Federal Government Shutdown Has Little Local Impact–For Now
The ongoing showdown among legislators in Washington that has closed the federal government has been infuriating for millions of Americans but one week into the stalemate there hasn’t been much impact felt at the local level.
However, several municipal officials and representatives at multiple levels of government warned that the longer the crisis lingers the greater the likelihood for consequences on families and on Main Street.
Congresswoman Nita Lowey, who in a statement called the Republican majority’s actions to help shut down the federal government a “reckless and irresponsible choice,” said hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been furloughed and many workers and contractors who continue to work will not be paid until the impasse is resolved.
Furthermore, federal loans for small businesses and families buying homes have been stopped, Lowey added. There are also inconveniences with delayed services at many of the agencies.
Helping to ease the impact is that social security, unemployment and Medicare and Medicaid benefits are all being funded and mail delivery is continuing.
Assemblyman David Buchwald said if the issues surrounding shutdown could be resolved in the short term there will be little to no impact. However, for those families who have a parent or spouse who work for the federal government who has been furloughed, the shutdown can quickly become a nightmare.
“The federal courts have funding for 10 days based on their own funding fees and revenues, but after that they start furloughing some of the support personnel,” he said. “That support personnel are parents in our community providing for their families. Over time, people can deal with delays in their government services but at a certain point it gets to be all the more frustrating.”
When it will end and the escalating effects it can have on people and programs remains to be seen, some officials mentioned. At the county level, Democratic Majority Leader Peter Harckham said most government agencies receive some level of federal funding. At what point it starts to have an impact may differ depending on the sum each department receives, when the money is due and how long the shutdown lasts, he said.
Roughly $500 million of the county’s $1.7 billion budget comes from federal funds.
“Does that mean county government shuts down? No, but it has an impact on how services are delivered,” Harckham said.
Local governments, meanwhile, are farther removed from Washington since most don’t receive direct federal monies, according to several town supervisors and municipal managers. Pleasantville Village Administrator Patricia Dwyer said perhaps one of the more common delays could be if some communities are still awaiting reimbursements from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) stemming from Superstorm Sandy last year.
However, a key area for municipalities to keep a wary eye out for is stock market performance, Dwyer said. If the shutdown triggers major losses in the markets, that could have a serious effect on the struggles to fund the state pension system, which has been closely tied to stocks, she said.
In the past decade, steep losses have had governments scrambling to catch up with their pension obligations, which can shift valuable resources away from local services.
“How the market performs and how it impacts the state pension system could have an effect on operations here in the village,” Dwyer said.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
