State Senator Tom O’Mara (R-Big Flats) was critical of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s move to restore AIM funding, at the expense of local counties.
O’Mara called the Cuomo cost shift the latest example of a state government that’s “out of touch and out of control.”
He denounced the move, pointing out that it will cause even more challenge for these rural communities.
O’Mara said, “Here’s what Governor Cuomo calls a plan: another new tax and another unfunded state mandate dumped on top of what’s already one of the biggest piles of taxes and unfunded mandates in America. This is government out of touch and out of control. Governor Cuomo once again ignores the burden already facing upstate local property taxpayers and shirks another state responsibility.”
Peter Baynes, Executive Director of the New York State Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials (NYCOM) added, “While we appreciate the fact that the Governor has acknowledged that the elimination of AIM funding would have serious implications for the State’s villages and towns, his “restoration” of this $59 million is in reality a robbing of one property taxpayer to pay another. Rather than playing this shell game, New York State should be fulfilling its obligation to increase its investment in municipal aid and the property tax relief it will generate. Imposing a new mandate on counties to make up for the state’s cut to villages and towns will only further harm New York’s already overburdened taxpayers.”
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