Carving out another $1B from state budget pie

State Democratic leaders do not agree on bail, charter schools, or housing ahead of the April 1 state budget deadline — but they appear to be on board with spending another $1 billion in taxpayer money on questionable economic development programs.

A $455 million loan to Belmont Park is on track to get approved alongside $480 million in expanded tax breaks for film, TV, and Broadway productions after the state Senate and Assembly last week backed Gov. Hochul’s plans for them in her $227 billion draft budget.

The new spending has been decried by good government groups.

“Please. New York Democrats, freeze your misguided love affair with trickledown economics and corporate giveaways,” Dr. Elizabeth Marcello, a senior research analyst at Reinvent Albany, told reporters at the Capitol on Monday.

“Use public money to buy goods and services that create jobs and cleaner water, better transit, nicer parks, and more child and elder care, not line some corporation’s pockets,” she urged. Marcello and others also lamented billions more in existing spending on state programs they say waste taxpayer dollars on economic development programs like the $420 million and $100 million in existing tax credits for film, TV, and theater productions. Hochul’s proposal would expand the total costs of a TV or film production that the state will rebate from 25% to 30% while increasing the current pot of money available to Hollywood from $420 million to $700 million.

The $455 million Belmont loan faces similar criticism from opponents who question whether the proposed overhaul of the venue hosting the annual Belmont Stakes will be the success that Hochul and lawmakers claim it will be.