NYCHA to get $200M boost
ALBANY — The financially beleaguered New York Housing Authority is in line to receive $200 million as part of the new state budget.
The NYCHA funds are for roof repairs, new boilers and other projects the agency deems necessary, said Assembly spokesman Michael Whyland.
The money is part of $2.5 billion in affordable-housing funds approved in 2015 but never released.
The budget also includes a $1.5 billion appropriation toward the state’s $8.3 billion commitment to the five-year MTA capital plan.
But it cuts $65 million from the MTA operating budget while adding a similar amount for the agency in capital money.
And in a move sure to make the de Blasio administration happy, the Legislature rejected Gov. Cuomo’s proposal to require $27 million in federal block grant funding be used exclusively on child care programs, a move the city says would have forced the closure of 65 senior day care centers.
After days of contentiousness, the state Senate began passing some of the nine budget bills Tuesday night into early Wednesday morning.
The Senate is expected to return later Wednesday morning to finish its work.
The state Assembly, which left the Capitol before 5 p.m. without passing any budget bills, is expected to work through the day to give final passage to a $162 billion budget that is now five days late.
The new budget includes a compromise deal to raise the age from 16 to 18 that a teen can be criminally charged as an adult. Haggling over the details was one of the main reasons the budget was late.
Adoption of the budget will also mean that lawmakers can get paid again. Under state law, legislators don’t get paid until a new spending plan is adopted.
Cuomo and lawmakers had until 11:50 p.m. March 31 to reach agreement on a new spending plan before the start of the 2017-18 fiscal year. After weekend talks failed to produce a final agreement, Cuomo’s office on Monday morning sent legislators legislation to keep the government operating until May 31.
The new budget now being adopted is also expected to include a college affordability plan . It also contains the revival of an affordable tax credit for developers, a two-year extension of an expiring tax surcharge on millionaires, and a workers’ compensation reform package.