Budget Update 3/30/2009

2009-2010 Budget Update

Over the weekend, it was announced that Gov. Paterson and the leaders of the NYS Legislature reached an agreement on the Executive Budget for the 2009-2010 state fiscal year. Among the changes that were made to the proposed budget are:

Government Efficiency Proposals: The proposals to create a uniformed merger and dissolution process for towns and villages and to change the process to make certain elected positions (Highway Superintendents, Clerks, and Receivers of Taxes) appointive have been dropped from the proposed budget.

Payments on Taxable State Owned Land: The proposal that would freeze the payments made by the State on taxable state-owned land has been omitted from the proposed budget.

Mandate Relief and Tier V Retirement: Also omitted from the proposed budget are the proposals that would create a new tier in the retirement system and provide other mandate relief measures. Among the mandate relief measures omitted are collateral source reform; increasing the thresholds for competitive bidding and allowing the awarding of a contract based on "best value" rather than lowest price; and a reduction of the rate of interest paid on judgments against municipalities.

211 Waiver fee: The proposed $200 fee for processing applications for waivers pursuant to section 211 of the Retirement and Social Security Law has been omitted from the proposed budget.

The proposed budget retains the provision that repeals the Middle Class STAR rebate program, while leaving the basic and enhanced STAR exemptions in place.

In addition, the proposed executive budget enacts a new 5 cent deposit on bottled water.

The 2009-2010 proposed Executive Budget is scheduled to be voted on by the entire Legislature later this week.