Skelos: Don't miss chance to trim spending

State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos says he is optimistic that despite the difficult choices they face, this is the year when Albany lawmakers will finally make the structural changes to the state budget needed to rein in spending.

Facing a $10 billion deficit and an April 1 budget deadline, Skelos, a Republican from Rockville Centre, said in an interview on March 4 with the Herald editorial board that he agrees with Gov. Andrew Cuomo on taxes and Medicaid.

“The governor is taking the right approach by not looking to raise taxes,” Skelos said. “He’s correct about Medicaid spending cuts.”

Skelos said that legislators will need to address the deficit by bringing Medicaid under control and reducing school aid. To mitigate the loss of education funding, he said, lawmakers are considering ways to get school districts out from under the burden of state-imposed, unfunded mandates. He said the Senate has formed a new task force to address mandate relief, and that the Senate would examine pension reform and enable school districts to save money by purchasing and coordinating services through cooperative agencies.

Skelos noted that senators recently approved a change to “last in, first out” laws governing New York City teachers without entirely doing away with seniority. He also said that Long Island and upstate school districts would be disproportionately affected by the governor’s proposed budget, and that he would look to “straighten that out” — by finding more money without taking it from others.

Superintendent salary cap

“I haven’t made up my mind yet,” Skelos said of Cuomo’s proposal to cap school superintendents’ pay. “Salaries are getting out of control. The public sector is not the private sector.”

Skelos did say that some superintendents’ salaries

and benefit packages are “obscene.” Pensions should be controlled, he added, and should be based just on salary, not on an administrator’s entire benefits package.

“Everything is on the table,” he said — especially pensions — and there are many ways to save money. But he called on school districts and all levels of government to negotiate, and to understand that public workers will have to contribute more to their health and retirement benefits in the coming years. School districts understand what they have to do, he said later.

Redistricting

Independent redistricting in the state was a much-discussed topic during the 2010 election season, but Skelos recently questioned some of the specifics of proposed legislation, saying the bills are “not exactly nonpartisan.”

Skelos and all of his fellow Republican senators signed former New York City Mayor Ed Koch’s NY Uprising pledge last fall, calling for the establishment of an independent commission to draw new district lines — an undertaking that is required every decade. Koch recently criticized the majority leader, saying he was reneging on his promise to support independent redistricting.

Skelos said that unless there is a constitutional amendment, the Legislature will have to act on redistricting, and he will continue to examine how it can be accomplished in a “nonpolitical” way.

Throughout the hour-long question-and-answer session, Skelos said that all levels of government are struggling and all have to tighten their belts. But he noted that the difficult budget scenario offers a chance to change the direction of the state and create as many efficiencies as possible over the next two years. “It’s an opportunity we can’t squander,” he said.

Mike Caputo contributed to this story.

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