Mike Fazio

Our NYS lawmakers and the Governor agreed on a final budget that includes a 2.85% COLA increase for our rates, along with a requirement that we give at least a 1.7% wage increase to certain critical staff. We had asked for wage funding so that - on average - we could increase wages for direct care staff by about $2/hour. Instead, we are told to increase wages at least 1.7%. What does 1.7% look like? Well, according to the most recent survey from New York Disability Advocates, the average Direct Support Professional (DSP) hourly wage in NYS is $16.48/hour. A 1.7% wage increase would mean another...(hold on to your hats everyone!)...28 cents per hour! Even if some of us providers are able to put a full 2.85% toward wage bumps for our DSPs, we are still talking about an average increase of less than 50 cents per hour, which is less than $4 additional for an 8 hour shift. I'm sorry, but it's just not enough for us to start putting a real and sustained dent in the never-ending, chronic workforce issues. Nor is a 2.85% rate increase enough to keep up with inflation related to home maintenance, transportation, energy, food costs, etc. Don't get me wrong. I'd much rather have the 2.85% increase in the final budget, instead of the 1.5% increase proposed in the Governor's proposed budget. So to that, I thank our Legislators for listening as best as they could to us and recognizing that 1.5% was unacceptably inadequate. And - just like we always do - we will find a way to make do and to put as much of the additional resources as we can to boost wages for our direct support workforce. But make no mistake - what's in the final budget only gives us the bare minimum to barely get by for another year - that is all. And we will be back. #investinme

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WORKERS COMMITTEES LEADERSHIP RETREAT, 5-7 June, Montclair Hotel & Casino Workers Committees are an essential institution in the lndustrial Relations Ecosystem. Business leaders need to be intentional about strenthening the Smart-Partnership between Workers Committees and Managers. Leadership needs the Agricultural Approach. We plant & nurture. Register your Workers Committee members for this Winter Masterclass. Do have an Industrial Relations Strategy? Are your managers proficient in industrial relations? Is your Works Council functional? ls your Workers Committee trained? Don't complain about your Workers Committee, invest in them. Contact the leaders: Proficiency Consulting Group International,Propagating Generations!

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Are you facing tenant troubles in Philly? Don’t struggle alone! 🏠💼 At TURN, we empower you with the knowledge and support to defend your tenant rights. Whether it’s workshops, counseling, or legal advice, we’re here for you. Visit us in Philadelphia or call today! 🔗 #philadelphia #tenantrights #legalhelp #housinghelp #rentersrights #tenantunion #philadelphiapa #supportnetwork #legaladvice #counseling #workshops #empowerment #defendyourrights #knowyourrights #housingcrisis #evictionprevention #landlordissues

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Business Owners: Get Your Opinion Heard on Exit Planning and Employee Ownership The Northeast Transition Initiative (NETI) is currently organizing a collaborative effort to expand exit planning and employee ownership awareness, education, and technical assistance throughout New England and New York and are taking feedback from the community via a quick survey. Once they have the survey results for our region, NETI partners will assist with producing a report of the survey results, writing press releases promoting our effort, and media outreach in the fall. It is their hope that these efforts will strengthen our local economy by encouraging more business owners to create concrete and viable exit plans rather than leaving things to chance and to explore employee-ownership as a potential exit-planning solution. Take the survey: https://buff.ly/4cL2ivO #wbonvt #womeninbusiness #neti #employeeownership #businessexitplanning

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Happy Economic Development week! One of the easiest and no-cost ways to support economic development is to share and use this logo!

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It's running next Wednesday! WORKERS COMMITTEES LEADERSHIP RETREAT, 5-7 June, Montclair Hotel & Casino Workers Committees are an essential institution in the lndustrial Relations Ecosystem. Business leaders need to be intentional about strenthening the Smart-Partnership between Workers Committees and Managers. Leadership needs the Agricultural Approach. We plant & nurture. Register your Workers Committee members for this Winter Masterclass. Do have an Industrial Relations Strategy? Are your managers proficient in industrial relations? Is your Works Council functional? ls your Workers Committee trained? Don't complain about your Workers Committee, invest in them. Contact the leaders: Proficiency Consulting Group International, Propagating Generations!

