Dear Governor Spitzer:

I am a New York State employee living in a high cost area of our state.  The quality of my life and that of my family is eroding.  Without immediate attention and involvement from you, my employer, and other political leaders, this situation will continue to worsen and I will no longer be able to afford to live and raise my family in this area of the state.

Just seven years ago, 60 percent of the homes sold on Long Island could be classified as affordable for families with incomes of up to $100,000 a year, last year this dwindled to just 2 percent.   As you know, the vast majority of state employees living in the downstate region earn far less that $100,000 making the goal of home ownership even more elusive.  While the housing problem is especially acute on Long Island, all downstate communities face the same housing difficulties.  Where a state employee living elsewhere can reasonably afford their monthly mortgage or rental costs, the following data shows just how difficult the challenge is for any one, especially civil servants to live in these high cost areas.

 
The bottom line is I am being crushed by economic conditions and costs beyond our control.

New York State is among the largest employers in the downstate and Mid-Hudson regions. Your recognition of the problems faced by residents living in these high cost areas and your commitment to address it as mentioned in your State of the State address has given us cause for hope. More importantly, given your emphasis on employer-sponsored resolutions, how you help your own employees will provide the leadership that private sector business will require.
 
The federal government, for example, provides locality pay which grants adjustments offsetting  geographic differences in the cost of living. Under this system, a federal employee working in downstate New York and our Mid - Hudson counties currently receives 10.59% in locality pay above what a similarly situated federal employee earns in other parts of the state.   Perhaps a similar approach to locational compensation could work for New York State employees.  

A second example comes, surprisingly, from the current state collective bargaining agreements with other executive branch unions. New York State employees covered by six uniformed services executive branch units receive regional adjustments which are as much as 150% greater than the adjustments ('location pay') received by the other Executive branch employees. In addition, several bargaining units within the judicial branch have recently received regional adjustments more in line with the differing costs of living factors. While these adjustments are important, the state employees covered by these agreements are only a fraction of the total number of state employees working in the downstate region. All of your employees working and living in these high cost areas face the same challenges. It is wrong that we should be treated differently. Eliminating the inequitable treatment of the non-uniform services could be an important first step to solving the larger problem.
 
Thank you for your leadership on this compelling problem.  I look forward to your office helping to bring long needed relief to those of us living and working in high cost areas of the state.

Sincerely,

__________________

Signature

                                                                                    Please PRINT

__________________

Name

__________________

Address

__________________

City – State – Zip

__________________

Home e mail address

__________________

Employer Agency

__________________

                                                                                    Union affiliation if any

Please return signed letters to

Coalition for Fair Location Pay

P.O. Box 12414

Albany, New York  12212-2412