Next
on "Need to Know" county executive Maggie Brooks..
She will talk about her first budget proposal and what it means
to property taxpayers..
We will look at the just concluded election..
More specifically at the future of Albany reform in the state
of little legislative turnover..
And the weeks business news..
.
>> This legislature did not get in this bad a shape overnight..
It will not be fixed overnight..
It takes time to change laws..
.
[Captioning Made Possible by the U.S. Department of Education].
(For "Need to Know").
.
>> Good to have you..
I'm Michael Caputo..
A look at election day and what happened to the reformed Albany
movement in a moment but first it was a year ago a area voters
elect and new county executive, Maggie brooks who beat bill
Johnson in a landslide..
Among the major themes was to end partisan bickering among
local officials and calling for fiscal responsibility promising
to keep the fiscal ship straight while not raising taxes or
cutting services..
In a little more than a week the legislature will vote on her
first budget and put to the test her ability to unite
legislators across party lines and keep her word on taxing and
spending..
We are happy to welcome Maggie brooks..
.
>> Thank you for having me..
.
>> We just had an election..
So you see the sweep and it was a sweep of Republican
legislators, a mandate for your own policies?.
.
>> I do..
A year ago I think this community handed me a mandate and they
are holding us to our commitments of stable property taxes,
a
new tone in politics, preserving quality of life and services
in this community..
And I think what we saw this year is that a real understanding
on the part of the public that to advance that vision and that
platform and to advance the mandate I was given I need a team
on the legislature to help me with that..
.
>> Even though they ran away from it and rightly so..
They didn't vote on the last budget but ran away whenever the
Democrats criticized the last budget saying we didn't have
anything to do with it..
Is that really a mandate?.
.
>> I think so..
If you look at the climate John Kerry won Monroe county..
Chuck schumer won and we defended all seven seats by a
comfortable margin..
I think that shows very strongly that the community is in
support of the direction we are moving as a county and they
want to make sure that I have the political team in place to
help me continue to advance that platformment .
>> Let's talk about the budget..
It has a number of difficult choices one including paring back
the workforce..
I will give a quiet from the csea from basically reacting to
the budget advisory team report..
Two years ago 700 positions were eliminated..
Any further reductions will drastically reduce services and
negatively impact the community..
.
>> Well, you are our budget includes 160 job reductions
-- our
budget includes 1630 job reductions of that there are 129
layoffs..
You never want to talk about losing people in government, you
know..
A lot of people will tell you we are already understaffed and
overworked..
Those are difficult choices..
I think what we tried to do is focus on our government and our
core mission, as many businesses do..
The time has come for government to look at a number of
things..
What do we have to provide?.
Because much of what we do is mandated..
What are the things that government ought to provide?.
And what are the things that it is nice to provide but we
shouldn't be in those businesses?.
That is how we approached the restructuring of the workforce
and restructuring some services..
.
>> Medicaid is the big problem and there was talk in the
budget
advisory team report that was the ad hoc committee you brought
together to study ways to reduce cost and balance the budget..
They talked about reforming Medicaid..
There are some ways they say we can contain costs..
But doesn't that include a workforce that can get those people
moving quicker through the system?.
If you cut the workforce or don't increase it how does this
happen?.
The example you used is actually a good one..
We have actually added people this our department of human and
health services..
We added 20 people in 2004 and we will be adding 21 people in
2005 because that's an area that we have found if you add
people and manage the case loads minister effectively you end
up saving money for the taxpayers..
.
>> The unions say it is not enough that the workload is
too
much, too many cases and the cases are increasing now as
opposed to what was happening in the 1990's..
.
>> I think we have found ways to add staff within a reasonable
level and manage those case loads and save moneyor the
taxpayers..
There are other things we can continue to do in this area..
Position ourselves as pilot county, as an example so we can
implement some services and programs and reform that will allow
us to save money here in Monroe county but provide the state
with some information as they work on more meaningful and more
comprehensive Medicaid reform for the fewer..
.
>> Let's talk about taxes..
You called for not raise being taxes..
For years jack Doyle said the same thing and he way he defined
it was the total dollar amount raised in property tacks, the
property tax levy..
