New York State is the ninth largest economy in the world. The budget is larger than that of most countries. California ($322 billion) and the United States budget are larger than New York’s budget.
The New York State budget proposed by Governor Kathy Hochul on January 21 totaled $252 billion, an 8.16 percent increase over the amount she proposed in 2024. Last year the governor proposed a spending plan that totaled $233 billion, and state lawmakers added another $4 billion on top of her proposed spending plan, for a total of $237 billion.
After going through 54 hours of 12 joint legislative budget hearings as of February 13, lasting as long as 12 hours and as short as four hours, the budget has been picked apart over the past month by state lawmakers questioning agency heads to justify the spending in each department and advocacy groups testifying why the governor did not put enough money in the budget for their particular needs. Some advocates thanked the governor for acknowledging that there is a need for the funding, but urged lawmakers to add additional money so they can properly do business and serve the needs of their particular sector of society.
Lawmakers took a weeklong break from the action and will hold six more budget hearings when they return beginning February 25. Senate Finance Committee Chairwoman Liz Krueger (D – East Side, Manhattan) and Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow (D – Mount Vernon, Westchester County) run the show for their individual houses and have to sit through the myriad hours of testimony. Staff bring in lunch for the two lawmakers and they are allowed bathroom breaks. It is a trial and tribulation that these two lawmakers have agreed to undertake for no known additional compensation. It seems it’s all part of the job.
Meanwhile, rank-and-file lawmakers rotate in and out of the hearing room, and only those who sit on the relevant committees for the topic of the day can ask questions. The chairman and ranking member of the committee get 10 minutes to ask questions, but other lawmakers get only three minutes, which includes questions and answers, to get the information being sought.
While Democrats, for the most part, remained mute on criticizing the budget, Republicans pounced on issues they see as lacking sufficient funding.
One lawmaker said the governor’s budget failed to address critical funding gaps for local highways and bridges. The spending plan provides no increase to the Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS) or funding for local bridge projects. “The CHIPS program, which currently allocates $637.8 million annually, has remained stagnant despite rising construction and material costs,” said Assemblyman Ari Brown (R – Cedarhurst, Nassau County). “Local highway superintendents and municipal leaders warn that this funding level is insufficient to meet the growing demands for repairs, maintenance, and improvements on local roads and bridges. Local governments are responsible for maintaining 87 percent of New York’s total road mileage, yet without additional resources, many towns and municipalities will be unable to keep pace with infrastructure needs. The lack of increased funding will lead to faster deterioration of local roads, resulting in more expensive repairs down the line and posing a risk to public safety.”
“While Gov. Hochul is rightly investing in state-controlled infrastructure, she is turning a blind eye to the critical needs of our local communities,” he continued. “The failure to adequately fund CHIPS is a significant oversight that will have long-term consequences for the safety and quality of life of New Yorkers. Local governments are already stretched thin and cannot continue to bear the brunt of rising infrastructure costs without proper state support.”
The governor packaged her budget as an “affordability agenda.” Top on the list is $3 billion to provide inflation refund checks to 8.6 million New Yorkers, including $500 for joint filers making less than $300,000 and $300 for single filers making less than $150,000. Those checks are expected to be delivered to taxpayers in October, just a few weeks before election day.
If lawmakers approve, the governor has proposed $1 billion in middle-class tax cuts across five of the state’s nine tax brackets. Hochul claims this will cut rates to their lowest level in nearly 70 years for New Yorkers who file jointly and earn up to $323,000 annually.
The budget also puts aside $21 billion in reserves for a rainy-day fund; $825 million to expand the child tax credit over two years, giving eligible parents $1,000 for kids under four years old and $500 for kids aged 4-16; and $340 million to provide free school breakfast and free school lunch for every student in New York.
On the federal level, Hochul wants to continue waging war to fight for the full repeal of the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction, which could amount to $12 billion each year to New York State coffers.
While the governor offers highlights of her budget plan, the devil is always in the details, which are contained in a 142-page budget book. If you can’t sleep, you can always find the budget book at https://www.governor.ny.gov/sites/default/files/2025-01/FY2026-Executive-Budget-Briefing-Book.pdf.
Congressman Michael Lawler (R – Pearl River, Rockland County), a potential gubernatorial foe of Hochul in 2026, harshly criticized Hochul. He called the Buffalo Democrat “the most feckless, inept governor in the country. She is the accidental governor who is completely in over her head. Since she took statewide office, state spending is up $100 billion. Since she took the governorship, spending is up $61 billion and she is proposing to increase the budget by $10 billion. There is no level of control or oversight or common sense that is being applied anywhere in this state government,” except for the Republican leaders in each house, Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt (R – Tonawanda, Niagara County) and Assembly Republican Leader Will Barclay (R – Pulaski, Oswego County).
Lawler continued his assault on Hochul in what could be part of his stump speech if he decides to oppose her or another Democrat if Hochul loses the primary next year. He was furious about congestion pricing, which President Donald Trump is threatening to leverage an end to by withholding transportation aid for the entire state. This method worked in the mid-1980s when Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole pressured governors across the country to implement the seat belt law or lose federal transportation aid. New York was resistant but acquiesced. Governor Mario Cuomo signed the seat belt bill into law on July 11, 1984.
“This feckless governor is charging the average commuter $2,500 annually just for the privilege of driving to work to pay taxes to fund this corrupt government. It is pathetic. Kathy Hochul is calling the president and begging, ‘Please don’t kill congestion pricing.’ You mean to tell me that when you’re proposing to increase state spending by $10 billion that you can’t find $1 billion for your MTA capital program? A $252 billion budget and you can’t find $1 billion? You need to scam hard-working New Yorkers out of more money and fleece them and then pee on their leg and tell them it’s raining?!” Lawler said.
Assembly Republican Leader Barclay noted that “[o]n a per capita basis, that’s approximately $13,000 worth of spending for every citizen in New York State. Since the governor became Lt. Governor in 2015, spending has increased by $100 billion. We’re not even close to fiscal responsibility in the nation.”
“The biggest things we spend money on in New York [are] health care and education,” Barclay continued. “The returns on that investment aren’t all that great. Other states are spending a lot less and somehow doing much better in those regards. The Democrats don’t want accountability. They don’t want audits and they certainly don’t want affordability. Everything they do is the antithesis of those three A’s. Accountability, Audits, and Affordability.
“In NYS we spend approximately $29,000 per student to educate them. Somewhere along the line we need to see what we get for that money. We have an $8-billion surplus this year that the governor is quickly spending,” he added.
The budget is due by Tuesday, April 1. An on-time budget rarely happens, as negotiations often encounter a snag when top state lawmakers give the governor their priority list. Stay tuned over the next five weeks. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
