When it comes to the misuse of taxpayer dollars, the current administration has a habit of pointing fingers at everyone except themselves. After a week of regional presentations that took the place of the usual “State of the State Address,” Gov. Cuomo continued the trend of laying blame on New York’s counties. It is a convenient way to deflect and misdirect the public from recognizing the true culprit causing the state’s enormous property taxes, unfunded state mandates.

In his speech on Tuesday, the governor touted the idea of giving voters the final say when it comes to how localities use the money generated by the county legislatures. It is a great idea, and in a utopian world, it is how the distribution of funds should be decided. However, the governor forgot to bring up any mention of his administration’s role in handcuffing localities by way of its continuous state mandates.

The governor is a smart guy. You don’t come to power, and stay in power as long as he has, if you aren’t savvy. Therefore, his blaming localities for the high property taxes across the state is not only insulting, but strictly political. He doesn’t have any real interest in helping the taxpayers of New York. If he did, he would take the advice of the Mandate Relief Task Force, which he himself formed, and look at the burden his administration is putting on county legislatures in the form of unfunded mandates.

My experience with these mandates spans multiple levels of the public service spectrum. As Chairman of the Jefferson County Legislature, I witnessed first-hand the strain unfunded mandates put on localities’ budgets. In essence, the state is forcing local towns and schools to cover their entire budgets with half of the resources collected. In turn, the county must be the bad guy, raise taxes and take the heat from angry residents.

If the governor’s real goal is to lower taxes across the state, and help New York’s middle class, he needs to look at his own policy decisions first. He needs to stop blaming local governments and hold himself and his administration accountable. I welcome your thoughts on unfunded mandates and any other legislative matters that come to mind. Please contact me by emailing blankenbushk@nyassembly.gov or calling my office at 493-3909.