State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers 35th District) and William Mooney, President of the Westchester County Association are among several leaders and officials from Westchester and the Hudson Valley named to Governor Andrew Cuomo's new "Mandate Relief Design Team."

The concept of the team was unveiled during the Governor's State of the State address earlier this week and it is tasked with reviewing existing unfunded and under-funded mandates imposed by New York State on school districts, local governments and other local taxing districts. 

The team includes representatives from private industry, labor and government and will look for ways to reduce the costs of mandated programs, identify mandates that are ineffective and outdated and help determine how school districts and local governments can have greater ability to control expenses.

The Team is chaired by Senior Advisor to the Governor, Larry Schwartz.

Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch will join hundreds of business leaders and individuals from across Westchester Thursday to send a strong message to lawmakers in Albany to make substantive reforms.

Koch's appearance will highlight a rally organized by the Westchester County Association-- the area's leading business membership organization-- to kick off its "Call to Action Campaign" to press New York state legislators to control spending, lower taxes and consolidate services.

Koch tells Westchesternewsonline.com, "I believe, like never before, any incumbent who is arrogant today and takes his/her re-election campaign for granted, is not only arrogant, but also dumb!" Koch added, "And they will find that they will be thrown out of office, due to this rage among voters that goes on across the country  and the incumbents are being kicked out."

The Westchester County Association (WCA) is calling on the County Board of Legislators to immediately approve Westchester County Executive Robert Astorino's proposal that would require all non-union County managers contribute 15% towards their health insurance premiums.

Currently, Westchester County pays 100% of their healthcare premiums.