Paterson Orders Nearly 9,000 State Layoffs

[GrayPatriot]

http://wcbstv.com/breakingnewsalerts/david.paterson.layoffs.2.966782.html


Paterson Orders Nearly 9,000 State Layoffs

Getting Rid Of Jobs Could Save $481 Million In 2 Years

Gov. David Paterson is ordering 8,900 state workers be laid off after unions refused concessions amid a staggering economic downturn. (File)
Chris Hondros/Getty Images


Gov. David Paterson on Tuesday ordered layoffs that could total about 4 percent of state workers after unions refused concessions amid a staggering economic downturn that was projected to push the state's deficit to $16 billion in the next year.

Budget Director Laura Anglin told The Associated Press that the layoffs of nearly 9,000 employees would be the first since the late 1990s after unions refused to even provide counterproposals.

It was unclear if the eventual number of layoffs could be offset by attrition or early retirement incentives. Those are among the details that would be worked out in coming weeks.

The layoffs, which Anglin said could save the state $481 million over two years, could begin July 1. The state currently employs nearly 200,000 people. But only 141,000 are directly under the governor's control and that's where the job reductions will be made.

Anglin said unions have been informed and could still try to return to the table in the coming days before a budget is negotiated.

"We felt there was no other option at this point considering the size and magnitude of the deficit," Anglin said in an interview. "We asked everyone for a sacrifice and the unions were not willing to have that conversation."

The unions held their positions.

"If Gov. Paterson really believes putting nearly 9,000 New Yorkers out of work is a good idea, he really is out of touch with life on Main Street," said President Danny Donohue of the Civil Service Employees Association union, the state's largest union.

"There is absolutely no need to do layoffs," said Ken Brynien, president of the Public Employees Federation. "It will not save the money that the governor thinks it will."

"I think to some degree it is political maneuvering. He's trying to get us back to the table," Brynien said.

In mid-December, Paterson had proposed layoffs of 521 workers while counting on attrition of 4,205 workers. But the recession has slowed retirements and Paterson and legislative leaders announced Tuesday that the projected deficit for 2009-10 worsened by $2.2 billion, to a total of at least $16 billion for the coming year.

E.J. McMahon, director of the fiscally conservative Empire Center for New York State Policy, called the move "a long overdue step."

McMahon said he was surprised, however, that Paterson never tipped his hand that he was willing to resort to layoffs, even as union leaders refused to deal and ran multimillion dollar TV ad campaigns against him and his proposed cuts.

"I don't know how he had not, until now, even hinted at any kind of punishment for failure to make concessions," he said.

Paterson has long sought to use the fiscal crisis to curb notorious overspending that has weakened state finances for years. Part of his plan was to seek mostly temporary concessions from the unions to avoid further deficits and the even more serious kinds of problems that are crippling other states, including California. California has planned state workers were ordered to take unpaid days off and the Schwarzenegger administration began sending layoff notices that would have affected some 10,000 state workers.

Anglin said the unions refused proposals to eliminate 3 percent pay raises expected this year; defer a week's pay until retirement, a practice known as "lag pay"; or reduce state payments into retirees' health care.

The action is expected to save $163 million in the 2009-10 fiscal year and $318 million for 2010-11.

The layoffs would apply only to workers in agencies under direct control of the governor's office such as highway crews, nurses, prison guards and forest rangers.

Employees not under Paterson's control include workers in the office of the attorney general, comptroller, state courts system or Legislature, Anglin said.

Paterson said no jobs are safe, but he is committed to protecting public safety.

State unemployment has risen during this recession to 7 percent in January, the latest number available, up from 4.7 percent a year before.

State jobs are most heavily concentrated in Albany and New York City, but they also represent a major part of local economies in many rural areas such as the Adirondacks and Southern Tier -- particularly state prisons.

Anglin said the layoffs will be structured to avoid risking public safety or health.

[JdotB]

Can be taken as good or bad..who knows.

[future01]

So if he cuts Correction Officers, wouldn't that only led to an exterme amount of overtime for the guards that wasn't cut? Regardless, there are mininum #'s of guards per shift. What is the point of giving the Correction Officer exam next weekend then??

[Dinosaur32]

Typical NY scum politician act. Why go after those that suck the life blood out of society when you can attack productive workers?

