Yonkers gets $20 million advance
More news on the Yonkers front from Ernie Garcia:Yonkers will receive a $20 million cash advance in response to city leaders’ appeals for extra state support.
State Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assemblyman Mike Spano, both D-Yonkers, said today the city is expected to receive the extra state municipal aid in the final state budget, under debate now in Albany. Spano said that the $20 million is a “spin-up,†or an advance that will be taken from the state municipal aid that would have been given to the city in the 2009-10 budget cycle.
“That’s because the city made the case that they will have new revenues coming in next year,” said Spano.The state’s municipal aid budget is scheduled for a vote tonight.
Spano said that legislators have still not finalized how much school aid the city will get.
Last month Mayor Phil Amicone warned that the city faced a $27 million municipal budget deficit and a $23 million school budget deficit. Amicone said that the combined deficits threatened to result in up to 700 layoffs if the state did not send the city more financial aid.
In their lobbying visits to Albany in recent weeks, city officials have told state law-makers that they expect the city to begin reaping new revenues from development in the city. Amicone has said that once the city begins receiving those revenues, it will not be as reliant on state aid as other upstate cities are.
Amicone’s spokesman David Simpson said city officials were aware of the $20 million advance. We’re not going to have any comment until we see the full funding package,†said Simpson. “So far we’re encouraged by what we’ve heard, but there is still much work to be done in terms of education funding. We very much appreciate the efforts of our state delegation.â€
UPDATE: After the state senate passed its version of the municipal aid budget, Stewart-Cousins said that state leaders were persuaded by the argument that Yonkers is heading in a good direction. ”There is a real possibility with all the things happening in the city that the city will be in a much better stead in the coming years,” she said. The Assembly is scheduled to vote at 6.
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TO ASSEMBLYMAN SPANO I SAY GREAT JOB IN DELIVERING THESE MUCH NEEDED FUNDS FOR OUR CITY. THIS SHOWS JUST HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO HAVE A MAJORITY LAW MAKER IN OFFICE REPRESENTING US. HAD MIKE STILL BEEN IN THE MINORITY – YONKERS WOULD HAVE RECIEVED NOTHING. GREAT JOB TO THE DELEGATION…
So Lou under that standard, every Democrat in the state Senate should switch parties? Give me a break, Yonkers gets far less from the state than they send in. Any politician can get some pork. However, in a pork contest we lose. We would be better off with less pork overall and a smaller state government.
Sad to say, but Lou is right. That’s the way it works up there. Smaller state government is right-on, too. The fact is, that despite all the celebration, this is nothing more than a loan very much like the ones that almost brought down our banking system. No income verification, just shaky projections. But, unlike working companies and people, the state can just raise everyone’s taxes ad infinitum until we become like East St. Louis and there’s no one left with a job to pay the bills, just lobbyists and politicians.
game over for nick
Consultant-You are very wrong the game has just begun-
That money is only a cash advance. A temporary bailout. Yonkers still has to do cutting. The budget has yet to exist that can’t be cut. In Yonkers, that applies to both the municipal and schools budgets. They need to be cut. There will be plenty that can be trimmed. All budgets can be cut. Anyone knows that, or should.
CONSULTANT – FACTS ARE THE FACTS – ANDREA RAN SAYING EVERYTHING WOULD CHANGE ON DAY 1! TO DATE THESE ARE THE THINGS THAT CHANGED:
GREENBURGH 17% TAX INCREASE
WESTCHESTER TO LOSE ANOTHER 5 MILLION FROM STATE
WESTCHESTER PROPERTY TAXES 27% HIKE
ZER DOLLARS TO YONKERS IN HIGH TAX AID
70 MILLION TO LONG ISLAND
SPITZER GATE
SPITZER SEX GATE
CITY 15% TAX INCREASE
AND FAR TO MANY MORE TO LIST HERE
I DON’T THINK THIS IS WHAT THE PUBLIC HAD IN MIND WHEN THEY VOTED FOR CHANGE ON DAY ONE!
DON’T BLAME ME——I VOTED FOR NICK SPANO!