Union wants boost in SUNY funding, income-tax changes
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- February
- 24
Members of United University Professions continued their drumbeat today against budget reductions at the State University of New York and for allowing the 64-campus system to keep all of the revenues generated by a tuition hike this spring. As the state faces a $14 billion budget gap, Gov. David Paterson wants to reduce state funding by almost the total amount of additional money the higher tuition brings in, and implement other cuts. The 35,000-member union wants the state to increase income taxes on wealthy New Yorkers to increase revenue.
“The budget knife has gone deep into the bone and we just don’t have anything left,” UUP President Phillip Smith told union members who gathered at the Capitol Tuesday.
Cuts to SUNY mean fewer faculty members and support staff, courses being canceled and turning away students, he said.
SUNY’s budget was cut this fiscal year, which ends March 31, and is headed in that direction next year unless the Legislature changes the governor’s budget recommendation.
”The fact is you cannot get us out of this problem by cuts,” said Glenn McNiff, a political science and American government professor at SUNY New Paltz and a member of the union’s state executive board. Most of the school’s budget goes toward personnel, he said.
Besides restoring money to SUNY, priorities for state officials should be changing the income-tax structure and making sure some of the federal stimulus money for New York goes to higher education, he said.
UUP also opposes the governor’s proposal to withhold a 3 percent raise, add a five-day lag payroll, create a new tier for the state pension plan and merge the New York State Theatre Institute with the Egg theater in Albany.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 at 6:38 pm by Cara Matthews.
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Jay Gallagher has covered Albany for Gannett News Service since 1984 and has been Albany Bureau chief since 1989. He`s a native of the Boston area and likes to point out that in this millennium, the score is Red Sox 1 championship, the Yankees 0. 
Cara Matthews has been a statehouse correspondent in the Albany Bureau since August 2005. Prior to that, she covered Putnam County government and politics at The Journal News for nearly five years. Before that, she worked at newspapers in Connecticut and covered the state Legislature for one of them. 
Points I agree on:
Some stimulus money for higher Ed, not all, most for defecate reduction.
We should restructure Income tax codes. Both business and personal 49k as top personal tax bracket is too low, also there are too many business taxes, that code should support investment by business in NY.
However, if most of the budget goes to personnel, place them where they are most needed. Make it so a staffer or teacher/professor can be demoted, moved or dismissed if they do not perform as required; regardless of tenure.
Unite common services where reasonable such as schools of theater or engineering. Pool talent and local recourses; I think a 5 day lag on payroll is not as bad as a week. In short term 1 or 2 checks will be smaller because they are less then 7 days in span, but it works out if all schools are on same payday schedule.
Pay tiers is a sticky point. I think pay should be based on performance and experience not just, time on the job. With recertification to be sure your skills are up to date and pay commensurate with skill and performance needs. Again regardless of tenure.