Gov. Hochul proposes budget with intent to aid working and middle class families

Long Island Morning Edition

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul yesterday released her proposed budget that would increase total spending by 3.6% to $252 billion, including a 4.7% increase in school aid, a middle-class tax break and tax rebate checks of as much as $500 to families.

Overall, Hochul’s proposed budget would increase spending by $8.6 billion.

Michael Gormley and Yancey Roy report in NEWSDAY that the governor’s budget proposal will now go the State Legislature for review and potential changes. Hochul and leaders of the Democratic-led Senate and Assembly will then negotiate a budget deal, which is due by April 1. Hochul also would triple the child tax credit for families as part of a budget she said is dedicated to making New York more affordable. The child tax credit would rise to $1,000 from $330 for families with children under 4 years old and $500 for families with children 4 to 16 years old. That will cost $825 million and help 8.6 million New Yorkers. She said the middle-class tax break would reduce that tax rate to the lowest in 67 years.

The budget proposal doesn’t increase any broad-based taxes and uses a $5.3 billion surplus from increased tax revenue. The surplus will partly pay for a 14% increase in spending on the Medicaid health care system for the poor and working poor. The Medicaid increase would total $4.3 billion.

Governor Hochul also would use revenue from extending a temporary tax rate for five years for New Yorkers with taxable incomes over $2.1 million, worth $5 billion a year in revenue.

In schools, Hochul proposed $13.5 million more to help schools limit the access of cellphones in classes as part of an effort to limit the distraction.

Overall, school aid would increase by $1.69 billion to $37.4 billion, pending negotiations with the legislature, which traditionally increases the aid. Rises in school aid are intended to reduce the pressure on school districts to increase local property taxes.

The state would cover the cost of breakfast and lunch for all public and nonpublic school students at a cost of $340 million.

Overall, Governor Hochul said $6 billion, or almost 60% of increased spending, would go to Medicaid and school aid, the two biggest areas of the NYS budget.

She faced some partisan opposition to the growth in overall spending from Republicans.

"New York Democrats should be breaking their runaway spending habits," Assembly Republican leader Will Barclay (R-Pulaski) said. "Instead, they’re breaking the bank."

Hochul’s budget proposal will now go the NYS Legislature for review and potential changes. Hochul and leaders of the Democratic-led Senate and Assembly will then negotiate a budget deal, which is due by April 1.

***

The Ross School Senior Projects Exhibition Night is tomorrow from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Ross School on Goodfriend Drive in East Hampton. As posted on 27east.com, the Ross School Senior Project is the culmination of a student’s learning experience at Ross. Through the execution of their project, seniors harness their passions in a process and product that integrate such Ross School principles as multiple intelligences, cultural-historical context, personal reflection, applied media/technology, and pursuit of excellence. Guided by a faculty mentor, students create a Process Folio, Final Product, and Presentation, gaining deeper self-awareness and growth as learners and creators. Students present their end products to the community in an annual exhibition night and in individual presentations discussing their process, product, and conclusions.

That’s the Ross School Senior Projects Exhibition tomorrow from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Ross School on Goodfriend Drive in East Hampton.

***

The Trump administration has delivered a potential body blow to the wind-energy industry with a sweeping executive order that pauses new leases and permits for arrays in federal waters and on land. The move comes as Orsted, the Denmark-based developer of Sunrise Wind, detailed a series of setbacks for the Long Island project which will push back its completion date by a year to mid-2027. Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that Trump’s order Monday night could have an immediate impact on future projects planned for the waters between New York and New Jersey, for which leases have already been issued but which will need federal permits to move forward. New York State, which canceled then reissued a solicitation for projects last year in the area known as the New York Bight, was expected to announce new awards as soon as this month. One project, Attentive Energy, has already pulled out, citing uncertainty tied to Trump's election.

Whether projects that already have their federal permits could be impacted is uncertain. Orsted, which is building the land-based cable for Sunrise Wind in Brookhaven Town, said yesterday that it was taking another large impairment charge, this time nearly $1.7 billion, tied in part to delays and cost overruns on Sunrise Wind and other U.S. projects. The company said it still expects the project to be profitable when completed by mid 2027 — a year behind the prior schedule.

