Forum Post: Cuomo (governor 1%) and the Koch Brothers- eliminate civil service laws

Led by the state Business Council’s Heather Briccetti, along with members of the school boards and superintendents association as well as groups like Unshackle Upstate, and working under the heading of Let NY Work, the 11-member coalition is out with a smorgasbord of changes they say would reduce the cost of local public employees and allow towns, counties and schools to live within the new 2 percent cap.

“Providing local services, municipal services entails personnel…the biggest component of municipal budgets is the cost of personnel .. Now that we’re in the era of a tax cap it’s more important than ever that those costs are kept under control,” said Peter Baynes of the Conference of Mayors.

The group offered up some some familiar targets: the Wicks Law; portions of the Triborough Amendment that keep longevity increases in place even if there is no contract; and the ever-rising costs of public sector pensions and health care.

While most of those present readily admitted these issues have been around for awhile, the tax cap gives an added impetus to changing some of these laws, which Mike Elmendorf of Associated General Contractors, said puts New York in the “stone age” compared to other states and which badly hurts its competitiveness.

Coalition members stress they are not trying to de-unionize the state — “New York will never be Wisconsin,” said Unshackle’s Brian Sampson, but are instead targeting specific provisions of the Taylor Law and other protections that the public sector in this state enjoys.

How this flies in the Legislature, of course, remains to be seen, but Briccetti said they are bringing forth these ideas at the request of Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Briccetti’s point was rhetorical — his Lt. Gov., Bob Duffy had earlier this year challenged business leaders to offer their solutions for living under the budget cap and for halting what business leaders say are onerous mandates.