Assemblyman Murray Updates Residents On State Budget

New York State Assemblyman Dean Murray hosted a “Legislator at the Library” town hall meeting Saturday afternoon at the , updating residents about the current budget struggle in Albany and problems with school districts on Long Island.

Between the four or five days per week he spends in Albany, Assemb. Murray, R, C-East Patchogue, took the time to meet the public and answer any concerns on state issues.

“I wanted to give the people an opportunity to sit and meet with us and talk one-on-one,” Murray said.

Though the warm sunny weather on Saturday left more than a few seats empty at the meeting, residents seized the moment to speak with Murray about several issues they feel are important today.

“The state needs to . Some school administrators make near $300,000," said one Brookhaven residents, who wished to remain anonymous.

Murray agreed with residents, revealing that a recent study suggested 1,249 public employees, including school district administrators, make more money than the governor.

“No one should make more than the governor,” Murray said. “No one's job is harder than his.”

Murray informed residents that most of the senators and assembly members in Albany agreed on 95 percent of the new state budget. “It’s the nasty 5 percent we aren’t agreeing on,” Murray said. “We’re disagreeing on where to make the cuts.”

The 5 percent has been a tremendous struggle, and Murray said the issue has nothing to do with disagreeing parties, but more to do with battling regions. Albany believes Long Island is richer than the rest of the state and cut funding hard.

Murray said part of the disagreement stems from the 11 percent of funding cut for public schools on Long Island, as opposed to the 7.3 percent cut from schools in the rest of the state.

Another disagreement is the (Governor Andrew) Cuomo-proposed 2 percent property tax cap. Murray said he openly supports the cap, but only if it comes with a mandate relief program.

“We cannot box them into a corner whether they're a school district or a local government, and say ‘We’re going to limit your revenue source, but still require you to pay for all the things we’re sending down to you," Murray said.

Murray’s new bill (A05305) is pushing unfunded mandate relief, which calls for a three-year moratorium on all unfunded mandates. The bill will work along with the governor’s mandate relief team to eliminate mandates that are identified.

But what exactly is an unfunded mandate? An unfunded mandate is when a state requires an institution to provide something or perform an action without giving the institution the necessary funds to carry out the request.

An example of an unfunded mandate is defibrillators in any public building. The state law requires all public institutions to buy defibrillators. With mandate relief, the government would buy them in bulk and get a discount from manufacturers instead of costing institutions to lose revenue and lay off employees. Murray said it would save the state money in the long run.

“I look at the long term and what it’s going to cost us down the road,” he said.

Murray ended the meeting on an optimistic note, vowing to help turn the state government around and take away its “credit card." He said the state has a severe spending problem and it's time to bring back the revenue by enticing businesses to move here.

“We need to shift our philosophy to a smarter, more efficient government on all levels,” Murray said. “We got to get back to fiscal responsibility.”