So he cut the property tax rate to achieve that..
A year ago during your campaign you were asked how you would
define the tax budget..
I want to play what you said in September..
.
>> Talking about the tax levy that has been the accepted
standard that we have used to keep property taxes stable and
I
would continue to use that is at standard..
It is the only standard that gets us to our goal and the goal
is to make sure that people's property taxes don't go up..
When you argue that we could have used the rate and might have
had more property tax to work with it goes back to what I said
earlier..
We should not look at ways to get more tax dollars from
individuals that live and work here..
We need to focus on things that take us away from raising taxes
in any direction, in any case..
.
>> You are using the rate and you are keeping the rate
stable,
raising the levy by some $50 million..
What changed?.
.
>> In December of 2003 the county legislature made a conscious
decision to raise the tax rate and raise taxes in the community
and to change the policy to allow the levy to grow so that the
county could take advantage of that growth..
If you look at the growth from 2004, if you look at the growth
in the levy, all of that relates to new construction and
improved property values..
It doesn't relate to going back to taxpayers and raising their
taxes..
.
>> You are saying there that the standard basically is
the tax
levy..
Has it changed for you personally?.
Has your view on it changed from then until now?.
.
>> I think we should celebrate growth in this community..
I have not changed my policy or my position on raising taxes..
I believe that we are an overtaxed community and we should do
everything we can not to take more additional tax dollars from
the residents..
.
>> But the standard has changed..
.
>> The legislature changed the standard..
.
>> But as county executive with your first budget you
could
have thrown down the gauntlet and said my standard is the tax
levy and my budget will reflect that..
.
>> My standard is not raising taxes..
S that the commitment I made and we didn't raise taxes..
$9.10 in 2004 is still going to be $9.10 in 2005..
And the growth that this county was able to take advantage of
in 2004 was all related to new construction and improved
property values..
It was in the related it raising taxes in the community..
That is the commitment on -- that we were very strong and firm
about last year during the political season..
I don't think there's anyone in this community that would say
there are three new Kohl's stores and we are not going to
charge taxes for them..
We are not going to take advantage of that growth and celebrate
the fact that wore one of the only counties in New York state
that has any growth..
.
>> I don't mean to belabor the point but you said in 2003
the
standard is the tax levy for you..
The standard for you has changed..
.
>> The legislature changed the standard..
.
>> You could have gone back to the standard of the tax
levy..
Why didn't you go back to the legislature when you became
county executive and said I'm sorry, the tax levy is the
standard..
Why has the standard changed for you?.
.
>> The standard changed because the county legislature
changed
the standard and it hasn't changed for me because we are not
raising property taxes..
And that is what we have talked about all along..
We are taking advantage of growth that doesn't relate to
raising property taxes..
.
>> You will be getting more property takeses in the new
budget..
.
>> It is is all related new growth and improved property
value..
New growth, that is something positive in this community..
We are able it talk about an economy that's growing at time
when you go around this state to the west and east of us where
economies are stalled..
There's no growth, no opportunity for growth in -- and we
should be happy as a community that we have a healthy enough
climate that we can take advantage of that..
.
>> People will still be paying more, won't they?.
.
>> New construction, people coming in and building for
the
first time will be paying taxes..
People who have improved property values, the value of their
property will go up so they will pay more..
That is a standard that the legislature changed..
Though allowed us to take advantage of growth..
.
>> Let's talk about another proposal in your budget..
Accepting outside trash to the Riga lapped Phil as resource..
The group that met a week ago seems upset about that..
How will you handle that?.
.
>> I think there's a lot of misinformation and we need
to
educate the public about exactly what we mean when we say out
of county trash will be going that the landfill..
Nothing will be coming into that landfill that doesn't
currently go there now..
We are not talking about toxic wastement we are not talking
about waste from New York City and the surrounding area pause
I
know that has been a concern in the past and continues to an
concern..
.
>> Where would be the source of the trash?.
.
>> It would be within New York state -- what probably
defined
as central and upstate New York..
We would literally be taking trash from other counties in
central and upstate New York and that would be defined as part
of the host agreement with that community..
Here is what people need to realize..
