For Release: Immediately March 15, 2013 Statement of NYCOM Executive Director Peter A.

Baynes on the Failure of the Senate and Assembly to Include Mandate Relief in their Budget Resolutions

After a vast majority of their members campaigned on the issue of mandate relief for local governments, it appears the Senate and Assembly are intent on passing a state budget with absolutely no mandate relief for cities and villages. Rather than supporting reform of binding arbitration the premier piece of mandate relief included in the Governors Executive Budget the Senate and Assembly would simply extend this costly mandate for another four years.

A minuscule increase in AIM funding and a pension smoothing plan that may never be authorized is no substitute for fixing the out-of-control cost structure imposed on local governments through decades of arbitrary state mandates. A budget without mandate relief is a budget that raises local taxes. State legislators must protect local taxpayers and begin to secure a healthy financial future for New York by including reform of binding arbitration in the 2013-14 state budget.

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