I hope CSEA continues to stand up to the Governor. State workers took 0% raises when the State was rolling in Wall Street tax dollars. Now Patterson wants to punish them again. Remember the bottom line is layoffs are always preferable to any reduction in salary.

[NYCTNT]

Why not cut out these programs that are wasted on able people who do not have a problem.

[TobaKnight]

Keep in mind this is the same governor that just recently gave hefty raises to workers in his inner circle.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02162009/news/columnists/govs_hy_pay_crisy_155409.htm

[CRS1]

That guy is a scumb@g. Someone should kick his *** out of Albany and put someone that's worth it in his place. The only reason that TARD is the governer is beacuse the previous governer really F'ed himself chasing some tail. Patterson never won his place as governer. :mad:

[tactical208]

Patterson stated that he has done everything he could to cut the deficit and this is the only alternative..........REALLY, he didn't cut welfare, in fact he gave welfare more money. He isn't going after Medicaid fraud, in fact he is letting one company get away with millions and they don't have to re-pay it.

The problem with New York State is that it is run by liberals and most of those liberals are from down state and they suck the economy of upstate dry.

I had an idea that I presented to our county supervisor and she loved the idea. I told her that if your on social services and you get incarcerated even at the county level awaiting trial then the social service benefits should be pro rated for the days spent in jail. Why ? because you are already housed, fed 3 squares, get schooling, cable TV, medical etc. I told her that they are double dipping the system and she agreed.

She had one of her people contact Albany at the governors officer and he explained this to them and this is Albany's response "Good Luck with that, it will never happen".

Don't look into or anything, just automatically throw it aside, what a waste.

[hxd]

The problem with New York State is that it is run by liberals and most of those liberals are from down state and they suck the economy of upstate dry.


Quoted for emphasis.

[Kyle G]

The problem with New York State is that it is run by liberals and most of those liberals are from down state and they suck the economy of upstate dry.

What upstate economy?

I am not saying I don't agree with you on the welfare issues. But this comment doesn't make much sense. The upstate "economy" has long been propped up by taxe revenues generated in the city (and I don't mean Buffalo or Rochester). Now that these revenues aren't pouring in anymore we are headed down a bad road.

[tactical208]

It makes perfect sense when the money from upstate is pouring....downstate instead of staying in the local economies. I guess all the mayors in upstate ny are wrong then when they say they aren't getting their fair share of tax dollars because most of those dollars go downstate.

In meeting with legislators and municipal leaders from all over New York state, McDonald said his goal was to remind those from the population center in New York City that they shouldn’t forget about their fellow New Yorkers who happen to live upstate.

Q: What would you do to make a more equitable tax dollar distribution between NY City and upstate?

A: Well, the real problem really is not that New York City gets more than it deserves. It’s that New York doesn’t get enough as a state. When we send $15 billion a year more to Washington in our tax dollars than we get back, something is desperately wrong.

That statement above is from former Senator Hillary Clinton.

So there is tax disparity between upstate and NYC and upstate pays the majority of the taxes and not NYC as you claim.

Upstate local governments have a total of some 93,500 more employees
than they would have if we matched the national average ratio of local
government workers to population—an excess of more than 25 percent.
This, alone, costs Upstate taxpayers more than $4 billion extra a year

And New York’s Medicaid program costs Upstate taxpayers about
$1 billion more a year in state and local taxes than it would if it matched
the national average per recipient

I don't see in any of these statement made by New York politicians where it says New York State as a whole or New York City, but it does specifically mention UPSTATE NY does it not ?

[tactical208]

But the high costs of doing business in New York — high taxes on people,
heavy burdens on businesses — have gotten less attention in the drive to restart
Upstate. Those high costs probably do more damage Upstate than they do in and
around New York City, which has a unique position in the global economy that
Utica, say, cannot match. Yet efforts in Albany to tackle those cost issues are held
back by a legislative process that is to a large extent dominated by the Downstate
political culture.

[tactical208]

New York City's economy often tends to dominate per-
ceptions of the entire economy of New York State. By
many measures, however, the economy of upstate
New York (which for purposes of this article is defined
to include all New York State outside the city) is
bigger than the city's. Indeed, it accounts for about 60
percent of the state's population and personal income.

