Gov. Cuomo Gives State of State Address at Purchase
Taking a step away from tradition, Gov. Andrew Cuomo went on the road in 2017 to make his State of the State address, not in Albany, but in different regions of New York. He delivered his Mid-Hudson State of the State address in Westchester County at SUNY Purchase, Jan. 10, where he highlighted what he called economic and social progress under his administration.
Cuomo touted the minimum wage increase to $15/hour and paid family leave, both measures included in the 2016 State of the State and passed last year. “Can’t live in the state of New York on $18,000,” Cuomo said. “Most of the people working at fast-food restaurants are not kids, they are older people raising families,” he added.
The governor said the state had “fundamental problems” that needed to change, saying in his six years in office the state has limited spending increases more than any administration since Nelson Rockefeller. “It’s hard to make change,” Cuomo said. “In concept, we like change, but in truth we like control.”
Cuomo is pushing a $2 billion investment statewide to improve the water supply
“I want to spend $2 billion to rebuild our water infrastructure across this state,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo also promoted an Empire State Trail, linking 40 segments including historic parks and nature trails with 750 miles of finished pathways across the state. The project would connect the Erie Canalway and the Hudson River Valley Greenway, and connect to the Route 9 bike path.
The three-phase project would cost $200 million, including a $53 million first phase. Of that, $26 million would be spent in the Mid-Hudson region.
Cuomo continued to push his plan to make SUNY tuition free for families making less than $125,000. He said 63 percent of families in the region would qualify, and that by 2024, 3.5 million jobs would require a college education.
New York is taking the first step to free college, let the other states follow, Cuomo said.
“We have to do something about property taxes,” the governor expounded, turning his attention to local municipalities in Westchester County.
“We have to cut taxes. We’ve cut taxes on the state side, but we have to do more. Now, $1,800 is the median state income tax. The median property tax, $4,700. You pay high taxes, don’t be mad at me. Property taxes are what is killing this state. Killing this state. Two and a half times what the state income tax is. We have the highest property tax in the United States of America,” Cuomo said.
“Westchester County, highest property tax in the United States of America. Just think about that. Think about it. And Nassau is number two. Upstate New York, by percentage of home value, has the highest property taxes in the United States. Average property tax: Westchester $11,000, Nassau $10,000, Suffolk $8,000 — USA $3,000. Look at the differential.”
“This hurts people on fixed incomes, this depresses the home value. People look at homes to purchase in Westchester, their mortgage payment is going to be less than their tax payment. … These taxes on real estate are too high. Local government has been guilty of great waste and duplication.”
While the governor pushed through a property tax cap that he said has slowed tax increases, he now is pushing county executives to reduce taxes through shared services.
In Westchester County alone, there are 425 local governments, 790 elected chief executives and legislators, 580 local government lawyers and 1,327 dump trucks. “There must be savings we can find by working together,” Cuomo said. “Fire, water, sewer, roads, all basically doing the same thing. But all doing it in total isolation without any coordination with any of the others. It is insanity, insanity! Now everybody is proud of the town they live in, I’m in Newcastle, Mount Kisco, Chappaqua, Bedford, everybody is proud of the town they live in. Great. But does it really matter to you if they are sharing dump trucks? Does it really matter if they’re sharing road building equipment or if you’re doing common orders on equipment and police cars etc.?”
Cuomo proposed that county executives bring together their local governments, communities, businesses, labor and other stakeholders to create a plan to share services, find efficiencies and cut costs. Those plans would then go in front of voters on a referendum. If the proposed plan is voted down, local governments would have to return to the drawing board until a plan passed. “It’s about time people have a say on how their money is spent,” Cuomo said.
“What the county executives will say,” Cuomo continued, “is ‘Do you want property taxes to come down? Well, the state should pick up our costs.’ Now, by the way, I have picked up a lot of the costs for counties. I picked up the largest cost, which was the growth in the Medicaid program. Cost the state billions of dollars, saved Westchester County something like $56 million. But, the point is not to transfer the cost, it’s to reduce the cost. If you transfer the cost to the state, all that means is that I have to raise the state’s taxes. And what’s the difference? You pay from one pocket or the other. It’s not reduce county taxes, raise state taxes, we want to lower both. I’m going to need the people of this state to stand up and speak loudly and say ‘We’re tired of paying these local property taxes.’”
Cuomo ended his speech by touting the diversity of New York. “Hate crimes are repugnant to the values of the State of New York,” he said. “We are the progressive capitol of the nation.”
