Two members of the Assembly representing parts of St. Lawrence County, Marc Butler (R-Newport) and Ken Blankenbush (R-Black River), feel the North Country is getting short shrift in the plans Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in his budget presentation today.

But State Sen. Joe Griffo (R-Rome) and Sen. Patty Ritchie (R-Heuvelton) say they’re pleased with the property tax relief and business incentive proposals that Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in his budget presentation today.

“I share these priorities, so it’s helpful the governor has started the negotiations off at this point,” said Griffo, who represents the 47th Senate District, including the St. Lawrence County towns of Massena, Brasher, Norfolk, Stockholm, Potsdam, Pierrepont, Russell, Clifton, Fine, and Pitcairn, plus Lewis and Oneida counties.

Griffo said he got his first look at the entirety of the governor’s proposals for the next fiscal and political year today, so he doesn’t have a lot to say yet, but he did say, “My colleagues and I will now begin a thorough review. As I work, I welcome the opportunity to discuss various ideas with my constituents.”

“I was pleased to hear Governor Cuomo emphasize issues that are priorities for me—making critical investments in our education system, supporting small business owners, creating jobs and keeping more money in the pockets of hardworking New Yorkers,” said Ritchie, whose 48th District includes the western half of St. Lawrence County including Ogdensburg, Canton and Gouverneur.

“I especially appreciated the Governor’s focus on issues vital to the North Country and Central New York, including support for agriculture, upgrades for our ports and infrastructure, and his strong defense of Fort Drum, a major regional employer.

“We’ve made great progress by ending decades of late and unbalanced budgets, reducing taxes and helping more New Yorkers make ends meet, cutting red tape so businesses can grow and create jobs and focusing on our schools so students are better equipped with the skills they need to succeed,” Ritchie said.

“I look forward over the next few weeks to once again building upon his proposals to make sure our region gets the investments it needs to create more opportunities and a better way of life for the people who live here,” Ritchie said.

Griffo said he believes the big topic of the next two months will be how best to allocate the one-time, $5 billion surplus generated from financial settlements made by Wall Street banks accused of misdeeds that led up to the housing and financial crises of 2008 and beyond. There is no shortage of ideas from legislators about how to allocate that money.

“The governor has proposed using some of the money for upstate economic development and for building broadband infrastructure in rural areas, which are two concepts I support.

“I also believe that tax relief for both individuals and business owners has to be a focus of the deliberations. I’ll be pushing for my own New Start NY initiative, which I proposed as a way to bring real tax relief to existing businesses and give them incentive to hire more workers or expand their operations.”

He indicates he is not abandoning the idea of extra help for schools in northern New York, which have been shortchanged since the beginning of the Great Recession with New York government’s “Gap Elimination Adjustment” plan, a way to help close the state’s deficit by choking off school spending, and the state’s abandonment of court-ordered compensation to poor schools for shortchanging them in the past.

“In the coming days, I’ll be looking to see if his proposal treats schools in my district in a fair and equitable way. I continue to advocate for the elimination of the Gap Elimination Adjustment. As I’ve said before: We took from the schools during the lean times. Now it’s time to give it back,” he said.

Griffo repeated the familiar Republican themes of business tax relief and lessening of the demands of “unfunded mandates,” which are state requirements, many of dubious value, that require more expenditures by businesses and local governments and school districts.

“While the governor did not address it, we must continue to lower the cost of doing business in New York by eliminating nonsense regulations. There are more than 2,000 rules that hinder private sector job growth. Many of these can be eliminated,” Griffo said.

“I was disappointed to hear little from the governor about mandate relief. This remains a priority issue for many in village, town and county governments and should have been seriously addressed in conjunction with the tax cap. I will continue to advocate for providing relief where feasible.

“Common Core remains an issue. We’ve instituted delays in tests being used for student and teacher performance, but I remain concerned that the Regents have allowed too much testing. Our students should be taught how to think, not how to answer a specific set of questions on a piece of paper.”

Griffo said he remains concerned about ethics reform.

“The arrests and trials of various former legislators seems to continue unabated. I will continue to call for term limits, both on the Executive and Legislature, as well as leadership positions.”

Assemblymen Butler and Blankenbush, meanwhile, say the governor’s focus remains downstate.

“During his State of the State Address, the governor unveiled his so-called ‘Opportunity Agenda,’ a plan which I feel does not do enough for upstate New Yorkers,” said Butler, who district includes a strip of St. Lawrence County from Madrid down to Clifton and Fine, and then on to Hamilton, Herkimer and Fulton counties plus part of Oneida county.

“Opportunities should be extended to all regions of our beautiful state, but instead the governor’s priorities are heavily focused on the needs of downstate at the expense of upstate.

Blankenbush agrees.

“Today we heard the governor outline his priorities for the state, and disappointingly they are primarily focused on the needs of downstate. There is need across this entire state – families, small-business owners and farmers are looking for relief, and our communities are looking for a fair distribution of investment for our roads, bridges, economic development and school aid for our children,” said Blankenbush, who represents southwestern St. Lawrence County, plus Lewis County and parts of Jefferson and Oneida counties.

“We must work together over the next several months to develop a better plan that will actually provide real ‘opportunity’ for all New Yorkers. It is time to make upstate, especially the North Country and the Mohawk Valley, a priority that is as important as New York City. Our hardworking middle-class families deserve no less,” he said.

“Fortunately, there is time for all of us to come together and work on a proposal that will address the needs of our region,” Butler said. “Over the next few months we’ll launch into these discussions, and I look forward to working with my legislative colleagues in a productive, bi-partisan fashion.”