Our Views: Local control a myth in N.Y.

The Island Now

One of the two largest items left unresolved in the state Legislature’s recently completed budget negotiations is mayoral control of schools in New York City.

State Senate Republicans led the opposition to a one-year extension of mayoral control that then Mayor Michael Bloomberg first obtained in 2002 and later got extensions of seven and six years at a time.

Senate Republicans, who said they would take up a possible one-year extension later this year, said they wanted greater transparency from New York City’s schools.

Others said the Republican opposition was based on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s efforts to flip the state Senate to Democrats — apparently a forbidden effort In New York even for Democratic officials.

Ultimately, however, the reason that state legislators from places like Plattsburgh and Binghamton exert control over New York City’s school is because they can.

Many state legislators like to say that government closest to the people governs best.

But under the state Constitution that is true only when the state Legislature says so.

In New York State, municipalities are mere creations of the state and have only the powers the state assigns them.

Want to change the school system, the tax structure, rent regulations or even the bullets used by some police forces? See the Legislature.

De Blasio got more than 750,000 votes in a landslide victory over his Republican mayoral opponent? Sorry, upstate legislators get to decide how much authority he has as mayor over city schools.

But this is not a New York City versus the state Senate issue. It is true of all municipalities in New York State.

Just ask Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano about the County Guarantee, which requires Nassau to make up money lost in tax challenges to all municipalities in the county, including schools.

Mangano blames the requirement on Nassau’s ongoing financial woes and asked the Legislature for relief. In the face of opposition from school districts, the Legislature said no.

With federal political corruption charges hanging over his head, Mangano may not be the most credible person on the subject. But he does have a point.

Ask all the village and school officials about unfunded state mandates.

This might be somewhat tolerable except for the other large item left unresolved by the state Legislature in the recently completed budget negotiations — ethics reform.

State legislators have carved out a record of corruption in recent years that would be the envy of any third-world dictator.

This includes the recent convictions of then Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) and then Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) on political corruption charges.

The charges against both men involved New Hyde Park-based Glenwood Management and the Legislature’s control over housing in New York.

Glenwood, which owns luxury residential towers mostly in Manhattan, has received up to $100 million in tax subsidies under a real-estate tax abatement approved by the state Legislature called a 421-a. The program, as coincidence would have it, must be approved every four years in Albany.

Glenwood has also benefited from another state-administered program, using it to obtain more than $1 billion in low-interest, tax-exempt bond financing since 2000, to buy land and construct eight buildings it has put up since 2001, according to testimony at Silver’s trial.

Glenwood also depended on the governor and the legislative leaders to renew favorable rent regulations that determine when a developer or landlord can shift rent-stabilized apartments to market-rate rentals.

Coincidence?

Using a loophole that legislators refuse to plug, Glenwood directly or indirectly made at least 1,834 contributions worth $13.2 million between 2000 and 2014, according to the Gotham Gazette.

When state legislators are running for office, they all swear that their No. 1 mission is to clean up the political corruption that has made New York State a laughingstock across the country.

But somehow ethics and campaign reform never happens.

And the legislators, despite the taint of scandal, continue to exert control over every municipality.

The only consolation for Nassau County residents is that six public officials in Nassau have been arrested by federal authorities since 2015 — including Mangano.

Compared to local officials, the state legislators don’t look quite as bad. Not an easy thing to do.

Share this Article