Andrea Stewart-Cousins's posts related to Government Operations

“As the Senate Majority continues its efforts in Albany to pass a fiscally responsible budget, I would like to share my thoughts on one of the issues currently being considered, which is stalling this process. One of the areas where there is fundamental disagreement, is related to restoring the senior STAR rebate program, which I believe is a critical component that must be included in the final budget agreement.”

This year has been very difficult for the City of Yonkers and for the State of New York. In the wake of a multi-million dollar deficit crisis, Mayor Amicone has proposed layoffs and drastic cuts in services in order to close the City's budget gap. We have made a commitment to the residents of Yonkers that we would fight to try to avoid his doomsday scenario. Today we have reached a budget agreement that will make this a reality.

Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D/WF – 35th District) announced that two pieces of legislation (S7190 and S7189) she introduced to provide additional aid to the Yonkers City School District passed in the Senate.

Senate bill 7190, if enacted into law, would provide $4.8 million in additional aid to the District for its successful full day Universal Pre-Kindergarten program. Senate bill 7189 would provide a one-time payment of $3.9 million to address the dramatic increase in enrollment from 2008-09 to 2009-2010.

Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins announced that she has introduced legislation (S8165A) to eliminate 118 public authorities and agencies that are no longer active. The 118 authorities, located across New York State, include defunct industrial development agencies, community development agencies, urban renewal agencies and various other public authorities.

“This legislation reduces the size of government, eliminating more than 15% of the public authorities in the State of New York. This is an important step in curbing excessive spending and hiring practices of public authorities and agencies. They operate as autonomous organizations without accountability, and create a huge financial burden on taxpayers,” said Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins (35th District – D/WF).