Senate passes Griffo’s bill to protect municipalities from unfunded state mandates

ALBANY – The New York State Senate on Wednesday passed legislation authored by Senator Joseph Griffo that would prohibit the state from burdening local municipalities with any future unfunded mandates.

When the state imposes programs upon a municipality without fully funding them, it often forces those localities to find a way to pay for those services. This allows local priorities to essentially be dictated by the state, instead of leaving those choices up to local officials, Griffo said.

The end result is that municipalities often find themselves reluctantly having to impose more taxes on its residents to pay for programs and services that it might otherwise not have wanted.

“Every county, city, town and village government knows what’s best for the people of its communities, and their local officials make hard choices everyday to determine how they can continue to provide those vital services under tough financial circumstances,” said Senator Griffo, R-Rome. “The last thing these officials need is for Albany to tell them what to do, and how to spend their limited taxpayer dollars. If State Government wants to help local municipalities reduce their costs and keep taxes at a minimum, then it shouldn’t make matters worse by adding more unfunded programs that limit local options.”

Griffo’s bill (S2295) would require the state to provide the funding to support any new program, service or regulation that originates from the state.

The legislation will now be sent to the Assembly, where it is sponsored by Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi, D-Utica.

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