ALBANY, N.Y. — While New York’s $220 billion budget was more than a few days late, no one can say it was a dollar short.
Bolstered by federal COVID-19 funds and higher-than-anticipated tax revenues, the Democratic-led Legislature finally approved a sweeping, week-late spending plan Saturday. The budget language includes funds for boosting child care and wages for health care workers, temporarily suspending part of the state’s gas tax, and overhauling bail laws.
A marathon voting session concluded early Saturday in the State Capitol following two weeks of secretive, closed-door conversations centered around Gov. Kathy Hochul’s 11th-hour public safety proposals and a half-billion-dollar handout to the Buffalo Bills for a new stadium.
The final budget, which Hochul signed Saturday afternoon, included some of the governor’s desired changes to bail and gun laws and other policy items like allowing restaurants to resume the popular pandemic practice of selling to-go cocktails.
It also accelerates tax cuts for middle-class families and includes a property tax break for homeowners and a temporary, partial suspension of the state’s gasoline tax.
The state will cut taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel by 16 cents a gallon from June 1 through the end of the year in response to soaring prices at the pump.
Homeowners can expect a little relief as the state will spend about $2.2 billion in one-time property tax rebates for low- and middle-income property owners.
New York is also set to decrease tax rates for middle families by $162 million by April 2023, instead of waiting until 2025 to fully phase in the long-planned tax cuts.
“We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to not just bring relief to families and put more money in people’s pockets today, but also to make historic investments in New Yorkers for years ahead,” Hochul said in a statement. “With this budget, we are seizing that opportunity and ushering in a new era of a stronger, safer, more prosperous New York State.”
The budget also includes billions in pandemic recovery funds that will add $800 million to the state’s depleted COVID-19 rental assistance program, $250 million in utility arrear assistance and $125 million in homeowner and landlord assistance.
Another $1.2 billion will help fund bonuses for frontline health care workers and $3.9 billion in funding to aid hospitals struggling in the wake of the pandemic. Another $7.7 billion will be spent over four years to increase the home care worker minimum wage by $3.
The final tally came in $4 billion over Hochul’s initial budget proposal and includes $7 billion to be spent over the next four years to expand childcare access across the state, a priority for lawmakers in both chambers.
“The Assembly Majority has always believed in putting families first because we know that the success of our state depends on the wellbeing of our families,” said Democratic Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. “The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified the childcare crisis and forced too many New Yorkers out of the workforce entirely.”
Hochul didn’t walk away from the negotiations empty-handed as lawmakers gave the green light to $600 million in state money for a new stadium for the Bills and legislative leaders acquiesced and allowed some changes to the state’s bail laws.
The public safety sections of the budget prompted backlash from progressive Democrats, many of whom voted against the omnibus “big ugly” measure containing the changes.
“Gov. Hochul has failed because three weeks before we were done with this budget,” Sen. Gustavo Rivera, a Democrati, said from the floor of the Senate chamber as he voted against the final bill. “All of a sudden, injected into the conversation were budget issues that had nothing to do with the budget.
“Every big ugly is ugly. This one, I’m sad to say, is uglier,” he added.
