Statement of PEF President Kenneth Brynien on Proposed State Budget

I met with the governor Monday; there were cordial discussions with no specifics. I provided our suggestions for addressing the budget gap and we agreed to work together to try to avoid layoffs.

On the Executive Budget proposal, the governor continues to insist pain will be shared in his budget.

Unfortunately, when he says this, it appears the pain will be shared by the workers who provide vital services and the state’s citizens who rely on them, rather than those responsible for the collapse of the state and national economy.

The Executive Budget calls for the potential of another cut of more than 11,500 jobs in addition to the more than 11,000 jobs already cut since the fiscal crisis began. Over the last 2 years, we have faced cut after cut in agency budgets; there is just nowhere else to cut and still have the agencies carry out their statutory missions.

If these cuts are adopted New Yorkers will no longer be able to count on vital services many take for granted.

We agree with the governor the state cannot just cut its way out of this crisis. We should all be working together to create jobs, not more layoffs.

Playing up to wealthy individuals and corporate interests in New York may be politically expedient, but it is bad economic policy. Two Nobel Prize winning economists, Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman, believe an income-tax increase on the wealthiest is less harmful to the economy than massive cuts to state spending. They believe we need to keep as much money in the local economy as possible to effectively get out of this recession and restore jobs.

We will work with the governor to do our part to help during this fiscal crisis.

We are willing to sacrifice, but we will not be sacrificed.