- By Dan Veaner
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Lifton said this was unusual because of a number of factors that adversely affected State finances during her time in office. "This was all about a national recession that hits New York more than it hits other places, because New York has Wall Street," she said. "It was also about the dot com bust, it was about 9/11 and the impact that had. Aside from the loss of human life, that little piece of real estate produces 15% of all the wages in New York State. So just that event had a huge impact on New york State. And we lost about $1.5 billion due to the corporate scandals."
| Lifton said that the 'upstate mythology' that New York City gets most of the state money is false. "It's a negative, unhelpful thing and basically untrue. In most years, except for those difficult years from 9/11, New York City actually puts more money into the state treasury than it gets out," she said. She credited Democrats who push for upstate funding. |
Barbara Lifton"All of us in Albany understand the terrible crush people are feeling with property taxes," she said. "Understanding that, we wanted to get a tax break to people." In Tompkins County that will mean about $176 for STAR-eligible homeowners and about $294 for seniors. "We did a lot for education this year, and that's a good thing," she said. She said that Democrats fought for 1.3 billion that has been set aside for school operating budgets including $50 million for pre-K. She said they also budgeted $2.6 million in capital funding for schools state-wide, because of a court ruling requiring more money for underfunded schools. $1.8 million of that goes to New York City, which brought the case to court.
| "The Campaign for Fiscal Equity Ruling of 2001, where our highest court of appeals said we must get more money to our underfunded schools. That's about half the schools in the state. With that money comes reform. As a former teacher those are reforms I subscribe to." |
She noted that money is being poured into higher education as well, saying, "We had the money. We hadn't been spending it. For 10 or 12 years SUNY's been teetering," she said. "Over the past ten years we lost over a thousand full time faculty lines. We've put enough money there to add five hundred faculty."
She said Democrats added money to student aid after restoring money Governor Pataki wanted to cut from the program. "Importantly for SUNY Cortland," she said, "we got $20 million in the budget for the science and technology building." She said Cornell also got a lot of money including $12 million for their particle accelerator project and $18 million for other projects. And money was added for state aid for student loans.
"We did important things in health care this year," she said. "The Governor had proposed cuts of about 1.3 billion to health care." She said it's a bad idea to cut Medicaid, because when the state spends a dollar it is matched by the Federal government. "We're cutting our own throats when we cut that," she said.
| Lifton said she thinks marriage and civil union should be separated, with couples joining civilly in court houses and leaving marriage to churches and synagogues. "I think everyone should have equal rights under the law," she said. |
Lifton made a case for national universal health care, noting there are 3 million New Yorkers without health insurance. She cited a study that says 18,000 Americans die each year for lack of health care. "I did the math," she said. "If that many people died in jumbo jet crashes, you'd have a couple of planes crashing every week. How long would we tolerate that before we had to do something? But because it's people dying for lack of health insurance we don't see it."
She noted the state has taken over more of the Medicare burden from the County, and instituted 'wrap-around- drug coverage to help seniors who suddenly found themselves without drug benefits as the federal program ramped up. The State kept clothing tax exemptions and Lifton said she favors gas tax relief.
Lifton said the State raised municipal aid to cities, towns and villages by 22% this year. "That's something I fought for," she said. "I think it's essential that we keep our cities in good shape."
Lifton talked about bills that she has introduced. One says local boards of elections and their agents will have the escrow information readily available to them so they can perform inspection and testing of their own machines. She said this is important because the State is requiring digital voting machines because of the The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA).
| "It's time to admit failure and do National health care. But since that isn't likely to happen soon we could do it in New York. It would not hurt business or make us anti-competitive. I think business is hurting because of it. We're losing young people because of it. They're going elsewhere for jobs that are providing health care benefits." |
She spoke of Longview, an assisted care facility near Ithaca College that wants to add a health care facility so that when elderly residents take ill they can remain there. The State had turned them down, but because Longview is using a new, affordable model of health care she put in a bill to add a 30 bed facility there. She hoped the Governor would sign the bill before September 10.
Questions included a plea for more money and better working conditions for aids in nursing homes, more support for education, and relief for people who are being taxed out of their houses. She was asked whether there has been any discussion about changing education funding from property tax to income tax, and what her opinion on ethanol is as an alternative fuel. She was asked whether the State would provide relief to election boards struggling to meet HAVA deadlines when voting acceptable machines aren't ready. And toward the end Donna Scott thanked Lifton for her support of the Lansing library.
| "Clearly we've loaded up the property tax too much. What we've been doing is cutting the school aid and increasing property taxes to levels that are sometimes unbearable for people. We're putting schools in an impossible position. We've set high standards, but at the same time we've been pulling the rug out from under them by cutting the funding. Education is our highest moral obligation as a state." |
Only 15 people from Lansing and Cortland showed up at Lansing Town Hall to meet with the Assemblywoman. A mailing announcing the five meetings in Danby, Cortland, Newfield, Ithaca, and Lansing had been inexplicably held up in the mail, which explained why Cortland residents, whose meeting was July 19, came to Lansing. But Lifton spent two hours speaking with those who did come.
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