Governor Andrew Cuomo
ALBANY – Calling it a simple and straight forward spending plan, Governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled his 2013-2014 executive budget Tuesday afternoon.
The $135 billion plan keeps growth in state spending under 2 percent while closing an estimated budget gap of $1.35 billion. In addressing both chambers of the state legislature, Cuomo said his budget balances fiscal restraint with economic development — building on a pledge he made when he took office two years ago.
“This year’s budget is straightforward. The machinery of Government is working again and we have resolved the crisis – and this was a crisis. What we did over the past two years was not easy and I applaud you for your performance,” Cuomo said while addressing lawmakers. “Hopefully, this year, we continue the same functionality that we established over the past two years and we do a budget and its an honest budget and we do it on time and we do it together. And we continue our record of effective leadership for the people of the state.”
- WATCH COMPLETE BUDGET PRESENTATION
The governor pledged he would not use any new taxes to help close the $1.35 billion dollar spending gap. Instead, he is calling for no increase in cost to run state government, which would result in a $400 million savings. He also said by addressing debt management, the state could save $128 million. And it could also find an additional $250 million through workers compensation and $35 million by better enforcement in the State Tax and Finance Department.
But the single largest line in closing the budget gap would come from decreasing the amount of aid initially earmarked for local governments. Cuomo said the state would save $500 million by providing a 2.3 percent increase in local aid, rather than the 3 percent increase that it was projected to receive.
The proposal also calls for a nearly $890 million increase in public education funding, including an allocation of $75 million to support several educational reforms he discussed in his State of the State address. Cuomo stated this increase again illustrates his pledge to improving education in New York State
“Over two years, we will have increased aid to education by 8.6 percent. That is double the rate of inflation… and it’s during a time where student enrollment has gone down,” Cuomo said. “Ideally, we would always like to fund everything with all the money in the world. But we live in the real and I think these increases and investments in education that we have made are notable and significant.”
There were also two measures that were not budgetary, but still would have an impact across the state. One is a call to increase the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.75 an hour, effective July 1. The second is a plan that would allow counties to renew local sales taxes without action by the Legislature.
Instead, such renewals would require just a majority vote of the county legislature every two years. However, any increases in local sales taxes would still require legislative approval.
The entire spending plan will now go to both the Assembly and Senate for review and adjustments. The deadline for the two chambers to come up with a final spending plan is March 31.
Leave a Reply