Priorities for Rural Upstate New York

New York’s 118th Assembly District

Affordability and Tax Relief

Rural families, farmers, seniors, and small businesses are being asked to pay more while receiving fewer services in return.

• New York residents face some of the highest combined state and local tax burdens in the country.

• Property taxes continue to place pressure on homeowners, particularly seniors living on fixed incomes.

• State income taxes reduce the ability of working families and small businesses to save, invest, and grow.

• New York already has the highest-paid state legislature in the nation.

• Legislative salaries increased from approximately $110,000 to $142,000 in 2022.

• Additional salary increases reportedly being discussed would push compensation toward $180,000.

• State lawmakers should focus on lowering costs for taxpayers before increasing their own compensation.

Rural New Yorkers should not be expected to fund a government that continually becomes more expensive while their own communities struggle to remain affordable.

Electric School Bus Mandates

New York’s electric school bus mandate does not adequately reflect the geographic, financial, and weather-related realities of rural school districts.

• All newly purchased school buses are required to be zero-emission beginning in 2027.

• The state’s goal is for every school bus operating in New York to be zero-emission by 2035.

• A conventional diesel school bus may cost approximately $167,000, while an electric school bus can cost more than $400,000.

• School districts must also pay for:

  • Charging stations

  • Electrical service upgrades

  • Facility modifications

  • Battery replacement and maintenance

  • Additional buses if charging times reduce fleet availability

• Rural routes are often longer than suburban or urban routes.

• Cold weather can reduce battery range and vehicle performance.

• Rural districts may not have adequate charging infrastructure or electrical capacity.

• Electricity costs are already rising.

• State electricity demand is increasing faster than dependable generation capacity.

The state should not impose a one-size-fits-all mandate that could force rural school districts to choose between transportation, classroom instruction, staffing, and property-tax increases.

A more responsible approach would include:

• Extended timelines for rural districts

• Technology-neutral purchasing requirements

• Greater state funding for buses and infrastructure

• Pilot programs based on actual winter and route performance

• Continued use of clean diesel, renewable fuels, propane, and other practical alternatives

All-Electric Building Mandates

State building-electrification mandates may create serious affordability and reliability problems for rural homeowners and communities.

• New buildings of seven stories or fewer are generally being required to use electric heating and appliances beginning in 2026.

• Broader requirements for larger buildings are scheduled to follow in 2029.

• Certain exemptions have been provided for:

  • Manufacturing

  • Agriculture

  • Hospitals

  • Commercial kitchens

  • Other specialized uses

• Rural residents remain concerned about:

  • Rising electricity prices

  • Insufficient power-generation capacity

  • Limited transmission infrastructure

  • Extended outages during snow, ice, and windstorms

  • The high cost of electrical service upgrades

  • The ability of heat pumps and batteries to perform during prolonged cold-weather outages

In rural communities, overhead power lines are frequently damaged during severe storms. When an all-electric home loses power:

• Heating systems may stop operating.

• Water pipes may freeze.

• Seniors and medically vulnerable residents may be placed at risk.

• Backup batteries may not provide enough energy to heat a home for several days.

• Portable generators may be unavailable, unaffordable, or difficult to operate safely.

Rural residents must retain the right to use practical and locally available heating options, including:

• Wood stoves

• Pellet stoves

• Propane

• Heating oil

• High-efficiency natural gas systems where available

• Hybrid heating systems

• Backup generators

Wood and pellet heating can also support local forestry, wood-product, transportation, and manufacturing jobs.

Energy policy should improve affordability and reliability—not eliminate choices that rural families depend on during the coldest months of the year.

Large-Scale Solar Development

Renewable energy can be part of New York’s energy future, but large solar projects should not override local land-use priorities or sacrifice productive farmland.

• The Office of Renewable Energy Siting, or ORES, has authority over major renewable-energy projects, including many projects exceeding 25 megawatts.

• A 25-megawatt solar project may require approximately 125 acres or more, depending on site conditions and design.

• ORES may override local zoning or land-use requirements if the agency determines that local restrictions are unreasonably burdensome.

• Rural communities may therefore lose meaningful control over projects that affect:

  • Farmland

  • Scenic views

  • Property values

  • Drainage

  • Wildlife habitat

  • Roads and emergency access

  • Community character

Large solar developments are increasingly being proposed on productive farmland while other suitable locations remain underused.

New York should prioritize solar development on:

• Large commercial and industrial rooftops

• Shopping centers

• Parking lots and parking structures

• Brownfields

• Closed landfills

• Abandoned industrial sites

• Highway corridors

• Public buildings

• Warehouses and distribution centers

Prime agricultural land should be protected for food production, future farmers, and rural economic stability.

Local governments should have a meaningful role in determining:

• Appropriate setbacks

• Screening and landscaping

• Road-use agreements

• Decommissioning requirements

• Farmland protections

• Emergency-response plans

• Community benefit agreements

High Electricity Costs

Rural households and businesses are facing rapidly increasing electricity bills without clear accountability for the causes.

• Utility delivery charges have increased significantly since 2015.

• Electricity supply charges have also risen sharply.

• Supply costs are generally passed through to customers.

• Many utilities no longer own most of the power plants that generate the electricity they deliver.

• A large share of New York’s electricity is produced by independent power producers.

• The Public Service Commission regulates utilities, but the prices charged by independent generators may be influenced by wholesale-market conditions rather than traditional utility rate controls.

