Paul Szmal: Welcome back to FLX Morning on Finger Lakes Newsradio. It's 8.37. We are joined by State Assemblyman Brian Mangtalo now from his offices in Albany. Assemblyman, good morning. How are you today?
Brian Manktelow: I'm doing well and good morning to you, Bob, and good morning to the listeners.
Paul Szmal: I wanted to start off by getting a comment from you because I'm sure it's been a topic of conversation both in and out of chambers about the ongoing corrections officers strike.
Brian Manktelow: Yeah, Paul. I used to have a facility in my district prior to redistricting, of course, but now I do not. But I have many constituents that live within my district that actually work at many of the correctional facilities around the Finger Lakes area, Paul. And I had a chance to talk with some of them and they've actually reached out to me. And, you know, a lot of people think it's about the money. A lot of people think it's about other things. But really what it boils down to is the safety for the corrections officers and the safety for the inmates that are in prison. And, you know, when we brought forward the Hall Back, you know, limiting the time that they can have in a very secured facility better known as a oh, my gosh, my mind slips.
Paul Szmal: Solitary confinement.
Brian Manktelow: Thank you. Yes. Seeing how that hurts the inmates and what they're standing for. So I think they're standing for the right things, Paul.
Paul Szmal: All right. Appreciate your thoughts on that. How how goes the budget season? I know this is the season where you've pretty much wrapped up the hearings now, right? We're on to kind of phase two of the whole process.
Brian Manktelow: Yes, Paul. We finished up last Thursday here in Albany, the last day of budget hearings. And that was the committees on taxes and the committees on housing. I actually stayed for the housing committee one. I stayed for both of them, but I actually stayed in and talked a little bit during the housing committee and just, you know, running things by them to make sure we're on the right track and then listening to all the different people coming in saying why they need funding. You know, many, many different non for profits that came in. And now that that portion of the budget hearings are all done, Paul, now we'll continue to move forward with one house budgets. The Senate will come up with theirs and the state assembly will come up with theirs as well. And then it's a question of those two going up with the governor's version and trying to make those three into one workable budget.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, yes, Paul. And I know I think the governor's proposed budget was two hundred and fifty two billion dollars, you know, a quarter of a trillion dollars, if you really want to put it in perspective. But some of my concerns from the assembly side, especially some of the majority members out of New York City, I probably will say that they'll increase that even more than two fifty two to give themselves some leverage on some of the negotiations that they want to do. I don't agree with that, but that's usually the way it plays out and probably will play out somewhat the same in the Senate. I can't speak for the Senate, but that's how it's been in the past.
Brian Manktelow: What did the early conversations been like amongst your constituents and your co-workers in the assembly on what the assembly version of a budget might look like?
Paul Szmal: Yeah, I think what we're looking at, of course, we'll be meeting with different groups this week, Paul, again down here. Actually, the next couple of days we'll be meeting with our highway superintendents, we'll be meeting with some of our farmers. And I know they want to continue to make sure their funding is in the budget. I know that our highway guys, Paul, want an increase for CHIPS, that's the Consolidated Highway Improvement Fund. And we need to do that. We see back home, especially this year, where we've had a little harder winter than normal, the potholes in the shape that our roads are going to be in once winter is done. And one of my jobs is to advocate for that funding, making sure that our dollars that we have in the state budget come to the Finger Lakes area, come to our communities back home.
Brian Manktelow: And you're in the process of doing a lot of these meetings right now, which means February is usually a very, very busy time of year that stretches into the month of March.
Paul Szmal: Yes, February is very busy, but March, by far, up until the April 1st deadline, is by far the busiest month that we have here, at least as far as the financial part of it, maybe at the end of session when we do policy even more. But right now, it's all budget, all looking at the numbers, and once those numbers come out, I'll take a hard look at them, and I'll be actually reaching across the aisle for some help with some of those numbers. And that's usually the way the process goes.
Brian Manktelow: Now, you mentioned the farmers that have come in and had some conversations with you, and you've talked with some highway representatives. Are there other groups from your district that are coming, making field trips to Albany, or Zoom meetings, things of that nature that you're having with people that also have a vested interest in what funding in the state budget looks like?
Paul Szmal: Yeah, absolutely. And one of the ones that people don't ever think about, Paul, and I sometimes don't think about it, is our aviation community, our aviation people that have the small airports. You know, I have the one up in Williamson Sotus in my district. There's many of them around the Finger Lakes area. They were down a week ago talking to us about some of their needs and what they can do to help our economy, what they can do to help our area. You know, that's just one instance. We talked with child welfare legislation. We've talked about students and staff at higher ed. We've talked about community schools. We've talked about a lot of the school stuff going on. We met with some of the Manufacturing Association of Central New York, MACNY. We met with them, understanding what we need to do and focus on for our small businesses, because you and I both know, Paul, that our small businesses, especially in our local communities back home, are really the backbone of our communities from an employment perspective, as far as creating jobs for good paying jobs, but also for young people that want a part-time job. So that's just a list, just a very few. Like I said, today I'll be meeting with Waterloo Container. They're due in here at 9.15 this morning. And then we'll be meeting with some of the farmers, like I said, and some of the highway superintendents as the next two days goes on. And that's all part of the process.