That this is an opportunity, a revenue opportunity not just
for
the county but for the town of Riga and the taxpayers in Riga..
Potentially Riga residents could see their town property taxes
eliminated in its entirety..
Part of the proposal could be to provide free waste and
recycleable pickup for residents in Riga..
If you look at Perinton, residents there have already asked
all
these difficult questions and that landfill currently accepts
out of county waste..
As a matter of fact, the majority of waste that goes to the
landfill in Perinton -- and they will tell you that the
landfill is a good neighbor and they have benefited from that
revenue stream..
Riga residents -- .
>> There is clear worry there, though..
How do you handle that worry?.
.
>> A host agreement is a host agreement and beef to work
with
the town to come up with an agreement that is feasible and
reasonable for the elected officials there and also the
residents that live there..
We recently participated as a county in a public forum that
was
set up by the town board to gather some input and a lot of that
was an educational exchange..
We provided someone from the county to give some information
about the landfill..
And that step one..
Now we have to go back out and continue to educate people
because as I said there is a lot of misinformation and that
is
not good when you are not telling people what they need to hear
to make an educated decision..
.
>> Let me ask one political question while I have you
here..
The news of Steve minero being state party chairman..
Is he the touch that the state needs..
.
>> If you look at what he has done for the local Republican
party he has taken it through some of its best years..
Steve knows how to win races..
He has done an amazing job of bringing women into the party,
giving as you voice in the policy and giving us a place at the
table..
He has done a lot to bring minority groups under the local
Monroe county Republican umbrella..
We have a local Republican Hispanic committee..
I think Steve is a very aggressive and effective chairman..
.
>> Some say too aggressive..
.
>> Well , it is his style and it has been effective..
If you look at Republican leadership in this community, a lot
of that has to do with that style that Steve has displayed as
chairman..
I think it is a good thing for our county chairman to even be
a
front runner for the state committee..
That says a lot about what we have done with government here
in
Monroe county..
I think it improves our relationship with Albany..
If the chairman becomes the state chairman..
.
>> One last question, the 2006 gubernatorial election,
chuck
schumer seems well positioned to be running..
Do they need somebody that is aggressive?.
.
>> Absolutely..
When you are in a state that has more Democrats than
Republicans you better have an aggressive Republican chairman..
You need somebody who can fight the battles and Steve clearly
knows how to get in the trenches and win elections..
That's what the state party needs..
.
>> County executive brooks thanks for being with us..
You can register your comments by emailing us at
NEEDTOKNOW@WXXI.org or call into our response line at
258-0250..
Now we turn from the looming county budget vote to the just
concluded elections..
We will focus on the New York state legislature..
There were signs that perhaps it would be the year that a few
more incumbent my be turned out but the 98% re-election rate
might be lowered..
It was fulet with dissatisfaction by the budget process and
lack of meaningful ledge ration on reforming drug laws and
education..
In September we saw a primary where a sitting Democrat was
unseated..
We thought what would we see in November but the answer appears
to be more of the same the incumbent all won re-election..
Including Susan John and Brian Kolb..
Now it turns to those re-elected incum bent..
During the campaign they sounded like reformers..
Many held up the Brennan center for justice report which
calledor institutional reform..
Will the action in the next few months match the campaign
rhetoric we heard just a few weeks ago..
Here is a reminder from our voice of the voter panel a few
weeks back..
.
>> Nothing has been more important to me during the time
that I
have been in Albany than trying to reform how we adopt the
budget..
.
>> Budget reform has been huge..
We worked for it..
.
>> I and 19 others took an historic stand and planted
the seeds
of budget reform..
We stood up when we thought the leadership was ineffective..
.
>> The Republican conference is also supporting reforms..
I have been having conversations with Brennan daily almost over
the last several weeks..
.
>> The other changes suggested by Bob relative to the
Brennan
center report are gaining, I think, traction in Albany..
.
>> We want to create an independent budget office so you
don't
have five different financial analysts' offices looking at
different numbers..
We want to have a single entity give us the revenue figures,
which is always the first thing that we argue over, so that
we
remove that kind of argument..
.
>> This legislature did not get in this bad a shape overnight..
It's not going to be fixed overnight..
.
