Department of State visits P'burgh, Tupper Lake

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July 15, 2011

DAN HEATH Press-Republican The Press Republican Fri Jul 15, 2011, 10:24 AM EDT

PLATTSBURGH — The New York State Department of State wants to help local communities become as economically robust as possible.

Deputy Secretary of State Dierdre "Dede" Scozzafava made that point while in Plattsburgh for one of 22 town hall meetings to be held across the state of New York.

She also held a session in Tupper Lake this week.

"It's important we take government to the people," she said. "This administration has made it a priority to make sure we are listening to what people are saying around the state."

She said the Department of State can be regarded as the people's agency.

"We have an awful lot we can offer communities throughout the state."

She said the Department of State provides free training for about 30,000 local municipal officials every year and manages more than $100 million in local assistance grants annually.

ZONING ISSUES

Department of State Land Use Training Specialist Erin Thomas took part in the session, held at West Side Ballroom in Plattsburgh. She's part of a five-member team of planners whose primary job is to provide training on planning and zoning issues.

Thomas said town and village council members should also get that training, in addition to planning- and zoning-board members, because they are the ones who vote on land-use and zoning changes.

The department's Local Government Efficiency Program provides competitive grants to help municipal governments save money and improve efficiency through shared services, cooperative agreements, mergers, consolidations and dissolutions.

Scozzafava said that includes $35 million under its Citizens Reorganization Empowerment Grant Program and Citizens Empowerment Tax Program. It also includes $40 million for its Performance and Efficiency Program, for communities taking steps to share services.

Department of State Land Use Training Specialist Sean Maguire is the Local Government Efficiency Program representative for the northern half of New York state. He said they are rethinking their approach to village dissolution, to focus more on ways to improve a community's performance.

MANY PROGRAMS

Scozzafava said the department also gets nearly $60 million a year for Community Services Block Grants. Those federal funds are used to assist communities to reduce poverty, revitalize low-income communities and empower low-income families to become self-sufficient.

The Local Waterfront Revitalization Program provides grants to help communities protect resources, develop waterfront, revitalize hamlets and main streets, improve water quality and enhance water-based recreation, she said.

The Brownfield Opportunity Areas Program can fund up to 90 percent of the cost to redevelop abandoned, under-used or overgrown industrial or commercial sites. Scozzafava said it is a big challenge for communities to find other funds for those types of programs in many parts of the state.

MANDATE RELIEF

To help New York return to strong economic development, North Country Chamber of Commerce President Garry Douglas said there needs to be a three-pronged approach to fight New York's exorbitant property taxes. The recently enacted 2-percent property-tax cap needs to be combined with municipal consolidation and shared services and meaningful mandate relief, he said.

The latter will be difficult to achieve because many mandates are strongly supported by special-interest groups who will fight tooth and nail to keep them in place, Douglas said. He believes Gov. Andrew Cuomo will implement mandate relief, backed by a large coalition of business leaders and municipal representatives.

Scozzafava said people should compile lists of mandates that are adversely affecting them and email them to her attention at www.dos.ny.gov.

KEY APPOINTMENTS

State Assemblywoman Janet Duprey said mandate relief is unlikely to be implemented in time for municipalities to prepare their 2012 budgets.

"I think it's going to be a very difficult budget year," she said.

Douglas said Scozzafava's visit is the latest in a series by members of the Cuomo administration.

"Never has the North Country had so much attention from Albany as it has since January," he said.

Douglas said while the legislation that has been passed is important, the most important acts of a new governor are the appointments. That Scozzafava has been made deputy secretary of state is another example of a key choice with strong ties to the North Country, he said.

Duprey said Scozzafava was a strong minority party leader during her service in the State Assembly.

"I had the pleasure of serving in the assembly with Dede Scozzafava," she said.

Email Dan Heath at:

dheath@pressrepublican.com