Senate turnover shifts spending

Groups supported in past by GOP scramble to find advocates in Democratic majority

Recent recipients of state funding in the budget learned the hard way this week what it means when their patrons in state government lose power.

Millions of dollars in funding for agriculture, health care, veterans and youth employment programs that had been directed by Senate Republicans when they were in the majority was reduced, shifted to other priorities or eliminated altogether in the first budget since Democrats took over the chamber.

This is the way the game is played in Albany, where the legislative leaders and Gov. Andrew Cuomo control the purse strings, and the consequences of elections are shouldered by everyday New Yorkers.

Sen. Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat who chairs the chamber’s Finance Committee, said some of the programs were gone from the budget because they weren’t priorities for the Senate Democrats based on available funding this year.

“We did not automatically (support) what the Senate Republicans had been putting money to,” Krueger said.

One key area for Senate Republicans was agriculture spending, which was reduced this year by nearly $1 million, eliminating about a dozen existing programs.

Assemblywoman Carrier Woerner, a Round Lake Democrat, said her chamber increased its investment in agriculture this year to ensure the reduction wouldn’t be deeper.

“It was an important step, and I’m hopeful in future years we’ll see a return to the robust support agriculture has received from the Legislature,” Woerner said.

Senate Democrats also failed to continue the Senate Republicans’ $1 million support for programs across the state targeting Lyme and tick-borne diseases.

Sen. Gustavo Rivera, a Bronx Democrat who chairs the chamber’s health committee, said during the budget debate that the cut was the result of “tough choices” they had to make when allocating resources.

“We tried to do things that were impacting as much of the state as possible,” Rivera said. “We tried to be as judicious as we could.”

But when it came to funding for Youthbuild, a program helping low-income youth learn construction skills and build affordable housing, the bulk of this year’s money was targeted solely to Brooklyn, while it had largely been allocated for statewide distribution last year. Funding was included for the program in Schenectady, which is represented in part by Sen. George Amedore, a Rotterdam Republican.

There was also a failure to restore $500,000 for first responders in the Finger Lakes and more than $300,000 for veterans’ programs that were left out of the governor’s initial budget proposal but are traditionally restored by the Senate.

During the budget process, Krueger said there were “very

few individual asks” for funding from her Republican colleagues this year.

She acknowledged it was possible that they thought their requests would fall on deaf ears — which had often been the case when Democrats were in the minority and sought funds in the budget.

“Perhaps they just assumed a similar story,” Krueger said.

In recent budgets, the minority Senate Democrats submitted extremely detailed funding requests to their colleagues across the aisle. They said no such similar request was made this year.

Senate Republican spokesman Scott Reif stressed that Republican senators conveyed their priorities publicly and privately to Democratic lawmakers in both houses and to officials in the governor’s office. Reif noted that a Gop-negotiated budget would have looked very different.

Senate Democratic spokesman Mike Murphy countered that “government is more than simply showing up for press conferences.”

Krueger said allocating funding this year was particularly contentious because Cuomo was “squeezing” lawmakers. The Legislature “just ran out of money” to fund all of the priorities that the governor didn’t include funding for, she said.

One of those casualties was the state construction fund for libraries, which had its annual funding stream reduced by more than half to $14 million. Traditionally, the governor proposes cutting library aid and the Legislature is able to “buy back” additional funding.

New York Library Association Executive Director Jeremy Johannesen was hesitant to attribute blame for the cut in capital funds, but acknowledged there were shifting priorities in the Legislature since Democrats took over the Senate.

“You can draw parallels, and that’s certainly not just us,” Johannesen said. “I’m still looking forward to working with Senate Democrats and finding a way through this in next year’s budget process.”