Time to pay the piper

Whether it’s Washington, D.C., or Albany, taxpayers are sending a message loud and clear. They want the cost of government reduced, and they want their taxes to go down.

Every current poll shows that voters favor tax caps, cuts in the government work force and limited spending. At the same time that the public overwhelmingly favors all of these actions, people also have told the pollsters that they don’t want their programs cut and suggest that the other guy should suffer.

As sure as 2012 is next year, no matter where you live in this state or country, you’ll be getting less of everything that you’ve gotten used to, and it’s going to be painful. When government pulls back, it makes no distinction between rich and poor. Schools, roads, hospitals and anything else you can think of will take a hit.

Those very popular Albany tax caps, which are designed to hold down the size of municipal tax increases, will have an impact on teachers, programs and all day-to-day government operations. No doubt some communities will vote to increase their budgets and exceed the cap, but they will be few and far between.

School systems that have numerous special programs will be forced to cut them out. Those young teachers whose enthusiasm is so important to our children will see their positions cut or their hours curtailed.

If you’ve been on the road lately, you may have seen a few road-repair projects. There haven’t been as many this year, and next year there will be even fewer. The members of the newly empowered House of Representatives are demanding that there be no new federal dollars for road repairs, and they will probably get their way.

Trains, buses and commuter rail systems are important to the people of this region. Federal subsidies have kept subway and rail fares at a reasonable level for over 50 years, but next year is a new ball game.