So if upstate has a personal income of about 60%, how is it that New York City is carrying upstate ?

[Sense0Purpose1]

Yeah, it's the other way around. New York City and the the surrounding counties account for 68% of New York States Population.

". The center of population of New York is located in Orange County, in the town of Deerpark.[19] New York City and its eight suburban counties (excluding those in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania) have a combined population of 13,209,006 people, or 68.42% of the state's population."

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e2/New_York_Population_Map.png/350px-New_York_Population_Map.png

[tactical208]

I'm just showing what the politicians are saying, I didn't say it was accurate. I will say for a fact that the politicians down state are stronger than the upstate politicians and NYC gets more than it's fair share. And when it comes to taxes, take a lokk at what the wealthy pay and what the middle class pays, there's not a huge difference.

New York City is also an immgration nightmare, they have a lot of people coming into the city as immigrants and just because there are more people there doesn't necessarily mean they pay more taxes.

The upstate economy is shrinking and Patterson is letting it happen. There are people leaving upstate while there are people coming to NYC. But there are also many companies in NYC now that are in trouble financially because they had bad business practices. Patterson thinks it okj to bail them out, but he won't lend a hand to upstate NY.

He sucks, and that's bad business, I don't care how you look at it. The upstate economy is crumbling and the NYC economy is getting a bail out for poor business practices and probably some illegal activity as well.

Patterson now wants to tax new yorkers more, put a higher tax on gasoline, raised the thruway tolls for a thruway that has already been paid for.

My whole point is Patterson and his cronies are going in the wrong direction with their financial plan. How is New York going to be able to absorb 8700 plus layoffs of state workers ? it can't, they will be apying out more welfare, more unemployment checks etc. It's stupid for him to go about it in this manner.

[NorwichCadet]

well this statement is fully true...this whole process or whatever they do won't happen within the next year or so.

[TobaKnight]

It makes perfect sense when the money from upstate is pouring....downstate instead of staying in the local economies. I guess all the mayors in upstate ny are wrong then when they say they aren't getting their fair share of tax dollars because most of those dollars go downstate.

In meeting with legislators and municipal leaders from all over New York state, McDonald said his goal was to remind those from the population center in New York City that they shouldn’t forget about their fellow New Yorkers who happen to live upstate.

Q: What would you do to make a more equitable tax dollar distribution between NY City and upstate?

A: Well, the real problem really is not that New York City gets more than it deserves. It’s that New York doesn’t get enough as a state. When we send $15 billion a year more to Washington in our tax dollars than we get back, something is desperately wrong.

That statement above is from former Senator Hillary Clinton.

So there is tax disparity between upstate and NYC and upstate pays the majority of the taxes and not NYC as you claim.

Upstate local governments have a total of some 93,500 more employees
than they would have if we matched the national average ratio of local
government workers to population—an excess of more than 25 percent.
This, alone, costs Upstate taxpayers more than $4 billion extra a year

And New York’s Medicaid program costs Upstate taxpayers about
$1 billion more a year in state and local taxes than it would if it matched
the national average per recipient

I don't see in any of these statement made by New York politicians where it says New York State as a whole or New York City, but it does specifically mention UPSTATE NY does it not ?


Tac... I'm curious at to the source of your information, and how well you read it. It doesn't seem to support your claims, and the source I'm sure would shed a great deal of light as to why it "does specifically mention UPSTATE NY".

[TobaKnight]

New York City's economy often tends to dominate per-
ceptions of the entire economy of New York State. By
many measures, however, the economy of upstate
New York (which for purposes of this article is defined
to include all New York State outside the city) is
bigger than the city's. Indeed, it accounts for about 60
percent of the state's population and personal income.

So if upstate has a personal income of about 60%, how is it that New York City is carrying upstate ?


Where does upstate begin to you? How does it make sense to define Upstate New York as "all New York State outside the city"?

Again, your sources seem at the very least skewed and biased.

[tactical208]

I never said that upstate begins outside the city and it doesn't, NYC has counties outside the city. Maybe it's just how your reading it.

one of the statements is from Hillary Clinton

and there is far more aboout the upstate economy being bad than there is about NYC. That is because many companies have fled new york because of the taxes. NY as a whole has the highest taxes in the country.

