{"id":139218,"date":"2026-02-19T21:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T21:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/139218\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T21:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T21:12:12","slug":"am-gonzalez-rojas-welcomes-1-5-billion-in-state-budget-relief-for-nyc-including-60m-health-care-boost-qns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/139218\/","title":{"rendered":"AM Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas welcomes $1.5 billion in state budget relief for NYC, including $60M health care boost \u2013 QNS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"Assembly\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Assembly Member Jessica Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas. <\/p>\n

Photo by FRANCESCO DAMICO\/New York State Assembly Majority<\/p>\n

Assemblymember Jessica Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas<\/a> has welcomed news that Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul have reached an agreement that will see New York state allocate an additional $1.5 billion in operating expenses to New York City over two years to address the city\u2019s ongoing fiscal challenges.<\/p>\n

Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas, in particular, praised Hochul and Mamdani for reaching an agreement to provide $60 million in health care funding previously covered by the city.\n<\/p>\n

Hochul announced Monday that she is allocating additional funds to the city to combat a multi-billion-dollar budget gap, which Mamdani has blamed on the \u201cgross fiscal mismanagement\u201d of former Mayor Eric Adams.<\/p>\n

Savings measures and positive Wall Street bonus projections have lowered the deficit from an initial $12 billion to $7 billion.\n<\/p>\n

Hochul further cut that deficit on Monday, announcing $1 billion in state funds for fiscal year 2026 and another $510 million for fiscal year 2027.\n<\/p>\n

The funding includes $510 million in recurring funding targeted towards costs that had shifted from the state to the city under past administrations, including approximately $300 million for youth programming, a restoration of $150 million in sales tax receipts and $60 million for public health.<\/p>\n

Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas, along with Council Member Lynn Schulman and state Sen. Gustavo Rivera, commended Hochul and Mamdani for reaching the agreement.\n<\/p>\n

In particular, Gonzal\u00e1lez-Rojas and Rivera praised Hochul and Mamdani for restoring $60 million for public health funding in New York City.\n<\/p>\n

Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas and Rivera had co-sponsored legislation to install \u201clong-overdue reforms\u201d to Article 6 public health funding formulas.\n<\/p>\n

Under Article 6 of the state\u2019s Public Health Law, the state picks up the tab for roughly 36% of the cost of health care for every municipality in New York. However, New York City\u2019s reimbursement rate was reduced from 36% to 20% in the 2019 state budget, creating a $90 million shortfall for the city.<\/p>\n

Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas and Rivera had introduced legislation<\/a> to address this \u201cinequity\u201d and praised both Hochul and Mamdani for restoring $60 million of the $90 million in lost funding.<\/p>\n

Schulman, the chair of the City Council\u2019s Health Committee, also praised the mayor and the governor for the move, stating that the city has borne a disproportionate share of public health costs \u201cfor too long.\u201d Schulman added that the recent funding announcement was a \u201ccritical step\u201d toward addressing funding inequities.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor far too long, our city has borne a disproportionate share of public health costs,\u201d Schulman said. \u201c(The) announcement of $1.5 billion in additional state operating support \u2014 including long-overdue progress on Article 6 \u2014 is a critical step toward correcting these inequities and strengthening our public health system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas, on the other hand, said the $1.5 billion agreement marks a city-state partnership that New Yorkers deserve, adding that the agreement marks significant progress in addressing \u201cinequities in Article 6 public health funding.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor years, our city has shouldered a disproportionate share of public health costs due to outdated reimbursement formulas,\u201d Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas said.\n<\/p>\n

Rivera, meanwhile, added that the agreement will allow Mamdani to better protect the health and safety of New Yorkers.\n<\/p>\n

A number of non-profits and health organizations also welcomed the announcement, including Sarah Ravenhall, executive director of the New York State Association of County Health Officials, who said the move corrected a \u201clong-standing inequity\u201d in the state\u2019s public health system.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time of significant uncertainty driven by federal Medicaid policy changes and ongoing fiscal pressures, this investment is a critical step toward strengthening public health infrastructure, protecting millions of residents and visitors, and safeguarding health across the entire state,\u201d Ravenhall said in a statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Assembly Member Jessica Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas. Photo by FRANCESCO DAMICO\/New York State Assembly Majority Assemblymember Jessica Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas has welcomed news…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139219,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[33947,310,19288,426,10774,9,56,63,65,64,82],"class_list":["post-139218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-assembly-member-jessica-gonzu00e1lez-rojas","tag-daily-newsletter","tag-gustavo-rivera","tag-kathy-hochul","tag-lynn-schulman","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}