To the Editor:

When Governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled his proposed State budget last week, I saw a lot of ideas that people across Central and Northern New York have told me they liked.

He proposed a State budget that will shrink government in Albany for the second time in two years. He recommended no new taxes, no new fees and promised to find ways to reduce the crushing mandates and regulations that for decades have regularly forced counties, school districts and local governments to raise taxes.

He suggested having State government pick up more of the cost of health care for New York’s neediest families, a move that could provide a degree of relief to hard press county property taxpayers.

For those of us who live in Oswego, Jefferson and St. Lawrence Counties, the proposed State budget offers both challenges and opportunities in our efforts to return the Empire State to its rightful place as the kind of State where our children will want to return after college and businesses will want to locate and expand.

While the budget proposes an overall increase in aid to schools, I am working closely with my local districts to see how the specifics of his funding formula is affecting individual rural school districts that have low property wealth and high rates of poverty.

The agricultural community was relieved to see that after years of neglect by the last administration, this budget spared many programs that provide critical research, marketing and educational dollars to upstate’s number one industry. As the chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, I am talking to my friends in the Farm Bureau and other agricultural organizations to insure that important crop research, promotion and safety programs are also given proper consideration.

Like most New Yorkers, I was pleased that the governor found ways to ease the state’s budget deficit by consolidating state agencies and reducing costs.

As I begin reviewing the budget, I will be looking for additional ways to make government more streamlined and efficient. As always, I’ll be looking for your ideas to help guide me as I work with the Governor to help keep New York State on the right track.

Sen. Patty Ritchie

48th District