A late budget beats a bad one, Gov. Kathy Hochul rightly argued. But then she delivered both.
On Monday, lawmakers began passing budget bills (unread, and a month late), rocketing up outlays to a mind-numbing $229 billion — 32% more than just four years ago.
Hochul had sought $2 billion less but had to bow yet again to spend-happy progressives.
The biggest problem: Albany doesn’t have the cash to sustain such outrageous outlays. Instead, it’s:
- Using $1 billion from last year and expiring federal pandemic aid as one-shots (money it won’t have going forward).
- Saddling counties with added Medicaid costs they can’t afford.
- Socking shaky Gotham businesses with $1.1 billion more in payroll taxes for the transit system.
- Squeezing another $165 million from cash-strapped City Hall (also for the MTA).
Despite all that, the plan still leaves gaping holes — upward of $20 billion — for coming years.
“The budget weakens the state’s financial footing,” risking “massive program cuts or economically harmful tax increases,” warns Citizens Budget Commission head Andrew Rein.
It “sets the stage for a potentially damaging fiscal reckoning.”
True, this year’s finances are in OK shape, for now.
But not if the economy goes south (as many economists fear) and revenues fall.
The Medicaid cost-shift alone is a killer. By smashing the cap on local governments’ share of costs, it imposes the equivalent of property-tax hikes of 7% to as much as 14%.
New York already spends more on Medicaid than any other state except California (which has twice the population) — and Albany is racing to be No. 1: Per the Empire Center’s Bill Hammond, the gov’s plan sought to hike outlays at least 18% over the next three years.
What else so urgently required so much cash? Well, there’s:
- Billions more for schools, even with falling enrollments and no evidence more money will improve learning.
- $300 million for an upstate computer-chip maker.
- Bigger handouts for the film and TV industry; seems $420 million a year wasn’t enough for Hollywood, so Hochul & Co. upped it 66% to $700 million.
The deal also inflicts needless pain in non-budget areas — banning gas-hookups in new buildings (so long, gas stoves and heat) and hurting job-seekers and employers via a higher minimum wage (yet again).
It does virtually nothing about the state’s top issue (crime), limits new charters in the city to a measly 14 and fails to replace a key tax break that promoted affordable housing.
It all adds up to mountains of hurt for New Yorkers.
No wonder it was late: It takes a lot of time to do so much damage.