Statement from Unshackle Upstate

Unshackle Upstate strongly supports Gov. Paterson's proposals, announced this week, and encourages state legislators to seize this opportunity to join with the governor to undertake long overdue reforms and more cost saving measures.

The Unshackle Upstate coalition, which represents more than 45,000 employers statewide, thanks the governor for his leadership and his continued willingness to take aggressive action to make politically difficult, but necessary, cuts to the state budget and reductions in spending and future growth. The proposals are appropriately spread across many sectors of state spending, including areas in which the coalition has long advocated for greater efficiency, such as Medicaid spending, state employee benefits and school aid. The coalition also applauds the governor for urging efficiencies at the school district level to ensure the savings at the state level are not merely passed on in the form of a local property tax increase.

The severity of the state's current and projected fiscal problems, long in the making, require a thoughtful and enduring response. Now is the time to restructure state government programs to bring their cost in line with peer states and with realistic, long-term revenue projections.

To avoid further harm to New York's economy, businesses, taxpayers and families, the state must not raise taxes, and Unshackle Upstate commends the governor and legislature for not seeking to tax their way out of this crisis. Moreover, to ensure private sector employers can continue to operate and support a workforce in the state, our elected leadership should reduce the regulatory burden upon them and avoid any new business mandates.

The governor and our representatives in the legislature will be opposed aggressively by groups whose Albany lobbying over the years has led to the extraordinary size and cost of many state programs. They need the support of voters - everyday taxpayers and business owners - to face this opposition. Unshackle Upstate asks all state residents to buttress our elected leadership as they make tough decisions that will strengthen the future of New York's citizens, communities and economy.

Read a related article from the Democrat and Chronicle