Local legislators react to state budget passage
ALBANY, N.Y. » The New York State Legislature passed its $212 billion budget for fiscal year 202122. Highlights include a repeal of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s corporate immunity law for nursing homes, fair full funding for education aid, as well as funding for environmental projects and relief to attempt to help small businesses get back on their feet.
“This budget continues funding for the largest-in-the-nation $311 billion infrastructure plan, establishes a groundbreaking program to provide affordable internet for low-income families, and enhances public safety through police reforms, all while continuing to provide relief to New Yorkers and small businesses as we recover from the pandemic,” Cuomo stated on the budget.
“I thank the legislative leaders Senate Majority Leader [Andrea] Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker [Carl] Heastie - for their partnership in helping make this critical budget a reality and delivering results for the people of this state,” Cuomo added.
Capital Region legislators on both sides of the aisle also weighed in on what they liked and disliked about the final outcome of the budget.
Democrats appeared to be pleased with the broad range of spending initiatives buttressed by federal relief as well.
“The 2021-22 state budget will accelerate our progress as New York makes its comeback from the pandemic,” said Assembly
man John McDonald III, D-Cohoes.
“It ensures the millionaires and ultra-millionaires pay their fair share, drives record funding to education, offers robust rent and mortgage relief, and helps small businesses rebound,” McDonald continued.
“Instead of needlessly cutting, which would have brought further economic pain to New Yorkers, we ramped up our commitments to the policies and programs that make a difference in people’s lives,” McDonald added regarding putting New York families first.
“Following the unprecedented challenges over the past year, I fought to ensure this year’s state budget addresses the needs of our families, supports local businesses and fuels our economic recovery,” said Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, D-Round Lake.
“The funding and initiatives in this year’s budget strengthen our efforts to support communities and help them build back stronger than before. These are more than stopgap measures that get our communities through the next few months, but are instead smart investments in the long-term future of our state,” Woerner explained.
Some economic development initiatives include:
• Restoring $58.25 million in public health cuts, including $3.17 million for the Rural Health Care Access and Network Development Program;
• Providing $1 million for the Public Service Commission to conduct a study of the availability, cost and reliability of high-speed internet and broadband services in New York State, and to publish a detailed internet access map of the state;
• Restoring Video Lottery Terminal (VLT) Aid to the city of Saratoga; and
• Requiring service providers to offer a $15 per month broadband internet plan to low-income New Yorkers, exempting certain small providers.
The following environmental, agricultural and infrastructure funds are included as well:
• $1 million for the New York Farm Viability Institute;
• $500,000 for Farmland for the New Generation;
• $400,000 for Cornell Equitable Farm Futures Initiative; and
• $336,000 for Cornell
Farm Family Assistance (FarmNet).
• $500 million appropriation for clean water infrastructure;
• $300 million for the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF), including $18 million for Farmland Protection – a restoration of $1 million – and $1 million for Municipal Electric Vehicle Fast Chargers; and
• A three-year extension of the Farm Workforce Retention Credit, which is a refundable tax credit for farm employers and owners of farm employers.
“From stabilization funding for community colleges to assistance for food-insecure New Yorkers, this year’s state budget also includes several wins for our local communities,” Woerner added.
Conversely, Republican legislators were critical of the size of the budget and a lack of targeted and focused allocation of funding dollars.
“The 2021-22 state budget was one of missed opportunities and misplaced priorities. Instead of putting lawabiding, hard-working taxpayers and struggling small businesses first, the Senate Democratic Majority passed a state budget that used $2.1 billion in taxpayer dollars to reward illegal immigrants who have worked, and been paid, under the table with thousands of dollars of unemployment payments that they are not entitled to,” said Sen. Daphne Jordan, R,C,I-Halfmoon.
“Their budget also included more than $3.1 billion in net new taxes and rejected $2.1 to achieve universal broadband. Instead of handing out money to illegal immigrants, our state could have eliminated the state income tax on New Yorkers earning less than $50,000 for one year. That $2.1 billion also could have been used to support veteran’s health services. In fact, the Majority’s $2 billion gift to illegal immigrants is 420 times more in funding than our veterans are receiving,” Jordan continued.
“The Majority’s budget also failed to provide middle-class relief in tuition costs for SUNY and CUNY students, continued to ignore parity in upstate downstate transit with a disproportionate capital plans for the MTA versus Long Island and upstate, failed to provide structural reserve funds for future financial downturns or emergencies to ensure no future reductions in critical programs, and failed to provide adequate funding to train Drug Recognition Officers as a part of the legalization of cannabis,” Jordan noted on priorities she would’ve liked to have seen in the budget.
“The Senate Democratic Majority’s budget not only missed an opportunity to move New York forward, its misplaced priorities set our state back. The budget is a continuation of the Majority’s endless addiction to taxing, spending, and putting illegal immigrants ahead of law-abiding, hardworking taxpayers,” Jordan added.
Sen. Jim Tedisco, R,CGlenville, opined that the budget measures would only serve to continue to drive more New Yorkers and businesses out of the state.
“New York leads the nation in outmigration of residents with 126,000 people leaving last year and over one million in the past decade and the state is ranked 50th in the nation for Tax Freedom Day when residents symbolically pay-off all of their federal, state and local tax obligations and start keeping the money they earn,” Tedisco stated.
“Perhaps most outrageous is that the Governor and Democratic Legislative Majorities are giving $2.1 billion in so-called unemployment assistance in the state budget to those in New York state illegally and working illegally, but not one cent to match the $10,200 tax break for jobless New York citizens that the federal government has given,” Tedisco noted on the way funds were allocated.
“Meanwhile, the budget maintains the Governor’s $420 million film tax credit for Hollywood moguls that create very few permanent jobs in our state, along with other taxpayer-funded giveaways,” Tedisco continued.
“The one bright spot to help our local property taxpayers, which I have long called for, and voted for in this budget was the real investment in education in fully supporting Foundation Aid for our schools and our students’ futures. But this is one of the few positives in what I believe is one of the worst budgets I’ve ever seen for taxpayers,” Tedisco added in summing up the budget.
Assemblyman Jake Ashby, R-Castleton, echoed those sentiments on concerns that many of the initiatives could push New Yorkers elsewhere.
“The path to our state’s economic recovery shouldn’t be paved with becoming the highest taxed state in our country,” Ashby stated.
“While there are many outstanding aspects of this budget which I am happy to support, the apparent disregard for any fiscal responsibility is alarming,” Ashby noted.
“Over the past two days, the Legislature conducted yet another marathon-like budget process, primarily negotiated via closed-line Zoom calls and voted on in the middle of the night and without ability for public input. The historically large, bloated $212 billion budget passed nearly a week after the state’s fiscal deadline and is the largest to be adopted in New York state history and is larger than the budgets of Texas and Florida combined. The increasing lack of transparency, hurry-up-and-wait mentality, need for messages of necessity and an extender to keep the state running is a careless way to run our state’s government or implement such a massive financial plan,” Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh, R,C,IBallston, added regarding the budget process.