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Cuomo: Uncertain Economy May Lead To Cuts In NYS Budget

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo
https://www.flickr.com/photos/governorandrewcuomo/49701753947/
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo speaking March 26, 2020.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, facing a state budget deadline in less than a week, is out with a new proposal to try to cope as the state faces a multibillion dollar budget gap, and much uncertainty with much of the economy shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Cuomo says he wants to try something that’s never been done before. He wants to pass the budget by April 1, then update the state spending plan quarterly. He would revise the amounts paid out to school districts, local governments, health care providers and all others who depend on state funding, based on how much money the state actually has collected from revenues.

The Democrat says he does not expect the idea to be popular, but says it’s necessary.

“It is a reality for everyone and everyone has to adjust to it,” Cuomo said Thursday. “No one is held harmless from reality. Go tell any family out there." 

Cuomo says he hoped the federal bailout package approved by Congress this week would give New York more money to close the deficit. He says while there is funding for additional unemployment insurance, and help to small businesses, he’s “shocked” that New York will receive proportionality less aid to run its government than states like South Dakota and Wyoming.

“They just did nothing on the revenue loss. They know we have to fund education,” Cuomo said. "They'll all say in their speeches 'it's our children future' and then they do absolutely nothing in the legislation." 

The governor says he does not want to make the quarterly revisions in conjunction with the legislature, he says it might not even be feasible.

“I don’t believe the legislature is going to want to come up here every quarter and go through numbers,” said Cuomo. “At this rate, with the spread of the virus, I don’t even know that it would be responsible to ask for the convening of the legislature periodically.” 

The governor’s budget director, Robert Mujica, says his office will be transparent with the numbers.

“The goal is to be transparent up front, so that school districts can see ‘this is what would happen if we don’t reach the revenue forecast’,” said Mujica. “So they would know what would happen each quarter.” 

Earlier in the day, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, appeared on the public radio program The Capitol Pressroom. The Democrat said lawmakers remain resistant to granting the governor more powers in the budget.

“We are a coequal branch of government,” said Stewart-Cousins who said she understand the need to be “nimble” given the fiscal uncertainties. But she says she would “never be in favor of giving wide latitude without involvement of the legislature” in some of the decisions.

Stewart-Cousins says so far there’s no agreement between the Senate, Assembly, and the governor on any major budget issue.

“I’d like to say that a lot of the big, big issues are resolved,” she said. “But that’s not the case just yet.”

A spokesman for Democratic Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, Michael Whyland, said in a statement that “The state is faced with an unprecedented public health and economic crisis that will require leadership and tough decision making. We are exploring ways to give the Governor the flexibility he may need without sacrificing transparency and legislative authority.”

Cuomo says he still wants to include additional unrelated items into the budget, like making some changes to the state’s bail reform laws that ended most forms of cash bail on January 1, and legalizing recreational marijuana for adults. He says the budget may be “it” and after early April, the legislature may not convene again this year.

The governor confirmed that a measure to help gig economy workers is off the table for now, though, because there’s not enough time left to work out all the details.

Karen DeWitt is Capitol Bureau chief for New York State Public Radio, a network of public radio stations in New York state. She has covered state government and politics for the network since 1990.
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