Goodell, Borrello Critical Of Albany Leadership
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MAYVILLE -- The bacon was crisp and so were the criticisms about "dysfunctional Albany" at the Chautauqua County Chamber's State Legislative breakfast Friday, where complaints were rampant and solutions were few.
State Sen. George Borrello and Assemblyman Andy Goodell were able to be in person at the breakfast, held at Chautauqua Suites Hotel and Expo Center in Mayville. There had been questions if they would be able to make it in person, since the state budget had not been adopted.
About 12 hours before Friday morning's breakfast, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that an agreement in principle had been reached on this year's state budget, which was due April 1. While neither local leader had seen the details of the budget, there were some points they were able to discuss.
The first was the sheer size of the spending plan. Goodell, R-Jamestown, noted that New York's budget is $229 billion. Florida, by comparison, has a state budget of $130 billion.
"Florida's budget is about half ours and they have 2 million more residents," he said.
At the breakfast, which had many county business leaders present, Goodell asked the audience what they would do if they knew their competitors had a better product line, lower prices and better service.
"Every one of you in this room would take that information seriously and say, 'OK, what can I do to reduce my prices, improve my service and improve my product line. That's exactly what we should be doing in New York state in the budget process," Goodell said.
Goodell said state leaders should view Florida as its competitor and lower the price of business in the state. But that's not happening.
"The budget proposal included 26 percent increase in business taxes," he said.
Goodell also criticized New York's regulation and permits to do business. Moves like this, he believes, are driving people out of the state. "In two years we lost more people than Buffalo and Rochester combined," he said.
Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, was also highly critical of the state leadership, saying they only listen to lobbyists. "You have a lot of people in the positions of state legislators that just have no concept of reality in some ways. What they do is they have all these special interests that are constantly putting pressure on them. … The advocates are people who represent some of the most radical ideas: the fact that we're going to eliminate all reliable forms of energy and switch everybody over to electric; the fact that we're going to essentially close prisons and eliminate police forces. I'm not exaggerating when I say these things," he said.
Borrello also criticized the continued increase in minimum wage in the state. He said a higher minimum wage is not helping the business community, nor is it helping bring in lower wage workers.
"If there were so many people in Pennsylvania that were only making minimum wage, we would see a stream of people coming over the border to take minimum wage jobs. That's not happening. That's because the market determines what the wage will be," he said.
Borrello believes New York's minimum wage will continue to push inflation higher.
"We want people to have good wages, but we also want people to be employed. You're seeing, particularly in the hospitality industry, which I'm in, go to automation," he said.
Borrello said he sees his role in Albany as trying to restore "common sense" by holding the state accountable for decisions that hurt citizens. He noted how he's mobilized groups over natural gas bans to protest the move.
He also seeks out areas of common ground, giving the example of the Nourish New York program, which allows surplus agricultural products go to food banks.
Goodell said he, too, is looking for opportunities to make changes. He shared how he's trying to form a Fiscal Cliff Task Force that would help people get off of Social Security programs. He said the task force would look at the state's welfare system and restructure it so that people can earn more money without fear of losing all benefits.
There were a number of other topics they touched on. A few included:
¯ FMAP FUNDING -- Borrello said the proposal to keep Medicaid reimbursement from the federal government to counties has been rejected. Chautauqua County was looking to lose $4 million, if the funds were withheld.
¯ NEW BROOKS HOSPITAL -- Goodell said there's a lot going on behind the scenes. "Everyone is on board except for the governor," he said.
¯ AIRPORTS -- Borrello said because 90% of the funds for the airports have come from the federal government, the county is going to have to continue operating them unless the federal government has a change of heart. He also said he's not in favor of shutting down the airports, adding "What we really have to do is find that balance to ensure that it's not a drain on resources."
¯ JEFFERSON PROJECT FOR CHAUTAUQUA LAKE -- Borrello expressed his support that the county has decided to spend $1 million for the research project. The research is designed to address the harmful algal blooms in the lake.
¯ CHILD CARE -- Borrello said it looks like there's going to be more funding for childcare. He acknowledged there are "deserts" in the state for childcare, which is not only tough on parents, but also tough on businesses, because qualified people don't have options for their children.
¯ CONSOLIDATION OF VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENTS -- Goodell said there's no effort statewide to encourage consolidation, but said there is legislation that allows more volunteer firefighters to participate in departments outside their district. That has helped informal consolidation.
¯ 'WASTED' SCHOOL SPENDING -- Goodell agreed that there's a lot of waste in education. He believes the state should make it easier to consolidate schools and permit regional high schools.