Paladino’s proposed budget cuts don’t add up

Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino spoke at a Crain's New York breakfast forum October 5, 2010, about his budget-cutting proposals for New York State. When addressing the $20 billion in cuts he wants to make to Medicaid, he claimed that a computer program that analyzes Medicaid spending trends saved so much money in Chemung County that they cut taxes by 42 percent.

Chemung County Executive Tom Santulli said he wasn't certain how much money the county saved by using the software, but it wasn't enough to cut taxes by 42 percent. Paladino charges the state with failing to utilize the software when, in fact, New York State purchased the software earlier this year, and will complete the training of 172 employees in its use in November.

The other area of the budget Paladino said he'd slash is education. He wants to cut education spending by 43 percent, or $22.4 billion, and says he'll do this by freezing salaries and consolidating school districts to the county level. Crain's New York reported those proposals won't save even close to $22.4 billion, and school district consolidation doesn't necessarily reduce administrative costs.

Crain's Insider. Paladino's cuts: fantasy and reality. Crain's New York Business. October 6, 2010.

Crain's Insider. Fact-check: Paladino's Medicaid snub story. Crain's New York Business. October 8, 2010.

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