The 2019-20 New York State budget is due at the end of March. I recently joined some of my Assembly colleagues in Albany to push for priorities we would like to see in the budget. These priorities include keeping the middle class income tax cut, restoring funding for libraries, and helping families, localities, and small businesses. Here is a detailed list.

Preserve the middle class tax cut. In 2016, the state passed a budget that included a state income-tax cut for middle-income earners. It’s critical that these income-tax cuts remain as intended and work to provide the cumulative $4.2 billion in tax relief through 2025 as promised. The state has a history of adding to the tax burden when budget shortfalls are predicted instead of finding ways to cut spending. I am pushing for this to be preserved through budget negotiations.

Restore AIM funding. For decades, the state has provided assistance to towns and villages with Aid and Incentives to Municipalities (AIM). This year, Gov. Cuomo proposed to slash $59 million from AIM. After public outcry, the governor amended the budget proposal to mandate counties provide this funding to towns and villages with revenue expected from sales tax. A new county mandate is not a solution to a state aid cut. The final budget needs to restore the state aid and end this gimmickry.

Relief for unfunded mandates. Counties in New York are required to pay for more than 40 state-mandated programs — nine of which consume 90 percent of local property taxes. Our localities need mandate relief in this budget and the state could start by agreeing to take over the local share of Medicaid which is the most-costly mandate for local property taxpayers. Additionally, any new mandate imposed on local governments — such as the one associated with early voting — should be paid for by the state.

Restore library funding. Our libraries provide critical services to their communities and this year the proposed budget is going in the wrong direction — cutting $5 million from the 2018-19 levels. Funding should be increased to assure that libraries can continue to provide a wide range of materials, technology, and services.

Increase funding for local roads. The weather this winter has been extremely cold and snowy in Upstate yet the budget eliminates funding for extreme winter-weather recovery for local roads. I am pushing for the restoration of these funds. In addition, the state needs to provide more resources to localities that maintain 87 percent of the state’s roads and bridges. By increasing funding over five years with the Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement (CHIPs) program, we reduce the local tax investment and enable cities, towns, and villages to better plan for necessary road repairs. In many cases, CHIPs is the only way localities can afford to fix and maintain local roads.                 

William (Will) A. Barclay is the Republican representative of the 120th New York Assembly District, which encompasses most of Oswego County, including the cities of Oswego and Fulton, as well as the town of Lysander in Onondaga County and town of Ellisburg in Jefferson County. Contact him at barclaw@assembly.state.ny.us or (315) 598-5185.

I still remember a piece of advice I got not long after entering Congress. It came from a prominent journalist as we were talking about the bewildering array of issues Congress faced. Every day, he told me, I should ask myself a simple question: “What’s the most important thing to be doing today?”

 This may be the toughest problem in politics: what do you focus on at any given moment? For the number of challenges facing policymakers is simply staggering.

 Let’s start with the economic ones. At any given time, legislators are wrestling with such issues as the economic-growth rate, the need to provide broad-based economic opportunity, the perception that too many Americans are being left behind, the need for infrastructure investment, and a federal debt that has grown out of control.

 Domestic and foreign-policy challenges are no less daunting. At home, these include immigration and civil-rights protections, the quality and availability of health care, the cost of higher education. Internationally, the challenges include everything from dealing with powerful adversaries like Russia and China to global issues like climate change and terrorism.

 Finally, we face serious political challenges, such as the disintegration of the political center, and great uncertainty about whether our political system can meet the tests confronting it.

 In a very real way, the depth and breadth of the challenges we face show the depth and breadth of America’s abilities and ambitions. They are a symbol of all we have done and all we are trying to achieve. Our policymakers sit down with an impossible agenda every day and try to make progress on it.

 So how do they establish priorities? The plain fact is that you can’t solve problems like these alone. You need to find a lot of people who agree with you about them — and can agree on approaches to resolving them. It’s not simply a matter of asking yourself: “What do I think our biggest problem is?” It also involves asking: “What do I think is the biggest problem I can make progress on?”

 In short, my journalist friend was right on the mark. Maybe the best you can do each day is ask yourself: Am I putting my energy where it ought to be right now? It’s what makes governing such a bewildering, challenging job. It’s also what lies at its heart.       

Lee Hamilton is a senior advisor for the Indiana University (IU) Center on Representative Government, distinguished scholar at the IU School of Global and International Studies, and professor of practice at the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Hamilton, a Democrat, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years, representing a district in south central Indiana. 

America in 2018 enjoyed the strongest economy since 2005, with 2.9 percent growth, validating President Donald Trump’s three-pronged economic policy. Cutting taxes, reducing regulations, and cutting out bad trade deals have proven to be the magic wand that is creating unprecedented job growth at what is typically the end of a positive business cycle. 

President Obama’s tax, regulatory and trade policies strangled America’s economy that is now just being unleashed. [The 2018] GDP growth number gives hope that the best is yet to come.         

Rick Manning is president of Americans for Limited Government (ALG). The organization says it is a “non-partisan, nationwide network committed to advancing free-market reforms, private property rights and core American liberties.” This op-ed is drawn from a press release the ALG issued on Feb. 28.