Legislature Passes One-House Budget Resolutions

Negotiations are now set to begin on a final budget, due by April 1, now that the Assembly and Senate have both passed one-house budget resolutions outlining their respective priorities. Both houses restored the Executive’s reduction of Medicaidspending contained in the 30 day amendments. Both houses also provided an additional $1.6 billion in education funding. The Assembly’s plan would add three new tax brackets for those earning more than $5 million per year, a pied-a-terre tax on second home purchases of $5 million or more, and an additional transfer tax on conveyances of $5 million or more. The Senate also proposed a pied-a-terre tax. A senior aide to the Governor criticized the proposals as “fantasy-land”, not grounded in fiscal realities.

Robert Mujica, the Governor’s Budget Director said:

“The Senate one house budget is wholly incredible. The Senate’s plan would increase spending by nearly $3.5 billion, compared to the Executive Budget while identifying no material spending cuts or new revenues. At least the Assembly plan, while raising spending, proposes new taxes to partially pay for the additions (which are not acceptable to us and is still billions out of balance). Under the Senate proposal, the General Fund would be out of balance by $3.5 billion in FY 2020. As part of the Senate plan, they’re promising $40 million to Nassau County for tax reassessments. It is another obvious political charade. It is like the $3 billion New York was supposedly giving to Amazon. It never existed. There is no funding for Nassau’s tax assessment, there is no $3.5 billion of extra spending as the Senate promises its supporters. The continued creation of these false political expectations makes the reality of an on-time, responsible government budget virtually impossible.”