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The focus of this post is the monthly Part B premium, which everyone who is eligible for Medicare has to pay. Exceptions include people whose incomes qualify them for state assistance or the lucky folks with generous retiree benefits that pay for it. (My father, a retired SUNY professor, expresses his sincere gratitude to New York state taxpayers for this kindness.) As a reminder, Part B covers outpatient care, durable medical equipment, lab services, and drugs administered in a physician office or hospital, among a few other things. For those whose modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is less than or equal to $103,000 for individual tax filers or $206,000 for joint filers, the monthly Part B premium is ~$175. However, Part B premiums are subject to an income-related monthly adjustment amount, more commonly known as IRMAA. Basically, the more you make, the more you pay. “But now that I’m retired my income is much lower.” Perhaps, but the Part B premium is based on the MAGI amount you reported on your taxes two years prior, up to a maximum of $594 for individual tax filers with MAGI greater than or equal to $500,000 or $750,000 for joint tax filers. And double that premium if you have a spouse eligible for Medicare as well. (For more specific income info, check out this Medicare fact sheet: https://lnkd.in/ghETX4S9.) In short, if you (and/or a spouse if you’re married) retire from a high-paying job when you become eligible for Medicare, you get a double whammy: you have to pay more with less income for a couple of years. The adjustment can be appealed, which I recommend in most circumstances – a topic I’ll cover in another post. If you choose not to appeal or if you are not successful, you would see your Part B premium decrease in 2 years. But you may see it increase again when you start taking required minimum distributions from investment accounts. If you work with a financial planner or tax advisor and have not had this conversation, you might want to consider discussing with them. These can be unpleasant surprises if they haven’t been factored into your long-term retirement plans. If you are 65 or older, still working, and self-employed, you will especially feel this as you can no longer buy insurance from the Marketplace (as with everything in life, there are exceptions to this but please do not bank on being one of them). You also incur an ongoing penalty of 10% for every year you delay enrolling in Part B once you are eligible. The upside is that Medicare combined with supplemental insurance will likely be far more generous than what you’re purchasing individually (there are exceptions, again…). More on the Part B premium appeals process in my next post.

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Hear ye, hear ye! The silent auction for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Lehigh Valley & Northeast Pennsylvania Region’s Visionaries of the Year Grand Finale Gala is open online as of 3:00 pm today! Here is the link to bid: https://lnkd.in/emayiuFQ Please share this link with your family, friends, donors, on social media whenever and wherever you can. My auction items are items numbered 395-402. There is something for everyone. Item Number 401 is not yet live, pending confirmation of some important details for a night’s stay at The Dery House mansion with a bottle of champagne to help you celebrate winning the night’s stay. Stay tuned for an update on that item. Remember: People DO NOT have to be present at Grand Finale to bid or to win, so share the link with everyone you think might be interested in bidding on some great items, including luxury trips to exotic destinations, concert and other event tickets, alcohol, and more. Note: You need to register and provide a credit card to bid, and you must be 21 to bid on packages that contain alcohol. Also, there is a buy now option available for a price that is about twice the estimated fair market value of each item. So if you really, really, really want a particular item, then you don’t have to bid - you can buy it now and help me/us raise even more money for the cause. With your help, I think I can still reach my goal of raising $25,000 for LLS by next Thursday to help end blood cancers sooner rather than later. As they say about voting - and bidding - please bid early and often and/or share the link with others so they can do so. #payitforward #bid #buy #silentauction #LLS #visionariesoftheyearcampaign2024

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Another financial literacy weekend, this time at #MercyUniversity, presented by the Dean of business. Making Money Movers presented Personal Finance for Students for groups of middle school students from schools in Westchester County. One of the takeaways focused on determining wants, needs and then turning them into financial goals. Students were engaged, interactive and such a joy to work with. Stay tuned to see what’s coming next. In the meantime, when was the last time you wrote down your needs/wants/financial goals? Check out the last picture and give it a go! #MakingMoneyMovers #MakeMoneyMoves #PersonalFinanceforStudents #financialeducationforkids

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New Choice: How Joy and Creativity Fuel Growth and Healing Through Improv is an online applied improvisation workshop I am offering on Wednesday May 8, 2024, 6:30-8:30 pm EST. It will provide 2 contact hours of Continuing Education for NYS Social Workers, (and a CE certificate for anyone outside of that professional group who needs one). Improv is an art form that realizes our potential to engage with the unknown - which can be messy, intimidating and stress-inducing - in a playful way driven by spontaneity rather than fear and dread. Research shows improv to: Boost well-being through the joy and spontaneity that arises from engagement with it; Be an effective and fun approach to cultivating greater tolerance for uncertainty;  Expand the capacity to find undiscovered gifts and possibilities even when going through difficult and stressful aspects of change: Explore dimensions of being human in a fun, fascinating way and foster self-acceptance and empowerment; Discover the power of spontaneity as a renewable inner resource. The mental health benefits of improv skills and practices will be discussed and a handout with research identifying the evidence that supports the exercises we do in the workshop will be provided. Please contact me with any concerns or questions. Register on this Google form: https://lnkd.in/eHYSuSxk

