A call for Action from NYSSA and your new President Mike
Fischer:
You already are painfully aware that the Budget Director has
swept $1,000,000.00 from the Snowmobile Trail fund. Through our lobbyists in Albany, we were able
to find out what had happened.
On March 7th, acting in accordance with Section 15 of Part T
of Chapter 57 of the Laws of 2007, the Director of the Budget directed the
State Comptroller’s office to transfer $100 million in available fund balances
in Miscellaneous Special Revenue accounts to the state’s General Fund. The decision to transfer these funds was
based on the state’s worsening financial condition, the pending Executive
Budget (then under review by the Legislature), and an analysis of the projected
cash flows for each account. Over 50
different Special Revenue accounts were affected, across many different
agencies and programs. As part of this
transfer of these funds, $1 million was transferred from the Snowmobile Trail
Development and Management Account (339-41).
While Parks strongly recommended to the Division of the Budget that this
action not be taken, this transfer was made pursuant to the law and within the
authority of the state Budget Director.
As President of NYSSA, I have sent a letter to the Governor
strongly opposing this sweep of the $1 million from the trail fund and asked
him to restore these funds. I also have
already called upon all our club presidents and asked them to send letters to
their respective Senators and Assemblymen.
We at NYSSA have been working with our lobbyists to take whatever action
necessary to oppose this unwarranted sweep of our money from the trail fund and
to reach out to the Legislature and ask for their help to correct this
intolerable situation.
I am calling on all of you, our club members and your
families, to send a letter to the Governor, and to your respective Senator and
Assemblyman asking their help in getting our $1 million restored to the
Snowmobile Trail Fund. We are providing
all of you with the attached model letters in order to ensure a clear, consistent,
and resolute message. Please use the
attached Governor, Senate and Assembly model letters.
We ask that you fax, email or mail your letters to the
Governor and your respective Senator and Assemblyman as soon as possible. We must act quickly to let them know about
our opposition to this unwarranted action by the Budget Director. It is preferable if you would fax or email
the letters.
You can fax the Governor at: (518) 474-1513 or email him by
going to this address http://161.11.121.121/govemail Fill out the required information then copy
and paste your letter into the box marked Your Comments. If you cannot fax or email then mail you
letter to the Governor by using the address provided on the model letter.
For the Senate and Assembly, you can get the fax numbers or
emails by going to the Senate and Assembly sites:
http://www.senate.state.ny.us/senatehomepage.nsf/senators?OpenForm
http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/
In addition to the fax numbers or emails, you can use these
sites to determine who your Senator or Assemblyman is
by using the zip code look-up device.
Please act quickly and send your letters by fax, email or
mail. Thanks for your attention to this
most pressing issue facing NYSSA and the clubs.
Letter to Governor MemberLetterDOBSweepGovernor.doc
Letter to your Senator MemberLetterDOBSweepSenate.doc
Letter to you Assembly member MemberLetterDOBSweepAssembly.doc
