New York State Conservative Party Chairman Gerard Kassar perfectly summed up the dysfunction better known as passing an on-time budget in Albany, when he called the secretive, closed door process as “budget shenanigans.”
“The longer the process goes, the more progressives will add to the already extraordinarily high price tag of running this state under one-party Democrat rule. The size and scope of the eventual budget will be on a historic scale, and never in a good way. New Yorkers were already beleaguered by high taxes and overspending, but Gov. Hochul and her colleagues aren’t done with us. They want more. Always more,” said Kassar.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced a “conceptual agreement” on a $237 billion budget. This is $8 billion more than last year’s budget. Lawmakers said there’s a lot more work and negotiating to be done before a final agreement is set in stone.
The New York State Constitution mandates that lawmakers adopt and pass a budget by April 1st. Democrats control all three chambers of the decision making process: the Governor’s Office (Kathy Hochul), the Assembly (Speaker Carl Heastie) and the Senate (Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins).
“The Democrats' failure to meet deadlines is having real consequences. Instead of working to deliver an on-time budget that helps New Yorkers, we’ll get a late budget that pushes their failing policies,” posted the New York State Senate Republican conference on their Twitter page, @nysenategop.
Late lawmakers keep passing what’s known as “budget extenders.” This is short-term legislation to keep paying for essential services while a final budget is being negotiated.
“I wish I could say the lack of urgency from Albany's ‘Three- Democrats-in-a-room' is surprising. And for a $233 billion budget deal, you'd think we'd have a bit more transparency from a governor who swore by it,” said New York State Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay.
The latest budget passed in New York State history happened exactly 20 years ago. The year was 2004 when state lawmakers finally passed a budget 133 past the day it was due.