Report Suggests Measures To Slim State Bureaucracy

New York has hundreds of more taxing jurisdictions than previously estimated, according to a state commission that yesterday called on Albany to pass legislation to make the state's bloated local government more efficient.

The New York State Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness, which was appointed by Governor Spitzer last year, found that the state has 4,720 local government units, such as towns, villages, school districts, fire and water districts, and local public authorities, a vast constellation of bureaucracy that contributes to the state's high local tax rates.

The report called on counties to centralize many services, including assessing, tax collection, and emergency dispatch; share jail facilities, and consolidate court systems. It also recommended that municipalities that consolidate their operations — such as those merging police forces — renegotiate collective bargaining agreements.

The report also advised that local government and school district employees contribute 10% toward the cost of health insurance to help local governments deal with skyrocketing public employee mandate costs.

Over the years, Albany has periodically expressed interest in consolidating its fragmented and redundant layers of local taxing jurisdictions, many of which predominantly exist as patronage mills.

Judging by the response from legislative leaders, most of the commission's recommendations are likely to be ignored. Neither the speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver, nor the majority leader of the Senate, Joseph Bruno, responded to the 69-page report.

At a press conference, Governor Paterson heartily endorsed the recommendations as a vital attempt to rein in local government spending, but was vague as to whether it would ever turn into policy.

The most vocal reaction came from organized labor, which denounced the report as an attack on public employees.

"The report unfortunately presents a one-sided point of view on how local governments can achieve cost savings in New York State, and unfairly places the burden of solving the cost issue squarely on the shoulders of working men and women, and in particular our public workforce," the president of the New York State AFL-CIO, Denis Hughes, said.