Governor Paterson announced today that he is unilaterally cutting 10% of payments in aid to municipalities.

The Governor has proposed this before, however, and the NYS Legislature refused to approve such a move – fearing the political backlash of cutting funds to their constituents.  Governor Paterson, though, has proven that he is above the groaning of his constituents, and continues to do what he believes is best.

Personally, I have not been a great supporter of the Governor, but if he follows through with this move, and cuts funding to the bloated schools and municipalities, I will need to seriously reconsider my opinion of him.  He is persistent, and honestly believes he is doing what is right.  He has many flaws though (such as trampling on the NYS constitution to appoint an illegal Lieutenant Governor), too many to earn my vote.  This act, if he follows through, will have earned my respect.

The reason I believe this cut is important is simple.  New York State should not be going in the red at the same time that local communities have enough money that they still have the luxury of “choices.”

New York City will not receive $84 million in aid.  Albany and Schenectady will not get $1.2 million each in aid.  Local governments across the state in total will not receive $1.9 billion in aid.

This is the type of cut that hopefully will make governments tighten up their budgets.  We need some consolidation of entities in order to survive these tougher financial times.  Many communities have separate City operations, Library services, school districts, water supply, etc.  This creates obvious inefficiencies, and therefore costs taxpayers more.

Hopefully Governor Paterson’s drastic 10% cut will yield the type of change necessary to bring financial stability to our state.