Gov. David Paterson signed an executive order today that will require an evaluation of state mandates pushed down to local governments that are often blamed for the state’s high property taxes.

Facing a backlash from voters over state spending increases and new taxes in the 2009-10 budget, Paterson’s call for mandate relief is one of several property-tax initiatives he plans to roll out in the coming weeks. He also will revive a proposal to impose a cap on school property taxes.

Standing in the front lawn of an Albany-area home with elected leaders from across the state, Paterson said at a news conference that state mandates are crippling local governments.

His plan doesn’t specifically reduce the current mandates, but it will require his office and state agencies to evaluate the fiscal impacts of any proposed legislation on local governments. Agencies will also be required to review existing mandates and find ways to reduce their costs by Dec. 1.

Paterson vowed to reject legislation that would put more unnecessary burdens on local governments.

“We can bring our state back to prosperity, and we can make an affordable life for the residents of new York state,” Paterson said, adding that “mandate relief really is what New York counties and local governments actually need.”

But some groups warned that the changes may infringe on laws already on the books and give state agencies the ability to cut services.

“To specifically say, ‘Here’s how we can save local governments money by rolling back regulations that were designed to protect public health and the environment’ is very dangerous,” said Laura Haight, senior environmental associate with the New York Public Interest Research Group.

But county executives, including Westchester Executive Andrew Spano and Ulster Executive Michael Hein, who were on hand, praised the steps.

State lawmakers and Gov. David Paterson were continuing today to try to find a compromise on a bailout of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, even as Senate Democrats sought to move forward with their own proposal.

The Senate Transportation Committee passed along party-line votes Monday a version of an MTA bailout that would impose a $1 surcharge on taxi rides in the New York City area and hit businesses in that region with a payroll tax to fund MTA operations.

But even as the measure was passing, Senate Democrats warned that no final agreement has been reached. Transportation Committee Chairman Martin Malave Dilan, D-Brooklyn, said the bill that passed his committee would likely be amended before it makes it to the Senate floor.

“We’re moving the conversation forward,” Dilan said.

He said lawmakers are looking at a variety of options, such as dumping or lowering the taxi surcharge in favor of a statewide tax on motor vehicles bought or leased in New York. Some lawmakers are pushing a $2 per gallon tax on jet fuel in the state.

Legislators are seeking an agreement to avoid major fare increases and service cuts for the transit authority, which serves a 12-county region including Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange and Dutchess counties.

The MTA faces at least a $1.2 billion budget gap this year, and the agency said Monday that even if cuts and fare increases are enacted, it would still face a $621 million deficit.

“Today’s re-forecast is further proof that the MTA desperately needs stable revenue sources that don’t plummet during economic downturns,” said H. Dale Hemmerdinger, MTA chairman.

Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, D-Queens, is pledging to pass an MTA plan this week, which would require 32 votes in the chamber. But so far, several Democrats oppose a payroll tax, and no Republican has come out in favor of the Democrats’ plan.

Democrats hold a 32-30 seat majority.

“This is a disgrace,” William Larkin, R-New Windsor, Orange County, said of the proposal.

Gov. David Paterson scolded lawmakers for not finding an agreement, saying proposed plans to raise fares by up to 30 percent are unacceptable. And he knocked a taxi surcharge, saying it would hurt the industry. He said he prefers adding tolls to the free bridges over the East and Harlem River bridges.

“I don’t think there should have been this kind of delay,” Paterson said of getting a deal. “I don’t think there should have been these wide misunderstandings that have occurred.”

Attention at the state Capitol this week will center on whether Senate Democrats can pass a bailout for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, but so far Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, D-Queens, doesn’t have the 32 votes needed to pass it, officials said this morning.

Smith is pledging to push for a vote this week, yet at least two Democratic senators, Long Island’s Brian Foley and Craig Johnson, remain the main opposition because they are against a payroll tax that would hit businesses to help the MTA avoid fare increases and service cuts.

Westchester County Sens. Suzi Oppenheimer and Andrea Stewart-Cousins have also opposed a payroll tax hitting schools, saying it would only lead to higher local property taxes.

And no Republican has come forward to support the Smith’s bailout plan.

The inability to get a deal is already leading to finger pointing, and rocky relations between Gov. David Paterson and Smith.

   In remarks after a news conference on drug-law reform, Gov. David Paterson spoke of the general frustration in not reaching an agreement on a bailout for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and he seemed frustrated with criticism of the state budget and reporting on the spending plan.

