The New York Legislature is putting the final touches on the state’s 2027 budget. This is the first budget cycle that 115th District Assemblyman Michael Cashman has experienced. He described the process to WAMC’s North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley During a Memorial Day event in Plattsburgh.
As I've told people a number of times, is there's no perfect budget. What I've been focused on is bringing back resources to the district on behalf of seniors and veterans, working families, small businesses, and, you know, working with my conference, you know, I'm cautiously optimistic to be able to bring some of those resources back to programs and people of the North Country.
Which specific resources?
The focal point of affordability, working for seniors, working on behalf of veterans and small businesses. You know, that's the lens that I've been trying to punch up for.
When you were town supervisor, creating affordable housing was one of your priorities. Do you see the state budget addressing that at all?
Our budget overall, you know, we don't always get our fair share of the resources up here in the North Country and that's what I've been trying to do, is to amplify that cause. One of the things that I'm very, very proud of and that I've been extremely dogged about, is the EV busses. You know, the EV busses are something that can't be easily managed here in the North Country for a variety of reasons. We don't have the electric grid. That puts strain on our communities. The long distances for our school districts, there's a safety issue there. Even going to the bridges that are around the North Country, they're not in sufficient order to manage the heavy weight of those vehicles. So while I've been down in Albany, I've been championing a common sense approach to looking at a region's capacity.
You mentioned the EV busses, how much of a relief is that that has been delayed for five years?
Yeah, I'm pleased that it's been a five-year pause, but we need to do more. Because the reality of it is in five years we're still not going to be ready here in the North Country. So you know, in speaking with school districts, they were looking for at least a five year pause. So we were able to secure that. But working with school superintendents and school boards and folks, I'm going to continue to amplify the common-sense approach. It's why I'm carrying the regional transition act bill. Unfortunately, with the legislative session being truncated the way that it is, a number of my bills and a number of my colleagues' bills will not get across the finish line. You know, that's what happens when the budget gets delayed.
There were at least seven budget extenders. Do you feel that the state should not do budget extenders and do you think if that happened, it would force movement on the budget?
Well, I'm going to reframe it this way: if we take policy out of the budget, which doesn't belong in a fiscal document, I believe that we would be a lot further along. So, as far as the budget extenders, I think we have a responsibility to make sure that our state employees and that our agencies can function on behalf of New Yorkers. So, I'm going to continue to advocate that policy not be in a fiscal document. When I was a town supervisor, I did 10 on-time budgets, 10 under the tax cap budgets and not one of them did I try to creatively shoehorn policy into the budget. Doesn't belong there.
There have been a few school districts that have not passed their budget. How critical is school funding from your perspective?
Yeah, we need to look at the formula funding for all of our schools too. The North Country has very large districts with very different needs and not having an on-time budget certainly created a stress point for some of the school districts. It's why I'm pleased that we were able to pull out the EV busses over the next five years because I know that a lot of mental and administrative time and energy was being placed into things like that. But I'm looking forward to working with all of our school districts to gather more resources as time advances.
So, what do you expect from the next few weeks in Albany?
Well, I anticipate that we will have a completed budget, probably by the end of this week, and then that will leave us about four or five days to wrap up some of the legislative session, and I'm going to continue to push for the 50-some-odd bills that I have.
Biggest disappointment with the session?
Just how long the budget has taken. It should be an on-time budget. That's the biggest frustration and disappointment.
Democrat Michael Cashman was elected in a special election last November to represent portions of New York’s North Country. He is so far unchallenged in his campaign for a full term.
