Assembly leader warns against “backpedaling”

   Following Gov. David Paterson’s televised address on New York State’s bleak fiscal outlook, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, said his members are ready to help get New York’s financial house in order. However, it’s important not to “backpedal” on progress that has been made in providing additional money for pre-kindergarten classes, class-size reduction, nursing home and home-care services, and other programs and services, he said.  

   “Our answer is that middle class families and our working poor must not be forced to bear the brunt of such cuts. I and my Assembly colleagues believe that this state must not backpedal on the important progress we have made for the hardworking families of this state,” Silver said in a statement.

   Silver said he would support a school property-tax cap only if it doesn’t reduce funding for education and be based on homeowners’ ability to pay. The governor and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, support a cap, and the Senate is returning to Albany next month to vote on the issue.

The post Assembly leader warns against “backpedaling” appeared first on Albany Watch.