Cuomo starts Census Council to ensure accurate count
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day,
Governor Cuomo announced
the addition of a new council that
will ensure that every New Yorker gets
counted in the upcoming 2020 census.
The council, which will be co-chaired
by Martin Luther King III, Lucy Liu and
Lin-Manuel Miranda, plans to act as the
state’s coordinating arm to achieve a complete
census count by using the information
learned from the state’s Complete Count
Commission and support from state, local
and foundation funding resources. Gov.
Cuomo also wants to propose an additional
$10 million in this year’s budget to ensure
a fair and complete count, which would
bring the state’s financial support for the
census to $70 million.
“As this federal administration continues
to disenfranchise immigrant
communities and use every means possible
to stop them from filling out this
year’s Census questionnaire, we are
taking aggressive actions to ensure every
single New Yorker is counted,” Governor
Cuomo said. “This new council will lead
the charge coordinating stakeholders so
PHOTO VIA SHUTTERSTOCK
we can reach our most difficult to count
communities and help ensure New York
is accurately represented and gets the
federal funding we need and deserve.”
To make sure that every person gets
counted, the council plans on holding
multiple press conferences to engage not
just local officials, but also advocates,
community based organizations, and
community leaders so they can work
together to coordinate efforts, deploy
available resources and oversee outreach
efforts in hard-to-reach communities to
make sure the count actually happens.
“Being counted in the Census
may well be second only to voting
when it comes to citizen action in the
Democrat process,” said Martin Luther
King III. “Unfortunately, people of color
are the ones most often undercounted,
which leads to negative consequences for
their communities. I am proud to work
with Governor Cuomo to ensure every
New Yorker, even those that are hardest
to reach, is counted in the 2020 Census.”
The council is one of several actions
that Gov. Cuomo has put forward to
ensure a fair count is taken in the 2020
census. The FY 2020 Budget authorized
up to $20 million for outreach and education
efforts to ensure all New Yorkers
are counted as part of the census, and
of the $20 million, $15 million is being
distributed to all 62 counties as well as
the cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse,
and Yonkers. Funds for each locality will
be handed out later in January.
The remaining $5 million will be handed
out over the coming year to target specific
communities where further outreach will
be necessary as the questionnaire filing results
of the 2020 census become available.
“Representation matters and is vital
for the fair allocation of federal funds to
all of our communities,” said Lin-Manuel
Miranda. “I want to thank Governor
Cuomo for creating the Census Council
and as co-chair, I encourage my neighbors
to stand up and be counted and I
hope that everyone across the nation will
do the same. We’re at the start of a new
decade and an accurate census makes a
huge difference to all of us.”
Additionally, dozens of other State
agencies and authorities, CUNY, and
SUNY will use their resources and ongoing
contact with the public to put up
to $40 million to get residents to fill out
the Census using existing resources. The
state has also added 225,000 addresses to
the Census Bureau’s Master Address file.
“I am proud to work with Governor
Cuomo, Lin Manuel Miranda and Martin
Luther King III to be part of the Census
Council, which will raise awareness in
all communities and encourage every
New Yorker to participate in the 2020
Census,” said Lucy Liu. “The Census only
happens every ten years, and it is essential
we are doing all we can as a State to make
sure every single New Yorker is counted
and our State is fairly represented at the
federal level. “
NY commission approves Con Edison rate hike
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
It could’ve been worse. Con Edison
rates will be going up this year — but
not as much as customers feared.
The state’s Public Service Commission
(PSC) approved on Thursday a three-year
“joint proposal” rate plan that allows for
the utility company to increases costs to
customers. However, the commission
said, the initial rate year request was
slashed by more than 75% of the initial
increase Con Ed sought.
The progressive plan we have adopted
— endorsed with stakeholder support by
environmental groups, large businesses
and municipalities in the region — benefits
customers and includes provisions
that further important state and Commission
objectives,” said John B. Rhodes, the
PSC chair.
Under the approved rate plan, a
residential customer using 600 kilowatt
hours of electricity per month will see
their average bill increase by about 4.2%
in 2020, followed by a 4.7% increase
starting in January 2021 and another 4%
jump for January 2022.
Con Edison gas customers who use an
average of 100 therms per month will see
a hike of about 7.5% this year, followed
by an 8.8% increase in 2021 and a 7.2%
spike in 2022.
Con Edison says it’ll use the funding generated by the rate hike for infrastructure
improvements and to address rising costs.
The utility giant previously submitted
a proposal for higher rate increases
because of increased company costs,
including “significant increases in the
property tax burden,” the PSC noted. The
burden alone accounted for “more than
40 percent of the increased cost over the
three-year period.”
Greater operational efficiencies also
led to reduced operating costs, but Con
Edison also faced increased expenses for
various capital improvements and new
hires, the PSC noted.
In a statement, Con Edison said the
agreed-upon rate plan “is essential to
helping New York State achieve its
clean energy goals, as well as to continue
providing safe and reliable service
to our customers.” The company will
invest “about $3 billion” annual to improve
service reliability, and the funds
the rate hike will generate will also
boost programs for clean and efficient
energy.
“We will be encouraging customers to
choose alternatives to fossil fuels with incentives
and rebates for geothermal heat
pumps, energy efficient appliances and
electric vehicle chargers,” Con Edison’s
statement indicated. “The plan provides
$700 million over the next three years
for energy efficiency programs that are
some of the most cost-effective ways for
customers to reduce bills.”
The utility giant also will develop “a
climate change implementation plan
to manage climate change risk going
forward.”
Still, not everyone sees the deal
as progress for the consumer or the
environment.
City Comptroller Scott Stringer lamented
that the state and Con Edison
were “subsidizing new natural gas infrastructure,”
which counters any plans to
reduce emissions.
“This agreement allows Con Edison
to continue to funnel ratepayer dollars
into fossil fuel infrastructure that only
digs us deeper into the climate crisis,”
Stringer said. “Rather than building
bigger pipelines, we need to invest in
sustainable, reliable and affordable
energy options.”
Stringer suggested that a “public takeover
of New York’s natural gas system”
take place if Con Ed management “can’t
think past their profits.”
Con Edison is a publicly-traded
company listed on the New York Stock
Exchange.
22 January 23, 2020 Schneps Media