The state will stop deducting millions in fees collected from government workers who haven’t joined public employees unions, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said Monday.
“With the July pay periods coming up, we will not be deducting fees from non-members,” the comptroller said.
The move comes a week after the US Supreme Court ruled that government workers who don’t want to join a union no longer have to cough up fees in lieu of dues to cover the cost of collective bargaining and other activities.
DiNapoli couldn’t immediately estimate how many workers would be affected or how much money would be returned to their pockets.
But the Empire Center, a government watchdog, said public sector unions statewide stand to lose $112 million a year from 200,000 employees.
DiNapoli also warned Monday that state government reserves are inadequate to weather a serious economic downturn and that the state has covered some costs through temporary sources of funding, like lawsuit settlements that can’t be counted on year after year.
The Tax Stabilization Reserve Fund and Rainy Day Reserve Fund have just $1.8 billion, while the state is allowed to hold more than $5 billion, he said.
Finally, the comptroller said state spending actually increased by about 5 percent, although Gov. Cuomo boasts he maintained a 2 percent growth cap.
The discrepancy comes from about $1.4 billion in MTA costs and other maneuvers that moved some spending “off budget,” according to the comptroller.
Morris Peters, a spokesman for Cuomo’s budget office, stood by the 2 percent figure.
“The Enacted Budget builds on a record of fiscal responsibility that has held spending growth to two percent for a record eight years and lowered state debt from when the Governor took office,” he said.