City Council Trashes Governor

A Queens delegation of city councilmembers, joined by Council Speaker Gifford Miller, stood in unison across the street from the Department of Sanitation and assailed Governor Pataki for putting vital city services out with the garbage. However, a spokesperson for Pataki said it was the councilmembers partisan attacks that needed to be bagged up.
Miller, flanked by Councilmembers, Eric Gioia, David Weprin, John Liu, Melinda Katz, Joe Addabbo Jr., James Sanders, James Gennaro and Peter Vallone Jr., in Astoria, highlighted the restorations that the council obtained in the citys $43.7 billion budget for the 2004 fiscal year and decried Patakis attempt to block the citys refinancing plan, saying it jeopardized services in Queens, including trash pick-ups, senior meals, after-school programs and many others.
"Instead of trying to help the city responsibly address the challenges it faces in its budget crisis, Governor Pataki has decided that it is more important to play politics with the citys fiscal health," complained Miller, outside the citys trash department in Astoria.
Later in the day, a spokesperson for Governor Pataki countered that it was the councilmembers who were acting politically. "Its easier to engage in partisan political attacks to defend a fiscally irresponsible plan that hurts our hardworking families today and will force our children to pay for it," said Andrew Rush.
The councilmembers were reacting to Governor Pataki using an obscure state agency, the Local Government Assistance Corp., to nix a $2.5 billion bond sale that would have saved the city $500 million in municipal debt payment for each of the next five years. The governor called the sale of the 1970s Municipal Assistance Corporation (MAC) debt bonds fiscally imprudent and illegal. His decision came a month after State Comptroller Alan Hevesi issued a report criticizing the refinancing plan for costing the state $5.1 billion over 30 years.
Pataki issued an alternative to the refinancing plan on Friday, which, he said, was fiscally wiser and legal. According to the governor, his plan would save taxpayers $1.8 billion in overall interest payments on the debt and lengthen the payment schedule to 10 rather than 30 years. He said it would also provide the city with the expected $500 million a year in debt relief.
The councilmembers said the city, which sends nearly $3.5 billion in tax revenue to Albany that it does not get back in services, had every right to refinance its bonds. "Essentially we want to subsidize Albany a little less," Councilman Gennaro said.
With the backdrop the Sanitation Department a reminder of city services that the council fought to keep at their full level the Queens delegation rang in about Patakis block and his alternative plan.
"The governor is about to send a torpedo through our city finances a $500 million torpedo," said Councilman Liu.
All councilmembers said Patakis efforts could send the city back to the doomsday budget that Bloomberg had threatened with in the spring, if enough revenue could not be generated. It called for severe cuts across all city services one being a reduction in trash pick-ups to one day a week in Queens.
"I believe that Roosevelt Avenue ought to be as clean as Park Avenue," said Councilman Gioia, fearing the possible cuts would turn his district into a trash heap. "This threat puts sanitation in danger. When you have dirty streets, people lose confidence in government."
"I gotta go back to a senior center now and explain to them how the governor is stealing their money," said Councilman Gennaro, worried that a $500 million gap may take away senior health services and the citys meal programs for the elderly.
Rush, however, said no cuts would be necessary because the governors plan still provided the expected $500 million. "The fact is that Governor Pataki on Friday offered a plan that would provide for the city, without burdening the taxpayers with an additional $1.8 billion in costs," said Rush.
This past June, by refinancing MAC bonds and increasing property taxes, sunset income and sales taxes, the council and the mayor negotiated a budget that saved services on the chopping block. As the 2003 fiscal year waned, last minute restoration kept the Queens zoo from closing, ensured that seniors would get weekend meals, prevented city libraries from shortening their hours and maintained twice weekly garbage pick-up.
"We want to make clear that this imperils everything," warned the Council Speaker. "This gets us back to the doomsday budget. It means we are going back to talking about sanitation, and feeding seniors."