[tactical208]

Bottom line the politicians are sucking this entire state dry

[soon2retire]

LOL Everyone has a different definition of what "Upstate" is. I live in Putnam, but grew up on Lawn Guyland, and always thought anything north of the Bronx was upstate. Here in Putnam, anything north of us and Rockland County is considered upstate. And I've heard that some folks in Manhattan consider anything north of Central Park upstate. Paterson is out to lunch-no union will go along with his giveback proposals-he can theaten all he wants, he's just a paper tiger and a seat warmer for the next Gov.Where does upstate begin to you? How does it make sense to define Upstate New York as "all New York State outside the city"?

Again, your sources seem at the very least skewed and biased.

[Marine_Infantry]

Being an outsider and reading the New York posts I notice there is a huge divide in NY between "the city" and "upstate"...why is that?It seems even Law enforcement is didvided..i.e. posts like "NYPD vs. NYSP"

Be safe my east coast btothers

[tactical208]

There has been a divide for many many years. Some say that too much upstate money goes downstate to NYC, others say that too much NYC goes upstate. There has been a debate about the equality of property taxes, that upstate pays more in property taxes than the folks within the actual city of New York.

The debate goes on and even today some upstate folk say that upstate should suceed from New York City and become the 51st state, but it can't happen because it's against some law, blah, blah, blah.

There use to be a lot of money in upstate when Kodak, Xerox, IBM and a few other big companies were around and doing very well. Kodak is a flash in the pan now, Xerox is totally different and has downsized several times, IBM you don't hear much about.

Who's right, who's wrong, shouldn't really matter, we are all in this together as New Yorkers and we shouldn't stand idle while Patterson and his cronies flush the taxpayers down the toilet.

I was talking with a friend today who said that he has a very good friend who has an apartment within NYC that you can see the Statue of Liberty from and is apparently very close to it. He said that he only pays taxes on the ground floor footprint of his apartment and that was $ 3500 in property taxes. Don't know how true it is, but why would he say that, don't know.

Property taxes upstate are a joke. I own 3/4 of an acre and pay over $ 8,000/ year in taxes for a 2,000 sq ft house. I'm sure there are places like that down state as well, probably in Westchester and Suffolk, I don't know, I have looked at their tax base.

[TobaKnight]

Definitely one thing we can all agree on. Patterson is a tool, and out of his mind to think he might be re-elected.

I never thought I would say, I miss Spitzer.

[DOAcop38]

....and Gov.Patterson's response? - " it could be worse, you could be one of the 9,000 being laid off and living in NEW JERSSSEEEEEEYYYYY!!!....


Heres an Idea, we'll trade the partially blind and inept guy you have for the worn out, steroid on the brain pseudo republican we have here- both are flushing the most powerful states on the East and West coast ,down the gutter..........( has Patterson threatened to let your states most hardened felons out of prison early to ease the budget problems like "Ah'nuld" has here in CA.??? )

[Brendon]

Even he himself should be able to see that laying off any workers during a recession will only deepen it. Maybe he should cut back on giving his cronies all the bonuses they themselves get.

[mark7777]

Being an outsider and reading the New York posts I notice there is a huge divide in NY between "the city" and "upstate"...why is that?It seems even Law enforcement is didvided..i.e. posts like "NYPD vs. NYSP"

Be safe my east coast btothers

Well There is a divided state here truth is NY state is the nations most disfunctional mostly because the needs and wants of upstate and NYC are vastly different. Yet we are stuck with one capitol dominated by NYC lawmakers who in all honesty make the policy for the state. The upstate lawmakers can make noise and jump up and down all they like but in the end NYC has the votes and thus why the dem's carry the state every election. Upstate is predominatly republican and very conservative compared to NYC. The rest of the nation needs to know NY is basically 2 states forced to be one.

[BarXone]

I agree somewhat, but it's mostly Manhattan that has it's liberal side.. other boroughs are not, similar to upstate. But I agree, the people up in Albany sometimes lose touch with what's going on over here - regardless of their political opinions.. it's a problem that needs a solution, and quick.

[Kyle G]

Outer-boroughs are mostly democratic too except, of course, for Staten Island which is very red.