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New York Governor Paterson addresses state’s financial crisis, $6.4 billion deficit, rising costs, decreased state revenue, New York state spending cuts
"When I took office, I was apprised that the New York State budget deficit for next year was $5 billion. I immediately ordered cuts to state spending, but the situation has gotten worse. Tomorrow I will submit a budget plan that places our deficit for next year at $6.4 billion – that is $1.4 billion higher than it was just a few short months ago. How could this happen? It’s simple. Costs are rising steadily, revenues are dropping dramatically."
"In the beginning of May, our budget director projected our New York State deficit over the next three years at $21.5 billion – that was a record. But things have changed. That number has now erupted to $26.2 billion – a staggering 22 percent increase in less than 90 days."
Did he say "in less than 90 days"
Good luck to anyone staying in NY. This is why I don't "get it" when people tell me things are going to get better in Syracuse.
Because of the recession economy, it's the same everywhere. My state (CA) has the same problems. You can't keep running away from taxes from state to state. You've got to make a stand somewhere, and you might as well do it in a place you truly love. If that happens to be the great state of NY, more power to ya!
You obviously didn't listen to Paterson's speech; he strongly and repeatedly stressed CUTS. Nothing about new taxes. I don't doubt they will try to sneak some taxes in, but even he is talking about cuts, and that is a good sign.
He also stated that he would cut jobs and programs. That would indicated that taxes would not skyrocket. Its about time state jobs were cut. We have more per capita than most states.
Because of the recession economy, it's the same everywhere. My state (CA) has the same problems. You can't keep running away from taxes from state to state. You've got to make a stand somewhere, and you might as well do it in a place you truly love. If that happens to be the great state of NY, more power to ya!
Trust me the last thing I would love is New York State. I am moving to Charlotte North Carolina for obvious reasons.
Here are the 29 states with a projected budget shortfall in 2009.
[CENTER][CENTER][SIZE=2]TABLE 1: SIZE OF FY2009 BUDGET GAPS[/SIZE][/CENTER][/CENTER]
[CENTER][CENTER]Amount[/CENTER]
[CENTER]Percent of FY2008 General Fund[/CENTER][/CENTER]
Alabama1
[CENTER][CENTER]$784 million[/CENTER][/CENTER]
[RIGHT][RIGHT]9.2%[/RIGHT][/RIGHT]
Arizona1
[CENTER][CENTER]$1.9 billion[/CENTER][/CENTER]
[RIGHT][RIGHT]17.8%[/RIGHT][/RIGHT]
Arkansas1
[CENTER][CENTER]$107 million[/CENTER][/CENTER]
[RIGHT][RIGHT]2.5%[/RIGHT][/RIGHT]
California2
[CENTER][CENTER]$22.2 billion[/CENTER][/CENTER]
[RIGHT][RIGHT]21.3%[/RIGHT][/RIGHT]
Connecticut1
[CENTER][CENTER]$150 million[/CENTER]
[CENTER]0.9%[/CENTER][/CENTER]
Delaware
[CENTER][CENTER]$217 million[/CENTER]
[CENTER]6.4%[/CENTER][/CENTER]
District of Columbia1
[CENTER][CENTER]$96 million[/CENTER][/CENTER]
[RIGHT][RIGHT]1.5%[/RIGHT][/RIGHT]
Florida1
[CENTER][CENTER]$3.4 billion[/CENTER][/CENTER]
[RIGHT][RIGHT]11.0%[/RIGHT][/RIGHT]
Georgia1
[CENTER][CENTER]$200 million - $300 million[/CENTER]
[CENTER]1.0 – 1.5%[/CENTER][/CENTER]
Illinois
[CENTER][CENTER]$1.8 billion[/CENTER][/CENTER]
[RIGHT][RIGHT] 6.6%[/RIGHT][/RIGHT]
Iowa1
[CENTER][CENTER]$350 million[/CENTER][/CENTER]
[RIGHT][RIGHT]6.0%[/RIGHT][/RIGHT]
Kentucky1
[CENTER][CENTER]$266 million[/CENTER][/CENTER]
[RIGHT][RIGHT]2.9%[/RIGHT][/RIGHT]
Maine1
[CENTER][CENTER]$124 million[/CENTER][/CENTER]
[RIGHT][RIGHT]4.0%[/RIGHT][/RIGHT]
Maryland1
[CENTER][CENTER]$808 million[/CENTER][/CENTER]
[RIGHT][RIGHT]5.5%[/RIGHT][/RIGHT]
Massachusetts
[CENTER][CENTER]$1.2 billion[/CENTER][/CENTER]
[RIGHT][RIGHT]4.2%[/RIGHT][/RIGHT]
Michigan
[CENTER][CENTER]$472 million[/CENTER][/CENTER]
[RIGHT][RIGHT]4.9%[/RIGHT][/RIGHT]
Minnesota1
[CENTER][CENTER]$935 million[/CENTER][/CENTER]
[RIGHT][RIGHT]5.5%[/RIGHT][/RIGHT]
Mississippi1
[CENTER][CENTER]$90 million[/CENTER][/CENTER]
[RIGHT][RIGHT]1.8%[/RIGHT][/RIGHT]
Nevada1
[CENTER][CENTER]$898 million[/CENTER][/CENTER]
[RIGHT][RIGHT]13.5%[/RIGHT][/RIGHT]
New Hampshire1
[CENTER][CENTER]$200 million[/CENTER]
[CENTER]6.4%[/CENTER][/CENTER]
New Jersey1
[CENTER][CENTER]$2.5 - $3.5 billion[/CENTER]
[CENTER]7.6 - 10.6%[/CENTER][/CENTER]
New York1
[CENTER][CENTER]$4.9 billion[/CENTER][/CENTER]
[RIGHT][RIGHT]9.1%[/RIGHT][/RIGHT]
Ohio1
[CENTER][CENTER]$733 million - $1.3 billion[/CENTER]
[CENTER]2.7 - 4.7%[/CENTER][/CENTER]
Oklahoma1
[CENTER][CENTER]$114 million[/CENTER][/CENTER]
[RIGHT][RIGHT]1.6%[/RIGHT][/RIGHT]
Rhode Island
[CENTER][CENTER]$430 million[/CENTER][/CENTER]
[RIGHT][RIGHT]12.6%[/RIGHT][/RIGHT]
South Carolina
[CENTER][CENTER]$250 million[/CENTER][/CENTER]
[RIGHT][RIGHT]3.7%[/RIGHT][/RIGHT]
Tennessee1
[CENTER][CENTER]$468 million - $585 million[/CENTER]
[CENTER]4.2 - 5.2%[/CENTER][/CENTER]
Vermont1
[CENTER][CENTER]$59 million[/CENTER][/CENTER]
