3/22/10: Statement Regarding Senate Majority's Budget Resolution

"Unshackle Upstate is pleased that the Senate Majority has recognized our call for no new taxes, fees, mandates or assessments in its 2010-11 budget resolution. Of significance, this budget resolution has rejected many of the governor's onerous health care and utility taxes and fees. 

However, it is shameful that the Senate Majority's resolution would add an additional $5 billion in spending from the 2009-10 budget at a time when New Yorkers can least afford it. The members of the Unshackle Army, New York's taxpayers and job creators, have repeatedly called for the budget to return to a sustainable level and reduce the state's excessive spending. Anything less than a reduction in spending will not be tolerated.

Unshackle Upstate has worked to be part of the solution to the state's fiscal crisis, offering support to state leaders as they work to resolve the budget issues. In addition to recommending $12 billion in cuts in the proposed 2009-10 budget, the coalition has proposed a five-year rightsizing plan that would reduce State spending by at least $2 billion per year for the next five years to meet the 2015 goal of a state budget of $109 billion."