Previously Published in The Messenger
By Matt Meduri
The record-setting $260 billion budget continues to see negotiations over key issues and as Governor Kathy Hochul (D-Hamburg) attempts to take the reins as progressive Democrats put their loyalists in place.
Albany has now blown past the April 1 deadline to the tune of exactly one month this Friday, and some lawmakers believe there’s still no end in sight.
While Tier 5 and 6 pension plans still hang in the balance, State Aid to school districts is also delayed, unfolding at an inconvenient time when districts are putting their budgets together to be put out to the public for a vote.
“Our school board members do a great job and they’re trying to be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars, but without the numbers from Albany, it makes it impossible to craft those budgets and put them out to public referendum,” Assemblyman Doug Smith (R-Holbrook), a former math teacher and Ranking Member on the Assembly Education Committee, told The Messenger. “That’s a real problem that the Governor needs to address.”
Assemblyman Mike Durso (R-Massapequa Park) said that with all he and his colleagues have been hearing, the majority party is “nowhere close” to finalizing the negotiations.
“I think this is a further indictment that one-party rule doesn’t work. When you have the same party in the Governor, the Senate majority, and the Assembly majority and they can’t agree on something, there’s a bigger problem,” Durso told The Messenger. “Democratic rule throughout all these years has shown that they can’t get a budget done on time. New Yorkers are paying for it out of pocket.”
Energy mandates also remain contentious, as Hochul has attempted to backtrack some of the deadlines in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), even at the behest of all Republicans in the Legislature, and even some moderate Democrats. However, stalwarts for New York’s “Green New Deal” are not seeing the forest for the trees, Smith says.
“These unrealistic mandates are not only costing the residents of New York State, but they just make no sense. We aren’t generating enough electricity to meet the mandates. We really need to rely on the free market to move us toward that. It’s not working.”
Smith said that he is optimistic the Governor will remain firm in her stance.
“The Assembly Republican Conference motto has always been, ‘we told you so,’” said Smith of the climate mandates. “Unfortunately, this is one time that we’re not happy to say that we were right, and they should have taken pause and taken more input from the private sector and we wouldn’t be in this position.”
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D-Astoria) looms in the background of these negotiations, as he hopes to secure some key platform wins for his constituents, while Hochul attempts to appease all sides of the political aisle in hopes of securing re-election this November. Her eleventh-hour push to tax secondary luxury homes is being panned by many on the right, while Mamdani is effectively taking it as a consolation prize in lieu of some of his more ambitious taxation plans.
“I think some of these progressive, socialist policies might end up in the final budget, and I wish that my Democratic colleagues were more afraid of the people they represent than they are of the far left,” said Smith.
“Long Island and Upstate always get the short end of the stick when it comes to funding, and Mayor Mamdani is following suit with every other mayor,” said Durso. “They’re spending money and New York State’s got to bail them out for the things that they have caused once again. When you talk about new taxes that are just going to be expected to be paid by the hard-working people of New York, it’s a problem.”
“I think Hochul is throwing Mamdani a bone because she knows raising taxes is really a non-starter among most New Yorkers,” Assemblyman Jarett Gandolfo (R-Sayville) (pictured left) told The Messenger. “I don’t think it’s going to be the answer to all their prayers for a windfall of money.”
Gandolfo says that Albany should be focused on the nuts-and-bolts issues that government is classically expected to represent.
“We’ve passed six extenders now, which is a little ridiculous. We need affordability, public safety reforms. Hopefully, when we see a final budget document, there’s some common sense in there.”
Gandolfo added that Tier 5 and 6 negotiations consist of “lots of moving parts” primarily between the Governor and the unions, rather than the Assembly and Senate leaders.
“I think we have shared experiences, shared trauma,” said Smith of a younger generation looking to galvanize the ballot box. “Growing up in a post-9/11 world, living through the pandemic, trying to buy a home, raise a family, start a business here on Long Island. It just sheds a different type of experience. We have a certain grit that other generations haven’t had to combat.”
Assemblywoman Rebecca Kassay (D-Port Jefferson) says a big sticking point is auto insurance, a point on which Smith is not as optimistic the Governor will get her way.
“I haven’t spoken with a single representative who is opposed to lowering rates. What we’re working to accomplish is lowering rates without opening up New Yorkers to new liabilities if they find themselves involved in an accident,” Kassay told The Messenger. “The only thing worse than a late budget is a budget that doesn’t deliver what our constituents need.”
Kassay is requesting $330,000, which is matchable with federal funds, to fund the nurse training program at the Long Island State Veterans Home in Stony Brook to support “quality care for those who served while also helping to grow our healthcare workforce.”
“I am grateful that this has been included in the Assembly’s one-house budget,” said Kassay, adding her thanks to Assemblyman Steve Stern (D-Dix Hills) for his chairmanship of the Assembly Veterans Affairs Committee. “We will work to see that this is included in the final budget.”
On energy, Kassay was one of several Democrats to co-sign a letter to the Governor urging her to reconsider deadlines on climate mandates. With the groundbreaking of the NESE natural gas pipeline, Kassay, an environmentalist by trade, said that the pipeline can “provide some traffic relief while making our roads safer.”
“As we continue to diversify our energy sources with clean wind and solar and build towards energy independence, I am committed to keeping the lights on in New York and delivering relief from the unacceptably high utility costs that are adding to our affordability crisis.”