[RIGHT][RIGHT]5.1%[/RIGHT][/RIGHT]
Virginia1
[CENTER][CENTER]$1.2 billion[/CENTER][/CENTER]
[RIGHT][RIGHT]6.9%[/RIGHT][/RIGHT]
Wisconsin1
[CENTER][CENTER]$652 million[/CENTER][/CENTER]
[RIGHT][RIGHT]4.8%[/RIGHT][/RIGHT] TOTAL
[CENTER][CENTER]$47.5 - $49.3 billion[/CENTER]
[CENTER]9.3 - 9.7%[/CENTER][/CENTER]
[SIZE=1]1These states have adopted new or revised budgets that address these shortfalls.
2 In a special session earlier this year, California adopted measures to close $7.0 billion of this shortfall. A gap of $15.2 billion remains to be closed. Assumes that FY08 gap would have carried over to FY09[/SIZE]
As you can see there are many state missing from the list. At the time this chart was made NY was only at 4.9B, as of yesterday it is at 26.2B.
Patterson seems to be doing a good job so far. Of course he'll have to go head to head with the unions so the legislators may not stand behind him. We'll see.
You obviously didn't listen to Paterson's speech; he strongly and repeatedly stressed CUTS. Nothing about new taxes. I don't doubt they will try to sneak some taxes in, but even he is talking about cuts, and that is a good sign.
This is how I see New York State:
This is a story about Joe. Joe owns an apartment building with 100 units in it. His building at one time was completely full. Every unit was occupied and everybody paid their rent on time.
Now years later half of his tenants have left. With only half of the rent payments, Joe is now struggling to pay the bills on the building. He has tried to cut costs buy getting rid of and reducing the use of maintenance people , painters and landscapers but that only goes so far. Problem is that the building has deteriorated because of the cuts. He wants to paint and update the apartments. He wants to put in a new parking lot and redo the landscaping but he cannot afford it.
To keep the apartment building Joe only has one option. He has to raise the rent, a lot.
Now no new tenants want to move into his rundown building. He is losing more and more tenants every month. Most of the people that still remain pay the rent late and do nothing but complain about the living conditions. The people that still live there want to get out but cannot afford to do so or just don't want to go through the hassle of moving. The future of Joe's building is not very bright.
If Joe was smart enough to keep up the building when he had the money it would still be full, the rent would be fair for the condition of the building and everybody would be happy.
The End
This is exactly what has happened to Upstate New York. It has lost half of its population and more people like myself are leaving everyday. No person in their right mind wants to move here because of the cost of living. Businesses would never consider moving here because of the cost of doing business and because the government is making this state very unfriendly to them.
So how do you solve the budget deficit? Taxes have to increase (a lot) for the people that chose to stay here.
Cuts? I'm sure that some cuts can be made but not $26,000,000,000.00 worth.
First of all, its not a current 26 billion dollar deficit. The 26 B amount is a projected amount if things keep going the way they are for a couple of years. Secondly, upstate has not lost half of its population. You would tend to notice half of the people leaving.
The whole Joe analogy is very off base also. There are many many persons that choose to live in upstate NY.
First of all, its not a current 26 billion dollar deficit. The 26 B amount is a projected amount if things keep going the way they are for a couple of years. Secondly, upstate has not lost half of its population. You would tend to notice half of the people leaving.
The whole Joe analogy is very off base also. There are many many persons that choose to live in upstate NY.
Upstate has lost half of it's population. Governor Spitzer said it in one of his speeches and I believe I seen the numbers on the Unshackle Upstate website. Maybe bellafinzi can back me on this if he knows where to look up the info.
I understand that people choose to live in Upstate. All I am saying is the same thing Gov. Paterson said, that people should understand that things are going to get much worse before they get better. Only I disagree with the part that things will eventually get better. There is no hope for Joe's building and there is no hope for Upstate.
Why do you think that when an alcoholic goes to an AA meeting for the first time they make him to say: "Hi my name is Joe, and I am an alcoholic". Its because you have to admit that you have a problem before you can fix that problem.
I am moving in less than a week from Syracuse. For me its all over, I gave up (I'm going to stay drunk on my North Carolina juice) but for the people that choose to stay here don't look at facts like this and argue against them. Admit that there is a problem, take the information and (If you truly love this place) do something about it.
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Things are tough all over