Land-based construction for Sunrise Wind has been heightened near Smith Point in Shirley, where a high-voltage cable will make land. Crews were seen at two newly built dock facilities at the Suffolk County Park. In a statement announcing the delays, Orsted chief executive Mads Nipper called the new impairments (on top more than $4 billion last year) and the delays "very disappointing," but said the company remains "committed to the U.S. market in the long term ..."

***

New York State is home to 470,100 undocumented workers, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration announced yesterday — as the governor worried a coming crackdown on illegal immigrants could send the local economy into a tailspin. The revelation means about 15% of the state’s entire workforce is undocumented, or nearly one out of every 6 employees. “The potential deportation of undocumented immigrants could further exacerbate the state’s population loss and labor shortages,” an economic outlook analysis released as part of the NYS budget plan said. Carl Campanile reports in THE NY POST that the Center for Migration Services estimated that 470,100 workers in the State of New York are undocumented — a figure cited in Hochul’s budget report released on Tuesday. “Most of them work as construction workers, maids/housekeepers, cooks, home and personal care aides, janitors, and delivery drivers, among other occupations,” Hochul said. “If workers are forced to leave their jobs, employment in these industries will be significantly disrupted.” The analysis noted that 70% of workers in the construction industry are foreign-born. “A slowdown in the flow of new immigrants may cause labor shortages and delays in the completion of ongoing construction and negatively impact the available inventory,” Hochul’s analysis stated. Hochul’s report also noted that remote work has contributed to an exodus of New York residents to lower cost states. “The New York City metro area’s high cost of living has contributed to a population decline in the region,” Hochul’s analysis said. “The potential deportation of undocumented immigrants could further exacerbate the State’s population loss and labor shortages. A long-term decline in population remains a significant downside risk to both wages and employment.” Conversely, New York City and the state could benefit if New York City’s population loss is less than anticipated and the immigration crackdown isn’t as restrictive as expected, the analysis concluded.

***

Suffolk County has terminated Chicago real estate conglomerate JLL as master developer of the $2.8 billion Midway Crossing project on county-owned land in Ronkonkoma and plans to seek new proposals to replace the convention center and health offices complex that had been proposed for the site, county officials announced yesterday. Carl MacGowan reports in NEWSDAY that the administration of Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine said JLL, formerly Jones Lang LaSalle, had failed to make significant progress toward hiring staff and arranging financing for the oft-delayed project, which also would have included a hotel and a new Long Island MacArthur Airport terminal.

Supporters had hailed Midway Crossing as a "transformative" project that would create tens of thousands of jobs and redevelop county-owned parking lots at the Ronkonkoma Long Island Rail Road station.

Suffolk officials signaled they planned to restart the project from scratch, seeking both a new developer and revamped proposals to revitalize 179 acres south of the LIRR tracks and north of the airport. JLL said it "fulfilled, and will continue to fulfill, all its obligations" to the county.

***

Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York unveiled yesterday a $252 billion executive budget that seemed intended to appease New Yorkers dissatisfied with the rising cost of living rather than to address President Donald Trump’s policies that may hurt the state. Benjamin Oreskes and Jay Root report in THE NY TIMES that the proposed budget includes funding for about $1 billion in middle-class tax cuts, $3 billion in rebate checks for millions of New Yorkers, $800 million for an expansion of the state’s child tax credit, $340 million for school meals for every student and close to $60 million for more police officers on subway trains — all designed to address concerns about affordability, crime and the cost of living.

The spending plan represented a nearly $8.6 billion increase from the current budget, largely because of vast jumps in Medicaid and education spending.

Perhaps most significant is what Ms. Hochul’s budget did not include. She offered no contingency plans in case President Trump makes good on his vow to halt congestion pricing, which would stop the flow of hundreds of millions of dollars a year to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority…including funding for Long Island Railroad projects.

It also did not identify potential alternate funding streams in response to the Republican-led federal government’s likely focus on cutting money from social service programs like the Affordable Care Act.