The Colonie Spotlight
“Point of View”
October 15, 2003
By Robert Prentiss
The writer, a Colonie resident, is a member of the state Assembly, representing Colonie, Clifton Park and Halfmoon.
No matter how hard you try, partisan politics and public policy are so intertwined in the state Legislature that they’re practically uncuttable. You might slice off a sliver of reform, such as cable TV coverage of Senate and Assembly sessions, but it takes decades. And in the meantime, the real debates continued to be carried out and decisions made in party caucuses behind closed doors.
So, who suffers? Our employers and the people, who bear the brunt of late state budgets, debt up to our eyeballs and the highest per-capita state and local tax burden in the country.
What does it take to get people so fed up with the status quo that they finally begin to hold the Legislature accountable? Or have they just given up? More and more, people don’t vote. Many lose their life’s savings and are forced to sell their homes, and others just leave the state. After all, we don’t have the power of recall, like California.
Take the soaring costs of Medicaid, for example. They’re causing double-digit tax hikes that are crushing property owners throughout the state. Counties all over are reporting explosive growth in Medicaid spending, as much as 70 percent higher than previous years. Why? Rising health costs, a slower economy and an unprecedented expansion of this very generous program.
Counties have no power to cut Medicaid costs, since these are mandated by the state. New York is one of a handful of states that require counties to pay part of the Medicaid bill (up to 25 percent, with the state paying another quarter and the federal government paying half). Furthermore, counties are powerless to adopt savings measures, restrict enrollment or limit access to expensive special medical services.
In Albany county, our Medicaid bill will be more than $65 million next year. Since 1999, the county’s share of Medicaid costs has risen by $9.3 million. That’s a more than 29 percent hike, wreaking havoc on county property taxpayers, particularly low- and middle-income homeowners, retirees and others on fixed incomes.
The $443 million county budget for 2004 proposed by County Executive Michael Breslin includes a nearly 18 percent property tax hike. This will cost the owner of a house worth $100,000 $55 more in taxes next year. That’s on top of this year’s 23.8 percent tax increase, which raised the tax bill on a $100,000 home by $61.
(Of course, the tax hikes cannot all be blamed on Medicaid, but that would be the subject of another column.)
Albany County is not alone. Since 1999, local Medicaid costs have also increased for other Capital District counties as follows: Rensselaer, $5.7 million or 34.5 percent; Saratoga, $3.9 million or 33.9 percent; and Schenectady, $5.4 million or 33.9 percent.
The obvious conclusion is that counties can no longer fund the growth of Medicaid on their real property tax base. Outside New York City, more than 1.2 million New Yorkers receive Medicaid, costing local governments more than $1.4 billion.
That’s why I have joined with my fellow Assembly Republicans to cosponsor an emergency state relief program that would provide up to $200 million to counties to protect taxpayers from crushing tax hikes, mostly caused by Medicaid.
This program would help counties buy time until the economy improves and fundamental reforms can be undertaken to ease the burden of Medicaid on local governments.
Under this plan, Albany County would receive $5.7 million, and other counties would receive similar relief.
This proposed aid is in addition to an estimated $5.4 million in Medicaid costs that Albany County will save under legislation recently approved by the Assembly that would have the state forgive $172 million advanced to counties for mental health services.
Besides our emergency relief program, Assembly Republicans are continuing to push for passage of its overall Medicaid relief introduced earlier this year. It includes:
So what are the chances of passage? Meritorious as these Assembly Republican proposals are, don’t hold your breath.
Unfortunately, New York State government is more partisan than ever. Democrats, mostly from the New York City area, dominate the Assembly by a more than 2-1 margin. Republicans overwhelmingly control the Senate. Lip service is paid to reform and the process of governance is still party politics formulating public policy secretly.
Regardless of party, minority members in both houses can play a valuable role, serving as catalysts. We can generate new ideas, attract media attention, and hopefully, some version of our proposals may become law, even if our names are dropped from the bill and majority party sponsors take over.
What’s important is not who gets the credit, but getting the job done. And what’s more important for the people is not backing off, but insisting on holding legislators accountable.
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