Gov. Andrew Cuomo gave a two-hour State of the State message last week, and there were enough promises to fill an old-fashioned Albany phone book—Yellow and White Pages combined. Almost every person, group and special interest in the state found themselves pandered to and promised something wonderful. And expensive. The document that accompanied the address—at 509 pages—proposed some $154 billion in government spending during the 2016-17 fiscal year.
Without a hint of irony, Mr. Cuomo proudly compared his “development initiative” to the almost-forgotten titan of government spending, Nelson Rockefeller. Mr. Cuomo bragged that it “would make Gov. Rockefeller jealous.”
Headlines around the state highlighted the governor’s call for $100 billion (over several unspecified years) in infrastructure projects. That included, for example, $3 billion for a new Empire (Penn) Station, $20 billion in upstate highway and bridge construction, $4 billion for the still-unfinished Tappan Zee Bridge replacement, $29 billion to the MTA, $4 billion for LaGuardia Airport, and $20 billion for the Port Authority Gateway project.
Many of the media trumpeted the governor’s call for an investment of $20 billion for 100,000 new affordable housing units over five years, and homeless support services. He also pushed for lots of private spending—on 12 weeks of paid family leave, and a $15 minimum wage.
State support for education would increase by $1 billion this next year, to $24.2 billion. The state Board of Regents had called for a $2.4 billion increase and school advocates wanted even more. (State Assemblyman Charles Barron stood up,interrupted the governor, yelled at him for not spending at least $2 billion more on high schools, and was then escorted from the room.)
Understanding the state budget is not easy. Despite a graphically arresting tool that sorts spending and revenues in nifty ways, it is rarely clear how much is being spent when and on what; or where the money is coming from. E.J. McMahon, the president of the Empire Center for Public Policy, one of the smartest commentators on state machinations, called funding of the governor’s something-for-everyone laundry list “Cuomo’s Magical Mystery Cash.”
There seemed to be something for everyone—except Mayor de Blasio. The governor’s budget would in fact cut funding for 2,000 New York City police officers and money for CUNY and Medicaid. And, not content to wrest control from Mr. de Blasio on his signature efforts on affordable housing and homelessness, Mr. Cuomo is proposing that SUNY (the state university system) take over CUNY.
As Bette Davis warned us, “Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.”
© 2016 Observer
You may also like
Policy analyst: Cuomo wrong to write-off nursing home criticism as political conspiracy
“The importance of discussing this and getting the true facts out is to understand what did and didn’t happen so we can learn from it in case this happens again,” Hammond said. Read More
Pandemic, recession don’t bring down school budgets
Stephen T. Watson
This year's school elections were delayed and then shifted entirely to voting by mail thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, which also shut down schools here and across the country.
District officials worried this new method of Read More
The good, the bad and the ugly in Cuomo’s budget
“We are at the early stages of what shapes up as the biggest state and city fiscal crisis since the Great Depression,” said E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center. “Borrowing and short-term cuts aside, the budget doesn’t chart any clear path out of it.” Read More
Medicaid cuts make the state budget, with some tweaks
Bill Hammond, director of health policy at the conservative-leaning think tank the Empire Center, suggested this is because the proposed cuts are meant to slow the otherwise rapid growth in Medicaid spending, which means an increase is still possible. Read More
Editorial: Cuomo’s problematic Medicaid maneuvers
“It’s everything that’s wrong with Albany in one ugly deal,” Bill Hammond, a health policy expert at the fiscally conservative Empire Center, told The Times. Read More
Gov. Cuomo’s Lawsuit on Pres. Trump’s Tax Cuts Dismissed
But according to the Empire Center, a non-profit group based in Albany, the overall impact of the Trump tax cuts actually benefited most state residents. Read More
NYS Healthcare Costs Rise Amid Report Of Pay-To-Play Allegations
Earlier this year, another fiscal watchdog group, The Empire Center, found that Cuomo’s budget office had delayed a $1.7 billion Medicaid payment from the previous fiscal year into the current fiscal year. Because of the delay, the governor was able to keep within a self imposed 2% yearly spending cap. Read More
After Hospitals’ Donation to New York Democrats, a $140 Million Payout
“It’s everything that’s wrong with Albany in one ugly deal,” said Bill Hammond, a health policy expert at the nonpartisan Empire Center who first noticed the budgetary trick. “The governor was able to unilaterally direct a billion dollars to a major interest group while secretly accepting its campaign cash and papering over a massive deficit in the Medicaid program.” Read More