>> A few incumbent did lose..
In the assembly two were tweeted although they were members
of
the Republican minority..
A Democrat majority gained a Sim seat to increase its overall
lead to more than half..
In the state national two incumbent went down to defeator sure
both in the Republican majority..
Two more are involved in races that are still too close call..
The senate G.O.P. lead could somewhat ling to as little as --
shrink to as him as six seats..
Joining us is PATRICIA MALGIERL..
She has been involved in the institute for a competitive state
government which monitors the workings of Albany..
Thanks for being with us..
Let's talk a little bit about..
How do you read the elections?.
.
>> I don't think we should be overly depressed..
Some of us who are looking for ground swell of reform might
be
taken a little bit aback..
But when you look at what happened this year compared to the
prior years I think in is a statement that has been made..
I think there's opinion evidence that voter revolt was played
out a bit in the election and those two seats that are so far
undecided are real key to answering that question..
.
>> One in Westchester county..
Nick spano who is probably three overall in the leadership..
.
>> Yes, very powerful..
.
>> The other is Nancy Hoffman right now touch and go although
I
think the Democrat is ahead in that district..
But two losses that they suffered, one was a woman, old fwa
Mendez who switched from Democrat to Republican and ran for
the
first time as a Republican and got trounced and I believe the
other one was downstate..
.
>> Guy verala who was indicted..
.
>> Right..
So again I'm going to sound like mister pessimist but that
sounds like more of a reaction to people that were flipping
or
indicted than to reform Albany..
Am I reading that wrong?.
.
>> When you look at the individual reasons you can make
come up
with reasons other than the reform movement..
However, politicians can be paranoid and I think just the sense
when we went in the election was if three or four seats flipped
that would be enough to make the leadership in the assembly
and
senate particularly be concerned about the message..
So individual reasons can point to other things other than
reform..
But the outcome is what is important..
And if in fact four seats flip in the senate, that says
something, I believe, about the fact that there's movement
afoot..
.
>> Let's talk about some of the reforms that everybody
who was
running seemed to be talking about..
You could have been in the state legislature 20 years and you
were suddenly talking reform but the Brannan center for justice
report is a report that looked at the two houses and how they
operate..
Am I right?.
Yes..
.
>> Do you think that's going to happen in January?.
.
>> I think one of the most important outcomes of this
election
is that as you said so many people are now on record as saying
they are in favor of reform and things can happen in January
that are totally under the control -- .
>> Right off the bat?.
.
>> Off the bat that are under control of the house..
As people no the assembly blames the senate and vice versa on
bills but as you mentioned the Brannan center rules for how
the
senate and assembly operate are totally control of the houses
separately..
They don't need the other house's vote or the governor's
support..
So I would like to January when the new senate and assembly
take effect and -- .
>> Is there an indication of that whether or not they
meant
it..
Some of those rules are almost funny in nature that you can
be
recorded as a yes vote and not be sitting in the Chambers..
.
>> Not even in Albany..
.
>> You don't even have to be in Albany..
Great, you can be am Rochester and be recorded as a yes vote..
The question though is they talked about there's like 17
reforms overall in that report..
Some said we will take some, not others..
What is the most difficult of the reforms to pass do you
think?.
.
>> I think that there are a number that I think as you
mentioned the ones that lack any form of common sense or
democracy is not in play..
Things like being in your seat..
Those are the hardest for the senate and assembly to defend..
However, others are kind of arcane about how bills get passed
and those are the types that may be sent to the senate and
assembly committees and they might look at them for a year,
two
careers, three careers..
So I think that those that people have, that have resounded
with folks such as being in the seat are the ones that we
should watch to see if they happen fairly quickly..
The other thing is this people are on record as being in favor
of reform, so if nothing happens I think they know they will
be
challenged early on during this two-year session so that they
need to do something quickly and the things that may be done
quickly are the ones with most press..
.
>> There were two, I believe, Richard brodskc a Democrat
from
Westchester and nick spanno who said let's bring back the
constitutional convention..
It won't happen until 2017 but we can pass the bill and the
governor can sign it to make it happen now..
Do you think that will happen .
>> I think there will be debate and discussion of it..
