Leaders announced their support for Governor Cuomo’s mandate relief plan
/ Brandon Roth
SYRACUSE -- Some Central New York leaders are among those now calling for relief from state mandates.
Leaders from around Onondaga County announced their support for Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposed mandate relief plan on Thursday morning. Cuomo was in Syracuse on Wednesday presenting his plan.
Richard Donovan, Mayor of Minoa and president of the Onondaga County Mayors Association, was among a group of several local leaders and businesses coming together Thursday to express concerns about mandates and the future of New York State.
Donovan says mandated costs from the state have increased 75% since 2009 and are not sustainable at the current level.
"We have to get in the 21st century or we are not going to survive. Healthcare alone will consume our entire budget by 2014. So that doesn't pay anybody, that doesn't buy our trucks. It’s just got to be stopped," Donovan says.
Centerstate CEO president Rob Simpson says mandate reform is needed to help New York keep and attract new businesses to the state.
"We are in a competitive environment with 49 other states and individual businesses and individual residents who all have the opportunity to choose where they live and where they work," he says.
Governor Cuomo says his proposed mandate relief plan will save Onondaga County taxpayers more than 24 million dollars over the next five years.
New York's pension costs are the second highest in the nation. The governor says his Tier V1 pension reform plan would save taxpayers 1.6 billion over the next 30 years.
Cuomo has formed a mandate relief council to help inform New Yorkers about his mandate reform plan. The council will hold public hearings across the state. The first public hearing is scheduled to take place on Long Island next week.
The council is scheduled to have a public hearing in Central New York on February 23rd.
For more information about the Mandate Relief Council go to www.nygetinvolved.com.
