Guest Column: State Sen. George Winner

“Local Focus”

ALBANY, May 5 -- So the report's out and, as expected, it's already sparking worthwhile debate.

I'm referring, of course, to the recently released, final report from the New York State Commission on Local Government Efficiency & Competitiveness. This 15-member commission, chaired by former Southern Tier Congressman Stan Lundine, was created last April to study and make recommendations on how New York’s 4,200 local governments can provide public services more cooperatively and efficiently. Commission members include Tom Tranter, Jr., president and director of government affairs for Corning Enterprises, and the former Chemung County executive.

"To make real progress in containing our local property tax burden, aggressive service consolidations and government restructuring are needed," the commission stated in the report's executive summary. "This is a complex undertaking, and one that will require a continuing partnership with local governments and an ongoing effort across many state agencies. State and
local programs both need to be reviewed on a continuing basis."

The full report, "21st Century Local Government," can be read at www.nyslocalgov.org. The commission has estimated that at least $1.1 billion in cost savings to local governments could be realized through the implementations of its recommendations, including measures aimed at:

-- centralizing some services at the county level or between counties, such as tax collection, vital records, and jails;

-- making it easier for municipalities to form cooperative health benefit plans for their employees as a way to reduce insurance costs;

-- facilitating local shared-services agreements for the provision of highway services;

-- allowing counties to join together to employ a single public health director;

-- setting up restructuring committees to examine service sharing and consolidation within local schools; and

-- easing the procedures for the consolidation of towns and villages.

The overriding goal, of course, is to undertake local government efficiency and competitiveness initiatives as a key part of the overall effort to reduce the local property tax burden, particularly across the upstate region. Toward this end, I believe "21st Century Local Government" will stand as a central blueprint for legislative actions that can help bring down local property taxes by encouraging greater efficiency by local governments.

Early reactions to the commission's report appear positive. The state Association of Counties, Council of School Superintendents, and Business Council, for example, issued support for various recommendations. Of course, there will be opposition and resistance too.

But it's a beginning. It frames a necessary debate within New York government. We're anticipating a report from another state-level commission created last year, the Commission on Property Tax Relief, that will further spark the discussion.

That's all good. These concepts and ideas have been kicked around since I can remember, but now we're effectively consolidating them, getting them all together in the same room, so to speak, so that we can air the concerns, start to settle differences, more fully recognize the reality, and, most importantly, start to act.

I've long been an advocate of shared services at the local level. We know that many of this area's local leaders, such as Chemung County Executive Tom Santulli, have recognized the value of cutting costs at the local level through consolidations, shared services, and the like.

“It is incumbent upon us to seek out ways to provide tax relief to our overburdened property taxpayers," Mr. Santulli recently said.

The Legislative Commission on Rural Resources (LCRR), which I currently chair, has also made local government effectiveness a key focus of its work. Recently, for example, the Senate approved legislation (S.3228) developed by the LCRR, which I sponsor, to allow two or more
adjacent towns to elect a single justice to preside over their town courts. It's a move echoed in the commission's report.

The fact is that shared services and other local government efficiency initiatives have to play an increasingly important role in the ongoing, comprehensive effort to keep property taxes under control. We need to keep encouraging these options for localities looking for ways to cut costs and ease the local tax burden. We simply can’t overlook the potential for local governments to take their own steps toward greater efficiency and cooperation.

Photo in text: State Senator George Winner

Schuyler County Officials

Legislature Members:

Top row (from left): Thomas Gifford, Delmar Bleiler, Doris Karius, Glenn Larison

Bottom row: Michael A. Yuhasz, Dennis Fagan, Paul Marcellus, Stewart Field

Legislature Chairman

Thomas M. Gifford, 535-9517

Legislature Members:

Michael A. Yuhasz, 535-4967

Doris L. Karius, 546-5544

Delmar F. Bleiler Jr., 594-3437

Glenn R. Larison, 594-3385

Dennis Fagan, Tyrone

Paul Marcellus, Watkins Glen

Stewart Field, Reading Center

County Clerk: Linda Compton, 535-8133

Sheriff: William Yessman, 535-8222

Undersheriff: Breck Spaulding, 535-8222

County Treasurer: Margaret Starbuck, 535-8181

District Attorney: Joseph Fazzary, 535-8383

State, Federal Officials for Schuyler County

Sen. Charles E. Schumer

United States Senate
313 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-3201
DC Phone: 202-224-6542
DC Fax: 202-228-3027
Email Address: http://schumer.senate.gov/webform.html

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton

United States Senate
476 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-3203
DC Phone: 202-224-4451
DC Fax: 202-228-0282
Email Address: http://clinton.senate.gov/
email_form.html

U.S. Rep. John R. Kuhl

United States House of Representatives
1505 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-3229
DC Phone: 202-225-3161
DC Fax: 202-226-6599
Email Address: None Currently Available
WWW Homepage: http://www.house.gov/kuhl/

State Senator George H. Winner, Jr. -- Chemung, Schuyler, Steuben, Yates, western Tompkins, Enfield, Ithaca (Town and City), Newfield, Ulysses(Trumansburg)

310 Legislative Office Building
Albany, NY 12247
Phone: (518) 455-2091
Fax: (518) 426-6976
www.senate.state.ny.us/

Assemblyman Tom O’Mara -- Chemung, Schuyler, Tioga
446 Legislative Office Building
Albany, NY 12248
Phone: (518) 455-4538
Fax: (518) 455-5922

Assemblyman James G. Bacalles -- Steuben, Yates
439 Legislative Office Building
Albany, NY 12248
Phone: (518) 455-5791
Fax: (518) 455-4644