Community Corner
CSEA local leaders call for AIM funding increase in 2014-15 state budget
SUFFERN – In the wake of State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s designation of the Village of Suffern as New York State’s most fiscally stressed village, CSEA leaders from the Hudson Valley today called on state lawmakers to raise Aid and Incentives for Municipalities (AIM) funding in the 2014-15 state budget in order to help cities, towns and villages continue providing vital services.
AIM funding has been frozen at its current level of $714.7 million since 2012, down from a peak of $1,078.2 billion in 2010. That 2012 funding level is the lowest since 2004. The implementation of the state property tax cap, combined with the AIM funding freeze, puts municipalities such as Suffern in an unfair position, CSEA Southern Region President Billy Riccaldo said.
“How are municipalities supposed to remain funded and solvent?” Riccaldo said. “Under the current system, villages are being put in a tremendously difficult position and hardworking people are going to be hurt.”
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At the same time, Riccaldo noted, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed raising the exclusion amount of the Estate Tax from $1 million to $5.25 million, and lowering the maximum tax rate from 16 percent to 10 percent. If this proposal remains in the budget as Gov. Cuomo has proposed, the measure will reduce state revenues by $757 million per year once fully implemented, hurting people and communities.
CSEA Village of Suffern Unit President Scott Brown, a longtime Suffern village employee, urged state lawmakers to make New York’s communities a priority in the state budget.
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“When you have to choose between giving the ‘one percent’ a tax cut, depriving the state of $757 million each year, or helping our state’s small communities to thrive, the choice is obvious,” said Brown. “We’re asking our state legislators to raise AIM funding for the first time since 2012 and help our communities bounce back.”
CSEA’s call for AIM funding coincides with union members’ testimony today before state lawmakers in Albany on issues related to the state budget. CSEA, New York’s Leading Union, represents public and private sector workers across New York State.
