Last week, a memorandum was sent to county governments with some expected news: Money supporting mental health services was going to be withheld as the state continues to seek federal dollars to shore up its budgets. 

 

What You Need To Know


  • The pandemic has forced belt tightening at all levels of government in New York.

  • New York is withholding money to local governments awaiting federal aid to make up the difference.

  • But it is not yet clear if that money will be approved.

 

In Westchester County, officials there proposed what amounted to buyouts of municipal workers, who would receive $1,000 for each of service, in order to lighten the budget load. 

State lawmakers, meanwhile, are seeking $50 billion for funding child care services as parents return to work and face the prospect of continued disruptions in the school year. 

The pandemic put much of the economy on ice in March and the thaw will take much longer, as governments at all levels in New York struggle to continue to provide basic services and keep their own lights on without interruptions. 

And much of this is hinging on what the federal government will do and when it will act. 

“Recovery will be long and difficult, particularly for those communities hit the hardest, among them communities of color, and families with children," state lawmakers wrote last week when seeking child care funding. "One of the fundamental public services families will need to enable them to reengage with the labor market and regain economic stability is safe, high-quality, affordable child care – a service on the brink of collapse after being weakened by decades of underinvestment, followed by the sharp blow of the pandemic.”

But for now a federal relief package is no guarantee. The pandemic affected mostly blue states early on in the U.S. and since began to tear a path through the south and west after those states began to reopen businesses. 

Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the spring announced New York would need billions to bolster its finances and avoid 20 percent cuts to schools, local governments and health care. 

For now those cuts have taken the form of withheld state aid -- when those morph into permanent spending reductions is not yet determined. But the state is also asking local governments to prepare now for the lack of money today to not be there in the coming weeks and months.

In the memo to county governments from Mental Health Deputy Commissioner Emil Slane, local officials were asked to work with local field offices for the "development of a plan" in case a federal stimulus payment to states is not approved.