings on the condition the panels continue every year.

Stephen Acquario, Executive Director of the New York Association of Counties, likes the dollar-for-dollar match, but thinks the state needs to look in the mirror. Acquario said local governments have already been sharing services for years.

“We’re sharing services with our municipalities all over the state. We enjoy working with local governments,” said Acquario on public radio’s The Capital Pressroom a few days before the State of the State. “We don’t need the State of New York to tell us to do that. We do it everyday.”

Acquario wants to know how the state will help local governments deal with unfunded mandates, such as paying for Medicaid, but there are other examples too.

Starting this October, counties will have to provide secure detention centers for 16- and 17-year-olds convicted of criminal offenses. “This is the greatest example of shared services,” Acquario said. “What is the state doing to help share the state’s assets to help the counties construct these facilities?”

That sentiment is echoed by other leaders across the state who say urging counties to find savings is good, but unfunded mandates from the state make it difficult to offer serious property tax relief.

Recent Posts

  • Funding Hold Up Threatens New York’s Progress Against AIDS

    BINGHAMTON, NY (WSKG) — 2020 was the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it was also the target for New York to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Ending it meant fewer than 750 infections per year.

  • More Security At New York’s Capitol, Although No ‘Specific Threat’

    ASSOCIATED PRESS - Security was tightened around the New York state Capitol on Thursday and law enforcement officials around the state were focusing on potential threats, even as they continued to track down people involved in last week's mob attack on the U.S. Congress. The  FBI warned  several days ago that armed protests by violent Trump supporters were being planned in all 50 state capitals in the days leading up to the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.

  • Vaccine Sign-Up Confusion Continues, Appointments Booked Through April

    ALBANY, NY (WSKG) - One day after announcing that five new state-run vaccination sites are opening this week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office is warning that appointments for the limited number of vaccines at those sites are already booked through April. On Wednesday, Cuomo’s office announced that large-scale vaccination sites at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City, the Westchester County Center, the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse, State University of New York at Albany and Jones Beach are opening this week and will vaccinate thousands of New Yorkers in the coming months.

  • Rollout Of COVID-19 Vaccines In Rural PA Requires Flexibility And Trust From Communities

    STATE COLLEGE, PA (WPSU) — As the general public awaits COVID-19 vaccination across the country and in Pennsylvania, questions remain about how vaccines will reach rural communities and how accepting of the remedy rural residents will be. During a public hearing held by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania Wednesday, Dr. George Garrow, Chief Medical Officer of Primary Health Network, which has dozens of community health centers in central and western Pennsylvania, said adapting vaccine delivery for rural communities is key.

  • Rookie Lawmaker Liked New York’s State of State Address, But Wants Details

    TOMPKINS COUNTY, NY (WSKG) - Freshman New York State Assemblymember Anna Kelles was pleased with most of what she heard in Governor Andrew Cuomo’s State of the State speeches this week. The speech occurs every year at the beginning of the legislative session and lays out the governor’s legislative priorities.

WSKG thanks our sponsors...

About WSKG

WSKG connects you to local and global news and the arts online, on the radio, and on TV. NPR and PBS affiliate.

Contact Us

email: WSKGcomment@wskg.org

phone: 607.729.0100

address: 601 Gates Road, Vestal, NY 13850

DONATE

Pay an underwriting invoice

  • WSKG
  • Arts
  • Education
  • Science
  • News
  • Radio
  • Schedule
  • TV
  • About
  • WSKG Staff
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
  • Public Reports & Policies
  • Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)
  • Protect My Public Media
FCC PUBLIC FILES
WSKG-FM
WSQX-FM
WSQG-FM
WSQE
WSQA
WSQC-FM
WSQN
WSKG-TV
WSKA
Disabled and need assistance with the online FCC public file?
Contact Gregory Keeler
WSKG
601 Gates Road
Vestal, New York 13850
607-729-0100
gkeeler@wskg.org

Stay Connected

Like Us on FacebookFollow Us on TwitterFollow Us on YouTubeFollow Us on InstagramSubscribe via RSS

© Copyright 2021, WSKG

Built with the Largo WordPress Theme from the Institute for Nonprofit News.

Back to top ↑

Change Location
To find awesome listings near you!