Troy- Senator Roy McDonald today called for immediate joint legislative budget committees to address the looming budget deficit facing New York State.
“The hard working men and women of New York don’t care about the drama du jour of the legislature, they care about their elected officials listening to their input and coming together to address past, current, and future budget issues” said McDonald.
McDonald has continuously called for the entire legislature to come back and work on the budget since voting against last year’s “incompetent budget, decided by three men in a closed door room.” He called for the budget to be re-opened as legislators went home in July, and again in September when they were called back to inject funding into a failing MTA.
“Our communities deserve an open, transparent, and carefully thought out budget process. We need to examine all sources of available revenue, and new ways to maximize old revenue sources without tax and fee increases, “McDonald continued, “most importantly; cost-shifting to county governments and school districts is not the answer. An unfunded mandate is passed directly on to the taxpayer, who is currently focused and working hard to provide for their family during these times.”
Among revenue sources that are available would be VLT revenue from the Aqueduct racetrack facility which has been stalled for entirely too long and investigating Medicaid fraud to determine where money is being wasted. McDonald has also called for accurate accounting of all stimulus money, where it has gone, if it has properly been spent, and how much is remaining. These solutions could be useful in closing a potentially estimated $6 billion deficit.
“This is going to be ugly for Upstate, a true geographic nightmare as we are constantly overlooked and taxed to support unrealistic programs. Rumors have even started to arise of the potential for a gasoline tax” said McDonald.
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