Paterson Issues First Veto Of His Administration
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- April
- 23
Gov. David Paterson hasn’t issued any budget vetoes, but did veto a separate piece of legislation today that would have required local police department with a population of 150,000 or less to have a full-time police chief if the department has at least 15 part-time police officers.
Paterson spokeswoman Jennifer Givner said requiring police chiefs for smaller departments would be an unnecessary expense for municipalities during these tough economic times.
“It’s a significant unfunded mandate that would be imposed on localities during a very difficult fiscal time,” she said.
A law is already on the books that requires a police chief if a department covers a community with less than 150,000 people and has more than four full-time officers. The legislation would have expanded it to the 15 part-time officers, requiring municipalities to hire a chief.
Here’s the veto message: Veto%20msg.dot
Updated: The state Association of Counties is giving Paterson kudos for the veto. From its statement:
“County officials from across the state are encouraged by the tone and the tenor of the governor’s veto message, which states ‘the difficult choices about the appropriate allocation of scarce financial resources at issue in this legislation are best made by the elected representatives of affected towns and villages themselves.’
These are the words of a Governor who understands the policy and fiscal challenges facing local government officials.”
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 at 3:11 pm by Joseph Spector.
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