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Did you know that The Agency - NY has a number of small business lending programs to help #Broome and #SouthernTier businesses meet their goals? Check out this video to learn more. #wegotyou

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Three bills supporting Pennsylvania youth experiencing #homelessness are primed to pave the way to progress. The first step–is getting them heard and passed by the Pennsylvania General Assembly! Take action today to urge PA legislators to hear and pass HB 729, 730, and 1175. Find all the info you need on the bills, the committees considering them, and how to take action at bit.ly/4aEIsRh. 

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I had a letter published in Worcester News today, highlighting that Worcester City Council's Communities Committee has approved the "temporary suspension" of Disabled Facilities Grants and caps on other grants like the "Hospital Discharge grant" and "Dementia Dwelling grant". I, and other Green Party councillors, did not support this. Full text of my letter is below: At the Communities Committee on June 5th, Labour councillors voted to suspend discretionary Disabled Facility Grants “top up” grants, and cap other payments, including those for supporting Hospital Discharge and Dementia Dwelling Grants This represents a 45% reduction in the maximum budget for each Disabled Facilities Grant, from £55,000 to £30,000, and a 33% reduction in the total annual spend on helping patients being discharged from hospital. This suspension is a massive reduction in the available support for some of the most vulnerable, with the most complex needs in our city. They are absolutely vital for allowing people to continue to live independent lives in their own homes. Foundation’s 2018 review of Disabled Facilities Grants included a review of Dementia Dwelling Grants provided by Worcester City Council, which are now being capped, saying “It can make a substantial difference to the lives of people coming to terms with their diagnosis and help them maintain their independence for longer.”. The same review show installation of wet floor showers resulted in “All participants felt more independent and their dignity and wellbeing had improved. They were also more physically active as they were carrying out their own personal care.”, alongside a 12 month care cost saying of over £20,000. Maintaining these discretionary top ups makes both economic sense and is the right thing to do. One of the things I get asked most frequently on the doorstep is “what can you do to help the hospital?”; the truth is city councillors can do little directly, but by reducing the available budget for hospital discharge grants, we will see residents stuck in hospital for longer, which will have a knock on effect for everyone else using the services. For these reasons, my fellow Greens and I did not support this suspension. With the General Election on July 4th, ask yourself who is on the side of the most vulnerable in our city: the Labour Party, who cut funding for those who need it most, or the Green Party, who will always stand up for the vulnerable.

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Sharing is caring 😉and here are some ways a #CRM System can be modified to facilitate #workforce development administration for New York State Energy 💡 & 🔎 Research Authority NYSERDA grant funding. #UsingTechnologytoLearnandProgressTogether #GrantManagement #CleanTech #Sustainability #Innovation #GreenEnergy #TechForGood #RenewableEnergy #SmartTech

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Spring is the time for renewal and decluttering! If you have a car or boat that you want to get out of your driveway, consider donating it to Habitat for Humanity of Bergen County. 🚗🚤 Your donation can make a significant impact on our mission to provide safe and affordable housing for families in need. 🌸 Why Donate? 🌟 Make a Difference: Your vehicle donation helps us fund home builds and repairs for families in our community. 🚗 Easy Process: Donating is quick and easy! We accept cars, trucks, motorcycles, RVs, and even boats. 🏡 Support Our Mission: Proceeds from your donation directly support our programs and initiatives. How to Donate: Visit Our Website: Go to our cars for homes page and fill out the simple form. Schedule a Pickup: A convenient time to pick up your vehicle will be arranged. Receive a Tax Deduction: Your donation is tax-deductible, and the necessary documentation will be available. By donating your car or boat, you’re not only clearing out your driveway but also making a meaningful contribution to our community. Together, we can build stronger, more resilient communities. 🌐 Donate Today: https://ow.ly/12ri50RLZUP 💬 Share Your Story: Have you donated a vehicle before? Tell us about your experience in the comments below! #SpringCleanUp #DonateYourCar #DonateYourBoat #HabitatForHumanity #GiveBack #SupportOurMission

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Today's challenge: Dive deeper into the rationale behind the Electoral College. Explore and articulate how it benefits small states, rural regions, and areas with remote communities. Understand how the Electoral College helps safeguard their unique contributions—time, talent, and resources—from being disproportionately influenced by the political demands of more densely populated areas, especially states. #Izzit #electoralcollege Robert Chatfield

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