NY Gov Cuomo offers $142 billion budget with education increases; Also aid for Sandy

The Democrat, entering his third year in office, said his plan would “maintain fiscal responsibility.”

“The taxpayer’s pocket is not a bottomless piggy bank,” Cuomo said during his budget presentation.

Overall spending would grow about 5 percent under his plan — largely because of an influx in federal aid for rebuilding after Sandy ($3.6 billion) and to implement the new federal health-care law ($2.5 billion). Without the bump in federal aid, the state budget would be $136.5 billion and growth would be 1.9 percent.

New York expects to eventually receive about $32 billion in Sandy aid from Congress, although only a fraction of that ($5 billion) will be spent by the end of the 2013-14 fiscal year, the Cuomo administration projected.

The governor’s proposal also includes smaller-scale initiatives, such as opening the state Department of Motor Vehicles on Saturdays, creating a tax break for electric-vehicle recharging equipment, allowing stores to sell more Quick Draw lottery tickets, and suspending the driver’s licenses of delinquent taxpayers who are more than $10,000 in arrears.

Legislators by and large reacted positively to Cuomo’s presentation, while stressing they had yet to be given the actual budget. Lawmakers are supposed to adopt a budget by April 1, the start of the state’s fiscal year.

“I don’t see anything that is a huge stumbling block right now,” said Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), co-leader of a new coalition controlling the state Senate. He praised the small spending increase and initiatives to help local governments cut costs.

Skelos, who opposed a minimum-wage hike last year, said it would be “more palatable” if it is paired with tax cuts for small businesses and if future increases aren’t tied to inflation, as Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) and most rank-and-file Democrats have proposed. Cuomo’s proposal doesn’t include an inflation index.

“We want to make sure it’s not counterproductive,” Skelos said. “We will analyze it. We will see if this is the right year to raise the minimum wage.”

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) missed the speech following the birth of a grandchild. He later sent a statement praising the governor’s “prudent” plan, but reiterated his call for a minimum-wage hike that is indexed to inflation.

The Sandy initiatives include money for rebuilding and to buy out homeowners who don’t want to rebuild. Cuomo said the state wouldn’t dictate rebuilding plans but instead review proposals submitted by local governments. He also proposed mitigation measures to keep subways from flooding.

Cuomo pitched a series of economic-development initiatives in his spending plan, including a $50 million venture capital fund. But he didn’t include any new casino money in the budget — even though he said he’ll ask the state Legislature to approve a plan this year for three upstate Las Vegas-style casinos. He said it was unrealistic to count on any casino revenues till 2016.

The governor offered a series of measures to help local governments and schools stay within the state’s 2 percent property-tax cap. One would allow municipalities and schools to freeze contribution rates to the state’s Common Retirement Fund in the near term — although they might pay higher rates later.

For schools, Cuomo recommended earmarking $20 million for school districts that want to extend the school day or school year, $25 million to expand full-day pre-kindergarten and $11 million in bonuses to instructors deemed “master teachers” — paid in $15,000 annual stipends over four years.

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Copyright 2013 – Newsday