NORWICH – State Commissioner for the Department of Motor Vehicles Joan McDonald was in Norwich on Thursday to detail Governor Andrew Cuomo’s ambitious $137.2 billion state budget which was unveiled to the public earlier this week.
County and city administrators gathered at the Classic Car Museum on Rexford Street to get a glimpse of the proposed 2014-2015 financial plan and ask questions regarding the impact it may have on taxpayers in Chenango County. The presentation, hosted by Commerce Chenango, was one of several stops Commissioner McDonald made across the Southern Tier and an opportunity at the local level to promote the Classic Car Museum to state officials, noted Commerce Chenango President Steve Craig.
McDonald’s lecture covered key issues in the pending state budget that encompass matters of tax relief, tax credits for businesses and manufacturers, education, labor and healthcare.
“Over the past 30 years, 23 budgets have been late, an average of 50 days,” said McDonald. “Since the Governor has been in office, he has held spending below two percent, which is remarkable. He has taken a $10 billion deficit and turned it into a $2 billion surplus ... New York created 380,000 in past three years and now, it’s number two in the nation in job creation.”
McDonald also noted that in 2009, state spending, taxes and unemployment were on the rise as the number of jobs available decreased. “Today, we have reversed those arrows,” she added. “Taxes, spending and unemployment is down and the number of jobs have gone up.”
The Governor’s proposal takes the state’s longstanding reputation of high taxes into account by offering a number of means for tax relief – the biggest being a property tax freeze for businesses and homeowners. Tax relief efforts are rooted in the state’s $2 billion surplus expected by 2016-2017 fiscal year. The tax freeze is subject to two conditions: first, that the taxing entity adhere to the two percent tax cap; and second, the taxing entity implement a plan to save at least one percent each year for three consecutive years through shared services or consolidation with other taxing jurisdictions.
Said McDonald, “That’s being done by a lot of counties across the state already. If we start proactively taking a look at how to combine some of those services, it would really pay off for the taxpayers in the state.”
