What would you think if your employer decided that everyone in the office was required to upgrade their computer software and foot the bill for the upgrade? It probably wouldn’t seem very fair, right? I don’t know many people who would just accept that fact. So why do we as taxpayers accept the many mandates handed down by New York State every year?

For the last month or so, City of Norwich Mayor Joseph Maiurano has been forwarding me links to a web site with information about different state mandates imposed on municipalities. The site posts a new mandate every week, and from what I’ve seen, those mandates are in no short supply.

There are mandates for anything from benefit plans to purchasing goods from preferred source vendors. And every year it seems, more mandates are added to the list.

I’m sure the state has good intentions for putting these mandates in place, but as with many things the state does, a blanket solution for all of New York State may not work for every municipality.