   “There is extreme disagreement as to which is the right way,” he said of the multiple proposals on how to help the MTA out of a $1.2 billion budget deficit. “And I think the best way to reach an agreement is not to in any way impugn any of the particular suggestions but to recognize that whichever way it’s closed, it’s going to involve expenses of resources which right now are right at the brink because of the resources we had to use to close an $18 billion to $20 billion (state) budget deficit.”

   Senate Democrats released details of their plan this week, which includes a $1 surcharge on taxi rides in New York City and the other seven counties MTA covers; a tax on employers of up to 34 cents for every $100 of payroll;  a $25 fee on motor-vehicle registration; and a 25 percent increase in the fee for a driver’s license. It does not include tolls on the bridges that cross the Harlem and East rivers, which previously had been proposed. Half of the money raised from taxi fares—$95 million—would go toward leveraging more than $1 billion in bonds for upstate roads and bridges.

   Assemblyman Peter Rivera, D-Bronx, has proposed a temporary jet-fuel tax of up to $2 per gallon, which would raise $1.7 billion annually for the MTA and the 16 upstate communities with airports. The state tax on jet fuel is 6 cents a gallon.  A $1 increase per gallon would boost the cost of an airline ticket by less than $10, according to Rivera, who held a news conference with the New York Taxi Worker Alliance in New York City today. His plan would would not require new tolls or taxi fees.  Read more of this entry »

   Gov. David Paterson did a ceremonial signing today in Queens today of a bill that reduces sentences for non-violent drug offenders. The legislation, which was passed as part of the 2009-10 state budget early this month, gives judges total discretion to divert non-violent addicts to drug treatment, and it expands the state’s treatment programs.

    “This is a proud day for me and so many of my colleagues who have fought for so long to overhaul the drug laws and restore judicial discretion in narcotics cases,” Paterson said at Elmcor Youth and Adult Activities Inc., a state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services-funded drug-treatment center. “For years, thousands of New Yorkers have spoken out against the Rockefeller Drug Laws.”

   The Rockefeller-era drug laws set up mandatory sentencing for non-violent criminals convicted of drug offenses. There were some changes made to the laws in recent years, but advocates said they were not enough. Besides providing judges more authority over offenders, the new law provides opportunities for additional relief to offenders who were sent to prison under the old statutes. Drug offenders who are not addicted but who sell drugs will be sent to prison under the law, and it creates new crimes to ensure that adults who sell to children receive prison sentences.  

   Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson, D-Mount Vernon, Westchester County, said the new law  creates a “balanced approach to drug addiction and crime.”

   “We are now shifting resources to treat addiction as a medical problem. By diverting addicts to drug-treatment courts, we believe we can get people off drugs and thereby reduce the demand for them,” she said in a statement.

   Assemblyman Greg Ball, R-Patterson, Putnam County, criticized a component of the new law that allows illegal immigrants who are drug offenders and face the “severe collateral consequences” of deportation to get substance-abuse treatment and not prison. Read more of this entry »

   Former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno of Brunswick, Rensselaer County, said on Albany Talk 1300 radio today this his main political adversary, now-former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who resigned after it came to light that he was involved in a prostitution ring. Bruno said when Spitzer departed “under those pretty unpleasant circumstances, I said, you know, people ought to just pray for him and his family and give him any support in terms of his own mental and emotional state…”

   But, he added, “This man has more problems than I think than just dealing with prostitutes over the years. My experience with him on a personal level is that he is like two different people, at least two different people.” Bruno said Spitzer is “arrogant” and tried to annihilate anyone who didn’t agree with him, including Bruno.

   “The bottom line here is, I think he needs therapy,” Bruno said, adding that “people like this are dangerous.”

   Bruno, who was indicted early this year on charges of public corruption, said his lawyers have moved to have charges against him dismissed. He is accused of accepting more than $3 million from individuals and groups in exchange for his political influence. Bruno was first elected in 1976 and he was Senate majority leader from January 1995 until leaving office a few months before his term ended last year. 

   “So I’m hoping and praying that takes place long before the trial takes place in November,” Bruno said. Read more of this entry »

Here’s a fairly cordial exchange picked up on video by New York Now between Gov. David Paterson and a state worker yesterday after she stopped Paterson following a news conference at Washington Park in Albany over his proposed layoffs of state workers.

It was a milder scene than the protest Paterson encountered when he spoke last week at the Democratic Rural Conference in Saratoga.