Consumers often cannot easily determine whether increases are caused by:

• Generation costs

• Transmission expenses

• Delivery charges

• Renewable-energy mandates

• Capacity-market costs

• Infrastructure upgrades

• Taxes and surcharges

• Utility administrative costs

New York should require clearer and more transparent electric bills showing:

• The cost of producing the electricity

• The cost of transmitting it

• The cost of delivering it

• State-mandated fees and programs

• Taxes and surcharges

• Utility profit and administrative expenses

Before requiring families to electrify their vehicles, homes, schools, and businesses, New York must demonstrate that the electrical system will be affordable, reliable, and capable of meeting the increased demand.

Responsible State Government

New Yorkers deserve a state government that is professional, accountable, transparent, and focused on results.

Professional Qualifications for Technical Positions

Some local and state positions require significant financial, engineering, administrative, or operational expertise but are filled through elections rather than professional qualifications.

Positions such as the following may require specialized skills:

• Clerks

• Treasurers

• Highway and road supervisors

• Financial officers

• Assessors

• Public-works managers

• Procurement officials

New York should consider stronger minimum qualifications, training requirements, certification standards, and professional oversight for technical public positions.

Qualified leadership can help reduce:

• Financial mismanagement

• Wasteful spending

• Fraud

• Poor recordkeeping

• Unsafe infrastructure decisions

• Costly operational mistakes

Ban Stock Trading by State Officials

• The governor, state senators, Assembly members, senior officials, and their immediate families should be prohibited from trading individual stocks while in office.

• Officials should be permitted to invest through diversified mutual funds, retirement accounts, and broad-market index funds.

• Public officials should not be able to personally profit from confidential information or legislation they influence.

No Pay When the Budget Is Late

• The governor and Legislature should not receive pay when the state budget is overdue.

• Compensation should resume only after a complete and balanced budget is adopted.

• Taxpayers should not bear the consequences of missed deadlines while elected officials continue to receive full compensation.

Modernize Retirement Benefits

• State elected officials should participate in portable, defined-contribution retirement plans similar to private-sector 401(k) plans.

• Legislators should contribute meaningfully toward their own retirement.

• Political service should not provide lifetime benefits unavailable to most taxpayers.

Align Retiree Health Benefits With the Private Sector

• Retired state elected officials should transition to Medicare and supplemental coverage under standards comparable to those faced by private-sector retirees.

• Benefit reforms should protect taxpayers while providing reasonable healthcare security.

Establish Term Limits

Term limits would:

• Create more opportunities for younger and new candidates

• Reduce political stagnation

• Limit the accumulation of unchecked power

• Encourage fresh ideas

• Make elected officials more accountable to voters rather than party leadership

• Reduce the influence of career politicians and entrenched special interests

Public office should be a period of service—not a lifetime career supported by taxpayers.

Agriculture and Rural Economic Protection

Agriculture is essential to the economy, food security, identity, and future of the 118th Assembly District.

Statewide agricultural laws are often written by representatives from heavily populated urban and suburban districts who may not fully understand:

• Farm economics

• Seasonal labor

• Animal care

• Crop production

• Equipment costs

• Weather risks

• Manure management

• Commodity pricing

• Rural land use

• The narrow profit margins under which farms operate

Small family farms should be protected and encouraged. However, New York must also recognize that there are no longer enough small farms to meet the state’s food-production needs by themselves.

Larger farms and concentrated animal feeding operations are already subject to regulation by:

• The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

• The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets

• Federal environmental requirements

• Local zoning and building codes

• Water-quality and manure-management standards

• Nutrient-management planning requirements

New laws should be based on science, measurable environmental outcomes, and actual farming practices—not political assumptions.

Farm policy should be written with farmers, not merely imposed on them.

Understanding CAFO Classifications

A Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation, or CAFO, is an animal-feeding operation that meets federal size or discharge criteria.

A large CAFO generally confines animals for more than 45 days during a 12-month period and meets established animal-number thresholds.

Regulatory Treatment

• Large CAFOs are generally subject to federal Clean Water Act requirements when applicable.

• Medium CAFOs may be regulated when they meet specific discharge criteria or are formally designated as CAFOs.

• Small operations may be regulated on a case-by-case basis when they discharge pollutants into protected waterways.

• A discharge through a ditch, pipe, road, or other man-made conveyance may trigger additional regulation.

• Farms may also be required to maintain nutrient-management, manure-storage, runoff-control, and water-protection systems.

The important policy question should not be whether a farm is politically labeled “large” or “small.” The appropriate questions are:

• Is the farm complying with environmental standards?

• Is manure being properly stored and applied?

• Are waterways protected?

• Are animals being cared for appropriately?

• Is the operation following state and federal law?

• Are enforcement decisions based on evidence and actual risk?

Responsible farms should be supported, while violations should be addressed through existing environmental and agricultural enforcement systems.

A Rural Standard for State Policy

Before New York adopts another statewide mandate, lawmakers should be required to answer five questions:

1. What will it cost rural taxpayers?

2. Will it work during an upstate winter?

3. Does the necessary infrastructure exist?

4. Will local communities retain meaningful control?

5. Were farmers, rural school districts, emergency responders, small businesses, and local governments involved in developing the policy?

The 118th Assembly District needs policies designed for the realities of rural New York—not mandates written for New York City and imposed on everyone else.