Which there hasn't been in the recent pass..
So I don't believe that it will be an easy fight, certainly..
The other opportunity which was kind of a longer-term goal is
redistricting..
That will also be debated for the first time I believe because
people in both houses are talking about a nonpartisan
redistricting commission..
.
>> Some states have this..
.
>> Many of them do..
So those two, what might have been considered six months ago
to
be pie this the sky reform I think have chance of being aired
and this is what we have been looking for is even the
opportunity to have these issues debated and seriously
considered..
And I think that will happen..
.
>> I just have if you seconds left but I want to ask you
this..
What should be done?.
What is the best reform we can do?.
.
>> Well, I personally am very much in favor of having
the
proceedings televised using an independent source so that the
leadership in the senate and assembly can't control where the
cameras are..
That may show what people are doing in the legislature..
.
>> PATRICIA MALGIERL, thank you..
Now to the business section with the Democrat and chronicle..
.
>> With us is Ellen Rosen, business editor for the Democrat
and
chronicle..
The way that healthcare benefits are provided by employers to
employees continues to change..
What is the latest we have been hearing about that?.
.
>> As the costs continue to rise to employers and employees
they try to find new ways to handle the cost and Xerox came
out
with a very creative way that is drawing some frustration from
workers basically..
They are looking at this, at a deductible plan rather than
having a plan..
You pay a certain amount and after you met the deductible the
health insurance kicks in and picks up 70% to 80%..
It is based on salary this is innovative and people are waiting
to see how it works..
What is interesting is Xerox has been a leader in it area..
Others have looked to how they are managing human resources..
So it will be interesting to see if others adopt it..
.
>> It could be a bellwether as to how others do it?.
.
>> That is one thing..
There are other things going on..
Some are doing a spousal charge..
In other words if your spouse can get help they are asking you
do that or pay extra..
And pretty much everybody are saying that they have to pass
increased consists to the workers so the workers are feeling
squeezed..
.
>> It used to be you would get a bonus if you went on
your
spouse's insurance..
Now companies are going the other way..
I don't know if it is penalizing but they are charging you..
.
>> They are trying to redistribute the cost and it comes
in a
variety of ways..
In other words, passing it on to the employees..
If the Xerox model is trying to make people more accountable
for their own spending..
Thinking if you have to think about it coming out of your own
pocket you won't abuse it..
And this are surrender charges and other things where they are
trying to redrabet it..
.
>> News for citizens communications is not good..
.
>> They swung from a profit to a loss and they say it
has to do
with restructuring..
They are looking at trying to what to do with unprofitable
lines of business..
.
>> Constellation brands continues to expand its reach..
I don't know how else to put T. tell us about the latest move
there..
They are becoming big..
.
>> They are huge..
They were the world's largest wine company because they have
a
lot of sales outside the U.S..
This week with their merger greamed with Robert Mondavi they
are the U.S.'s largest..
The number one company had been gallo because most of their
sales were in the U.S. and a lot of constellation was out of
the U.S..
Now constellation has a U.S. with a lot of brands lick
Woodbridge and opus one..
It gives them wind brands in price brackets they didn't have
before..
Fine wines and middle range..
Built up their Potomac and it was a billion dollar cash deal
plus assumption of debt so it was enormous..
.
>> I wonder if we know what we have here in Rochester,
in this
greater Rochester finger lakes area..
.
>> I think we probably don't because the bulk of their
employment is not here..
They started as this Canandaiga industry and employ people
there at Canandaiga brand and winery and they have a core of
constellation workers here but most of it is all over the
world..
.
>> 10 there's the choice of electricity providers and
how you
are build..
-- billed..
Are people getting this?.
.
>> We are hearing they are not..
They get the pamphlet and you can choose the supplier that you
want to get your electricity from..
It mandated by the state..
But now you also have to choose whether you want to pay at a
variable or fixed rate..
It is a lot for people to digestment they have been used to
getting the electricity from Rochester gas and electric..
.
>> Thank you so much for being with us, he willen..
We return next week with a program on that choice being given
to all of us, the choice of electricity providers..
We will try to shed a little light on what it men's for your
service and your pocket book..
We will see you then..