Yonkers officials: Alone in Albany together

Posted by: Len Maniace - Posted in 2009, Charles Lesnick, David Paterson, Phil Amicone, Yonkers on Jan 06, 2009

It’s hard to know which is in tougher financial shape, New York state or Yonkers. So maybe it’s in the spirit of financial misery seeking company that Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone and City Council President Chuck Lesnick are headed north for Gov. David Paterson’s State of the State address tomorrow.

One thing’s for sure, Paterson won’t be announcing any plans to come to Yonkers’ financial rescue with megabucks for the city’s school system, something Amicone said last April, was needed or else the city was “headed toward a cliff” financially by July 1, 2009.

Paterson’s grim accounting of conditions in New York just might resonate with Amicone, however. The mayor announced plans in December to lay off 76 full-time workers to eliminate a $16 million budget gap, and then spent much of the last month seeking union givebacks to save as many as 60 of them.

Despite the city’s financial problems, however, Amicone, a Republican, and Lesnick, a Democrat, have no plans to car pool to Albany for Paterson’s 1 p.m. speech. Lesnick is headed to Albany tonight; Amicone leaves tomorrow.