Albany Budget

Harry Davis: On the Issues

Issue of the Day: The Budget

As the state negotiates a budget that is past due, I want to talk about the importance of the budget and my thoughts on the budget as we view this broken process unfold.

First and foremost, the budget process is the most important issue I will participate in as your representative. The budget is now up to $134 billion and growing, and every cent of that belongs to taxpayers.

LATE BUDGET

There is no excuse for the late budget. These legislators have no qualms on taking their time because although the state law says they will not get paid until the budget is passed, they get their paid once they do pass it (retro pay).

I believe this is wrong. And as your assemblyman, I will put forth a proposal: If we fail to pass a budget on time, we forfeit our pay for as long as it takes to pass a budget. If it is one day late, we forfeit one day's pay. If it is one week late, we lose one week's pay. One month late and we lose a month's pay. It's that simple.

This is the people's money we are talking about. If they don't pass a budget, then the money used to pay state legislators should go back to the people since they cost the taxpayers money every time we have to borrow money to fund programs.

NEW TAXES AND FEES

Taxes and fees are short term fixes to long term problems. Gov. David Paterson and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver come up with creative ways to tax citizens. The problem is clear: We need to find a better way to make money. New York cannot sustain itself on taxing its citizens to death. This has been the mindset of this state for the last 30 years. The budget gaps have been filled with, as examples, increased DMV fees and surcharges on traffic tickets. New York does not have a long term vision to attract businesses in its current state. The tax-and-spend mentality will not sustain any kind of economic growth.

INVEST IN GREEN ECONOMY, BRINGING BUSINESS TO NY

I am a huge supporter of investing in the green economy. Geographically, a good portion of the 131st Assembly District is made up of rural towns. I would love to see wind energy and plants that produce green economic materials and green energy come to these areas. While I support wind energy and other green energy initiatives, I also believe they should be implemented intelligently. We cannot afford to give in to the demands of any corporation who wishes to come in and take advantage of our small municipalities. We need a strong partnership between local governments and green energy companies.

Tied into this is my support for high speed rail. High speed rail is a long-term project. HSR would connect us to cities like Buffalo, Syracuse, New York City and if we can go far enough, Canadian cities like Toronto and Montreal. This will not only bring much needed transportation infrastructure to the area, but the added economic benefits are obvious.

Our problem is clear: Manufacturing and other labor intensive industries are leaving this state for states with cheaper taxes or other countries altogether. In its wake, we have shells of empty buildings and empty towns where young people have moved away for better job opportunities. We need to keep our young people here. We have fantastic educational opportunities for our young citizens, whether it's at the University of Rochester or our many SUNY institutions. However, once they leave those fine schools, they have nowhere to work. That needs to change.

MEMBER ITEMS

Read my lips: I HATE PORK (member items)! Our member item system favors the majority party and also favors those in leadership positions. The government cries the blues over not being able to bridge a budget gap, but what they don't tell you is that they don't cut the fat out of the budget. As I have perused the various provisions of previous budgets, I have come across many nonsensical line-items such as giving $10,000 to just about every firehouse in various districts across Monroe County for "operations." While I admire and respect our volunteer fire departments and our professional firefighters, among many other causes who receive member item money, I believe we need to be tough on this money.

As your assemblyman, I vow to not only fight for reforming the member item so every legislator gets their fair share, I vow to not accept any member item money until these reforms are enacted.

I do not want to be elected AND re-elected on the premise that I gave lots of money to firehouses, Little League organizations and other causes. I want to be elected because I represented EVERY CONSTITUENT to the best of my ability and listened their concerns and delivered those concerns to Albany.