Mayor Marvin's Column: The Bills That Affect Bronxville

Local governments now must play defense as well as offense when it comes to our State government in Albany.  In years past, when a town or village needed relief or help on a particular issue, they reached out to their local legislators to sponsor a bill to remedy the situation.

Such is still the case but given all the unfunded mandates and lobbying by special interest groups, we now have to keep an alert eye out for legislation sponsored by representatives from all over the State that may have an unexpected deleterious impact on our Village.  It is especially true at this time of year as the 2012 Legislature enters its final month when a flurry of bills often appear.

We are fortunate that in this session there are many bills we can support, though sadly quite predictably none address the fundamental issue of the large unfunded mandates that are the true cost drivers in local budgets.

Some positives include a bill to allow the Village to continue to use the lever style voting machines which are much less expensive to operate and so far have proven more reliable than the new scanning system. 

Another bill that has already passed the State Senate would permit municipalities to purchase goods and services off of Federally solicited out of State contracts.  New York is the only state that does not permit local public agencies to purchase from cooperative contracts that were solicited by another public agency.  The potential for cost savings is enormous.

One initiative still stuck in committee but at least on the radar screen was a law change the Village has championed for several years now.  This bill would allow any publication requirement of a municipality to be satisfied by the use of on-line newspapers.  In the Village’s case, we spend thousands of dollars on required public notices in the print media for the Planning Board and Zoning Board cases as well as when we solicit bids for contracts. 

Not only would it cost less to do in the on-line venue, it would also reach a larger audience.  A two-fold benefit is that residents would be made more aware of local government activities and in the case of competitive bidding contracts, the arena would be expanded to a larger pool of potential bidders.

A bill that was recently delivered to the Governor for signature would add villages to those municipalities currently eligible to receive advisory appraisals from the New York State Department of Taxation for complex properties and public utilities.  Currently, these appraisals are provided for all cities, towns and counties while villages must foot the bill.

There are a few measures that if passed could have a huge negative financial impact on the Village.  A bill proposed by Assemblyman Weprin of Queens and Senator Lanza of Staten Island would prohibit public employers from diminishing the health insurance benefits or increasing contributions of their retirees from the level of existence on the effective date of the bill’s passage.  There is not an employee around that has not seen a change in their healthcare benefits or an increase in their co-pay due to the ever escalating costs associated with healthcare.  This bill, if passed, would allow municipalities no flexibility to adjust plans for clearly changing times.

Another particularly scary bill that has incredibly already passed the State Assembly could result in the mother of all unfunded State mandates.  It would make local governments with police departments liable to individuals with orders of protection who are injured in any way by individuals subject to that order.

Subjecting local law enforcement agencies to liability for failing to enforce orders of protection would expose local governments to substantial litigation costs and civil damage awards.  In addition, this legislation would supplant local law enforcement decision making and prioritization of resources as it arbitrarily decides that enforcing of orders of protection trumps other law enforcement activities.

The Village knows it cannot go it alone, either in advocating or opposing legislation, as there is strength in numbers so we have made a concerted effort to unite with our colleagues on the County level via the Westchester Municipal Officials Association and at the State level through participation in the New York State Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials.  Both organizations have had great success in lobbying on behalf of the municipalities which is in essence a lobby for the property taxpayers who should be the number one special interest group in the State.

As an update to pension reform which is a recurring theme in my columns, just this week the City of San Jose, California voted to reduce pension benefits which by California law they are entitled to do.  Faced with a $13 million debt from last year’s budget and a projected $150 million in future unfunded costs for a city of under one million people, the Democratic Mayor said he had to do this for the simple reason, he wanted San Jose to continue to exist.