Gov. Kathy Hochul was pretty open about her approach in drawing up the $260 billion “budget” she rolled out Tuesday: Spend it while you’ve got it.
“The state’s long-term fiscal challenges persist,” warned her fellow Democrat, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, yet “spending growth remains above inflation.”
He flagged “the heightened uncertainty in the economy and the prospect of even more” cuts in federal aid to New York.
Don’t worry, Hochul all but said: Revenues are up! Time to spend, spend, spend.
Betting that Wall Street will continue to shed big profits and fat bonuses for the state taxman, she and Budget Director Blake Washington want to boost state-funded outlays by 5.7%, or more than twice inflation.
Be happy!
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Yet Medicaid funding alone is to rise 11.4% and school funding 4.3% — even though New York already spends more per resident on both categories than any other state (and school enrollments are falling).
This plan isn’t about budgeting for New York’s future prosperity; it’s about boosting Hochul’s re-election drive: Prudence and restraint would jeopardize her standing with the left, particularly fans of socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
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Not that the tax-the-rich mayor is exactly content: “It is time to ask New York City’s wealthiest and large corporations to pay their fair share,” he huffed after Hochul dropped her plan.
Never mind that the gov aims to shell out $4.5 billion to support his push for “universal child-care.”
Never mind that she essentially does raise taxes on businesses, by extending a corporate-tax surcharge (set to expire this year) for three more years, scarfing up about hefty $1.3 billion a year.
Even so, Albany still faces a $27.5 billion cash shortfall through 2030.
And the Legislature will insist on more (unaffordable) outlays than in her plan, as it does every year, while Washington may well trim aid further.
Hochul’s “plan” is to worry about all that after she’s re-elected in November.
But whether or not she wins, regular New Yorkers get stuck with the bill.