Since the beginning of the year, Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Assembly Majority have been going back and forth on several key issues important to taxpayers. Speaker Shelly Silver and the majority have tried their best to deflect some of these issues, but with the budget season upon us, it’s time to end the bickering and gimmicks. Let’s resolve the state budget in a timely and fiscally responsible way.

Lawmakers, state agencies, and other stakeholders have to realize that New York’s economy is hanging on a cliff’s edge. There is no doubt tough choices are ahead. What those at the table have to realize is that responsible choices will guide us through this. It’s what the taxpayers demand.

Lawmakers have had time to digest the Executive Budget and discuss potential impacts with their constituents. The message to my office has been overwhelming: cap property taxes, cut state spending, and create jobs. I’m ready to bring our message to Albany, and call on all lawmakers to back up months of rhetoric with real action during the budget process.

Capping property taxes at 2 percent is something that can be easily voted on in the Legislature. It will, once and for all, control the dangerous spending addictions of New York City politicians. More importantly, lawmakers must address mandate relief for local governments and school districts. I urge my colleagues to support legislation that would provide mandate relief to local governments and school districts by prohibiting new unfunded mandates, sunsetting existing unfunded mandates within two years, and allow counties to opt out of providing certain optional Medicaid gold-plated benefits.

New York State also faces a tall order in tackling the massive Medicaid problem that plagues the halls of the Capitol and our town halls. According to a recent report by the Commissioner of the Nassau County Department of Social Services, the county paid over $235 million for Medicaid costs in 2010. At its most outrageous and unsustainable levels, New York state spent $53 billion on Medicaid in 2010.

In what may be the most alarming statistic in the report, a 2010 study on Oxycontin prescriptions found that spending increased from $260,000 in 2006 to $2.2 million in 2010, a 746 percent increase. The lack of oversight in the Office of the State Medicaid Inspector General is of serious concern and needs to be addressed immediately. Changes are needed immediately to control the rate of Medicaid growth and eliminate waste, fraud and abuse.

Long Island, and all of New York State, deserves some answers regarding the Executive Budget’s ideas for job creation. New York boasts the worst business climate in the country, and Governor Cuomo did little to thoroughly address it in his budget. I’m ready to speak up for the business community in Long Island and tell other lawmakers it’s past time to get all Long Islanders back to work. By providing tax credits and incentives for businesses that hire unemployed New Yorkers and are willing to provide employee health insurance for businesses who will agree to maintain and expand jobs for designated periods of time, we can begin to foster a more healthy and vibrant private-sector economy. Let’s roll back the corporate income tax, the MTA payroll tax, and any other unnecessary tax that hampers job growth.

It’s time Albany stopped listening to the special interests and started making tough choices to balance the state budget. Given the colossal deficits of the past, I’m hopeful other lawmakers will join the taxpayers and me in our demand to move Albany from the brink of doom to the brink of hope.