Grassroots Organization Lobbies Against Unfunded Mandates
Local municipal and school officials have railed against unfunded mandates for years.
Now a Westchester County–based organization is taking action to press for changes.
BEST4NY has been undertaking a variety of lobbying efforts to eliminate unfunded mandates. Formed last year, the organization’s acronym stands for “Better Education and Smarter Taxation for New York,” although it doesn’t only focus on school spending but local and state government fiscal issues as well.
Some of the group’s current efforts include an online petition drive and letter to the editor campaigns to highlight the need to increase local control of education and local and county government through mandate relief. The group’s members have also been encouraged to find out where school board candidates stand regarding how best to alleviate unfunded education mandates.
BEST4NY has been working with individuals throughout the state to eliminate unfunded mandates, said Jim McCauley, one of the group’s five executive committee members.
About 20 residents attended the organization’s meeting on May 9 at New Castle Town Hall in Chappaqua. McCauley, a Chappaqua resident, said BEST4NY has collected more than 1,100 signatures for the petition. The title on the document states, “New York State is in a State of Emergency. A Property Tax Cap Without Mandate Relief is Half a Band Aid. The Missing Half is Meaningful Mandate Relief Now.”
One person who signed the petition last week was Republican Rye Town Supervisor Joseph Carvin, who is running for the 17th Congressional District seat currently held by Democrat Nita Lowey. He said mandate relief is central to reforming state government.
“We have a crisis of government (at all levels),” Carvin said. “We need to act with urgency.”
Among his priorities are to cut government spending and reform entitlement programs, There is “$250,000 in debt for every man, woman and child in the United States,” he said.
As supervisor, spending has been cut by about 25 percent in Rye, from $4 million when he took office to currently about $3 million, Carvin said. He also pointed out that he has refused to accept the supervisor’s annual $17,000 salary.
Though he is a Republican, Carvin said he voted for President Obama in 2008. But Obama was not “post-partisan” as he promised he would be, Carvin said.
For more information about BEST4NY, visit www.best4ny.org.