Brian Manktelow: We're talking with Assemblyman Brian Magtillo here on FLX Morning. Once you've met with all of these people, then it comes time, I guess, to put pen to paper and try to put some amendments into the budget to allocate for the funding that these people are looking for.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, there'll be a lot of sign-on letters, a lot of letters going to, you know, from the Assembly side, Speaker Hastie, he'll be the one that controls most of that. So we'll create a lot of letters to him asking for this or asking for that and signing on to letters that we agree with. And it's really about, you know, not what Brian wants, but what about that the people back home want. And that's really my focus until we get the budget done. And our biggest focus, Paul, is getting it done by April 1st. The people of New York State deserve a budget on time. And there's no reason we should not have a budget on time. We have plenty of time down here to work that budget through, come up with a good, sound budget, and move it forward. And, you know, Paul, one of the things is none of us are ever going to agree on the whole budget. There's always parts of the budgets that we don't agree with. But just trying to get that budget done by April 1st is our goal.
Brian Manktelow: Ed, do you have a particular timeline on when the Assembly version of the budget is going to be ready?
Paul Szmal: Yes, that should be out here within the next, I believe, 10 days. I believe we'll have it. I can confirm that. We have to have our one-house budget done and then move forward from there. So that leaves roughly, if we're at the beginning of the month, that's going to roughly leave what, about 15 days or so, 15 working days to try to merge those three different budgets into one.
Brian Manktelow: Yeah, plus we still have to continue ironing out the one-house budget. Like I said, the people from the city, the Assembly members from the New York City area are totally different and their needs are different from where we are. And whether it's Western New York, Central New York, Northern New York, or the city or Long Island, we all have different needs. But a lot of the key threads of that is making sure that we have the funding in place for our constituents back home. And some being not-for-profits, some being schools. You know, the schools will be probably one of the biggest pushes as we continue to move forward.
Paul Szmal: Is there a common thread amongst fellow Assembly members in what their constituents are looking for vis-a-vis what yours are looking for?
Brian Manktelow: I think across the board, I think a lot of us believe that we need to, you know, we need to push the budget forward. But there's a better way than just constantly raising the budget. One of the things I've pushed, one of the questions I've asked a lot of the committee chairs, a lot of the department heads, a lot of the commissioners is, you know, what are we doing to look at how we spend money? And can we cut some of those costs that are mandated that aren't really working? And let's use that money wisely for something else that we can help with or that is working. And that way, we don't have to continue to raise taxes all the time. Because raising taxes every year is not the answer. It's controllable spending. That's what we need to do.
Paul Szmal: Now, I was going to ask you about the possibility of trimming the budget down versus adding, constantly adding and adding.
Brian Manktelow: Yeah, I think right now, we will not see that get trimmed down. That's one thing I will push for and our conference will push for that. And even a few majority members on the other side of the aisle will push for that as well, Paul. But I probably believe going into an election cycle for our governor here coming up in less than two years now, I believe she'll be working with the majority members from the city pushing what they want. And that's really not fair to the rest of New York State. New York State's a huge state. We have a lot of area to cover. And we just need our fair share of the dollars and making sure we use it wisely.
Paul Szmal: Has there been any across-the-aisle diplomacy or working together, if you will, amongst members of the Assembly who have similar districts to yours, Assemblymen, that are primarily agricultural areas?
Brian Manktelow: Yes, absolutely. There's a couple of Assemblywomen. Assemblywoman Carrie Warner, she's from the North Country here up just above Albany. And we constantly meet with one another just talking about some of the pushes, some of the things that we need to see. And she's able to carry some of those bills to help get that done. So, yeah, we do talk across the aisle. We do meet together. And, Paul, I never forget one of the biggest meetings I ever had was a meeting in the parking garage at like 1 o'clock in the morning. And me and a former Assemblymember talked for over an hour about some of the stuff in ENCON, environmental conservation. And some of the stuff we talked about, he backed off because of that conversation. So that's where a lot of the things happen. So sometimes diplomacy happens in the more unusual places, shall we say?
Paul Szmal: Yeah, unusual places. And believe it or not, well, I shouldn't say unusual times because Albany tends to do a lot of work early in the morning. So that's what we see during the budget season. And I don't think people realize that, just how many hours that, especially during this budget process, just how many hours of a day are put into this process. It's not exactly a time to catch up on naps, shall we say?
Brian Manktelow: No, absolutely not. Paul, I got here last night, got myself prepared for today, and I already have a desk full of things I need to get done. And I, being a farmer and being very committed to my constituency for putting me here, I work hard. I work a lot of hours. And it's my honor to do that. And that's what we should do as elected officials. We're not here to have a party. We're not here to have a good time. We're here to get the work done for the people that we represent. And I take that to heart, and people know that. And I love putting the time in, and I love being here early. I like being here late at night. If we're going to be here, let's work.
Paul Szmal: Well, I appreciate you taking time out of the busy schedule to fill us in on the ongoing process, Assemblyman. Thank you once again for joining us, as always.
Brian Manktelow: Absolutely. And we have such a great area. We have such a great nation. We've been very blessed, and it's an honor to represent my district. It's an honor to be here in New York State.
Paul Szmal: That's Assemblyman Brian Magtileaux joining us here on FLX Morning. It's 8.50.
