ALBANY — The proposed state budget includes cuts that are devastating to local governments that have already been struggling to balance their budgets.
The budget would eliminate state Aid and Incentives for Municipalities (AIM) funding to towns and villages and cut county support to these municipalities by 20 percent. This proposal would also reduce AIM aid to cities, with some receiving a significant cut. The spending plan also eliminates funding to most localities that host a Video Lottery Terminal (VLT) facility.
Many local governments have already been dealing with fiscal strife between years of flat AIM funding, the state’s ongoing property tax cap and a cost shift that put much of the aid burden on counties and sales tax collections that resulted in the loss of aid for many municipalities.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also added to the fiscal woes, as local government coffers were depleted from responding to the pandemic. In 2020, local sales tax collections dropped by $1.8 billion, or 10 percent, due to shutdowns and high unemployment rates.
Additional cuts to local governments could not only lead to tax increases, but could cut vital local services, including many that are provided by CSEA members who are already doing more with less.
Mike Irving
Throughout the pandemic, CSEA members employed by local governments have continued to provide essential services to our communities, including first response, health care, highway and infrastructure maintenance, public works and parks. Our communities can’t afford these cuts when they need public services more than ever.
“Any loss of funding would be devastating to my town and would force drastic cuts affecting public safety, youth services, and other programs and services,” said CSEA member Mike Irving, a Monroe County Water Authority employee who lives in the Town of Irondequoit. “My local community can’t afford something like this. Not now—not ever.”
CSEA Town of West Seneca Unit President Brian Cummins, who has worked for the town for 36 years and is a lifelong town resident, said residents take great pride in the services town employees provide.
Brian Cummins
Cummins, a heavy equipment operator at the Highway Department, also said the town has a reputation as one of the best local governments for public services, especially when it comes to refuse collection, road maintenance and wonderful parks and recreation facilities.
“If the town doesn’t receive state aid, something will have to go,” said Cummins. “There is no way we can continue to provide the level of services with a fractured budget. You would have to expect some delays in filling potholes, garbage pick-up and perhaps closing the town pool or reducing hours. The only other solution would be to raise property taxes, increase fees and I’m sure no one wants that to happen.”
To learn more about what you can do, visit CSEA’s Legislative Action Center at https://cseany.org/issues. Members are also urged to call their legislators at (877) 255-9417 and tell them “Don’t cut aid to my community.”
-Story & photos by Ove Overmyer
