http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=293392&category=ALBANY&BCCode=HOME&newsdate=10/9/2004ALBANY -- County Executive Michael Breslin released a $461.6 million tentative budget Friday, calling for the largest tax increase in county history, 28.6 percent, and layoffs of 21 workers.
If the spending plan is approved by the County Legislature, it would be the third straight year of a double-digit tax increase. In 2003, taxes went up by 23.8 percent; this year, by 17.7 percent.
<snip>
Breslin cited spiraling costs for state-mandated programs, primarily Medicaid, which grew from $40 million in 1999 to a projected $70 million next year. Pension costs for county retirees also dramatically increased, officials said.
"We need to stop the state mandates," Breslin said. "But, at our level, there is no control over the forces that drive them."
<snip>
"We've been through this before, in the early '90s we had approximately 100 layoffs (proposed), and we dealt with them," Commisso said. The legislature saved jobs for 89 people, some of whom went to positions that opened and others to the private sector. Then-County Executive Michael Hoblock, a Republican, called for the layoffs.
...more...
Remembering in the 2000 campaign when *Co said "I'm gonna pick up where my daddy left off."