Page 6 - Work Force February 2021

Proposed State Budget presents concerns
CSEA is concerned over much of the Governor’s proposed state budget, which was released
in January with a big “what if.” It presumes the state will only receive $6 billion in federal aid to offset major revenue losses due to the pandemic, but the governor says we need $15 billion in order to restore many of the cuts proposed.
CSEA remains optimistic that with additional federal aid, many of the problematic proposals in the fiscal plan can be avoided.
The union’s Legislative and Political Action Department continues to pour over budget
bills to analyze the exact impact of what’s been proposed, but here’s a summary of some budget highlights.
Proposed Reductions
The budget does not propose any broad layoffs of state workers, however, it continues to delay the contractual wage increase for state workers absent additional federal funding.
It does include proposals to close four OCFS youth detention facilities and offer workers employment
in other locations. This includes Brentwood Residential (Suffolk County); Red Hook Residential Center (Dutchess County); Columbia Girls Secure (Columbia County); and Goshen Secure (Orange County), with only six months notification, rather than the required one-year notification period.
It also proposes the closure of Rockland Children’s Psychiatric
Center, the only children’s facility
of its kind in the Hudson Valley Region, relocating those beds to a facility in the Bronx. Additional bed reductions are proposed within the state Office of Mental Health (OMH). OMH is claiming that they have more empty beds due to the slowdown of incoming residential services from the pandemic, but we know that the needs of mental health services have soared during the pandemic and those beds are needed. CSEA will continue to fight these proposals
on behalf of the direct care workers who have been putting their lives on the line to provide needed care, in spite of the risk to themselves and their families.
Other proposed cuts include eliminating Aid to Municipalities (AIM) funding for towns and villages across the state, as well as reducing AIM funding rates to cities. The budget also eliminates Video Lottery Terminal (VLT) revenues from their host communities. The Governor once again is relying on federal aid to municipalities to make up for these cuts.
Additionally, state support for schools decreases by $607 million, although total school funding increases largely due to more federal support. Library aid is reduced
by a little over $7 million. SUNY campuses are looking at a 5 percent cut but will be allowed to increase tuition rates. Community colleges are also facing a $35 million cut.
Once again, the budget contains several proposals that we have seen
and stopped previously regarding retirees. These includes stopping the reimbursement for the Medicare Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount (IRMAA) for NYSHIP retirees, capping the Medicare Part B reimbursement at this year’s level, and creating a new sliding scale for retiree health insurance premium costs for state workers. These proposals have been introduced for many years and we have been able to work with state legislators to
get them eliminated from the final budget.
Revenue Enhancements
The budget is not all about cuts. It does include a tax increase on multi-millionaires earning over
$5 million, as well as legalizing recreational adult-use marijuana and online sports betting, as ways
to help close the budget gap. Much more is needed on top of these revenue enhancements to help our state recover from the pandemic and restore the many cuts proposed.
Continuing the COVID fight
In an effort to encourage everyone to get the COVID vaccine, the governor proposes that all employees, both public and private, be given a total of eight hours of paid leave to get vaccinated against COVID. This leave time is four hours for each shot.
CSEA has been at the forefront
in lobbying to secure federal funds and we will continue to put pressure on congress to fund the state and local government budgets that were so badly affected by this pandemic. Watch for an update on our federal campaign.
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6 The Work Force
February 2021