Yonkers Insider: New York State Assemblywoman MaryJane Shimsky 92nd District: Budget Roundup.

 

Last week, the two houses of the Legislature and the Governor’s office were able to agree on the $237 billion State Fiscal Year 2024-25 Budget. This was a difficult budget year, due to rising need in so many areas, coupled with the loss of Covid aid from the federal government. Despite these challenges, there are some important legislative additions in the enacted budget that will help New Yorkers in our region and throughout the State.

Fighting for Public Education

The enacted budget restored the Governor’s proposed Foundation Aid cuts, which would have impacted nearly half the State’s school districts. All told, this year's budget raised total school funding to $35.9 billion, a 4.3% increase over last year. In the 92nd District, proposed Foundation Aid cuts to Ardsley, Briarcliff Manor, Dobbs Ferry, Greenburgh, Pocantico Hills, and the Tarrytowns were reversed, and all our districts will now see some increase over the prior year. Yonkers Public Schools — where 73% of students are economically disadvantaged and 19% of students have disabilities — will receive an increase of $38.4 million in Foundation Aid.

There have been questions for years about whether the current formula determining the distribution of Foundation Aid is fair to all school districts; and certainly, the formula's reliance on obsolete data is a self-evident problem. I am very pleased that the final budget includes $2 million for a Foundation Aid study to be conducted by the State University of New York (SUNY) Rockefeller Institute of Government, in consultation with State agencies. I look forward to a lively conversation with our school districts and other stakeholders about what we expect of our public schools, and how we should prioritize school aid.

Support for public higher education totals $20.7 billion, including opportunity program aid totalling $1.3 billion to SUNY and $858 million to the City University of New York (CUNY). Included in this aid package is a $55.7 million increase for the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP). SUNY Downstate Hospital, a teaching hospital which supplies newly-trained medical professionals to the entire New York metropolitan area, will remain open with investments of $300 million in capital funding and $100 million for operating expenses, with spending and planning decisions to be determined by a new community advisory board. 

Building a Resilient Infrastructure

The budget invests $7.7 billion in highways, bridges, rail, aviation infrastructure, public transit outside the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), and transportation facilities. Of this, $4.5 billion will fund the State Department of Transportation's (DOT's) core program for State road and bridge upkeep, and $1.3 billion will help fix our local roads and bridges. This local road and bridge aid total restores $60 million for the Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program (CHIPs) and $40 million for the State Route NY Program — restorations that I advocated for in response to proposed cuts in the Executive Budget.

The MTA will receive $7.9 billion in mass transit support. Of critical importance to our district and region, $20 million will go to resiliency projects for the Metro-North Railroad’s Hudson Line. In future decades, the Hudson Line will require vastly more funding to remain open, as sea level rise caused by climate change will make track flooding a regular occurrence.

Our $2.5 billion investment in environmental infrastructure includes $500 million for clean water projects (doubling the Executive Budget’s proposal) and $400 for the New York State Environmental Protection Fund (another cut we successfully restored). Funding of $1 billion for the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation includes $300 million in capital improvements to State parks, and $15 million to help meet the goal of planting more than 25 million trees across the State by 2033.

Increasing Aid to Our Local Governments

With the support of the Westchester Assembly delegation, Aid and Incentives for Municipalities (AIM) funding will increase this year by $50 million, for a total of $765.2 million. This is the first increase to AIM in over a decade, and something we hope to be able to maintain in future years. In addition, $100 million will fund an another round of the Downtown Revitalization Initiative — the same program that awarded $4.5 million to Sleepy Hollow last year.

Advocating for New Yorkers with Disabilities

The Legislature successfully added a 1.7% salary increase on top of a 1.5% cost of living adjustment (COLA) proposed by the Executive Budget for direct service providers (DSPs), support staff, clinical staff, and non-executive administrative staff for Human Services agencies, including the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD). The increases we made in this year’s budget and last year is a step in the right direction, as we continue to push for paying these essential workers the wages they deserve — wages that will keep them in the field they love, so that they can continue helping many of our most vulnerable New Yorkers.

Funding that Assemblyman Nader Sayegh and I had championed was also included in the budget: $3 million for Elizabeth Seton Children’s in Yonkers, which cares for medically fragile children and young adults.

Local Journalism Tax Credit Passes

Particularly timely in our Assembly district is the Local Journalism Tax Credit, providing $30 million in tax credits for eligible print media and broadcasting companies, thereby supporting our struggling local media and helping to mitigate the spread of news deserts in New York State. I co-sponsored and advocated for this tax credit, which took on greater urgency after three local newspapers in Westchester (including the Rivertowns Enterprise) were closed in January. Kudos to the municipal governments that issued resolutions requesting its passage, as well as the many community members who communicated their concern and support.

Supporting Our Workforce

To ease the burden on families, the enacted budget includes $1.78 billion for the New York State Child Care Block Grant (an increase of $754.4 million) and $350 million for the Supplemental Empire State Child Credit.

Reforms to Tier 6 of the State pension system will help equalize retirement benefits for our public workforce. This year's reform is the first of a multi-year package that will help our State government recruit and retain quality staff with needed technical expertise.

First Responses to Our Housing Affordability Crisis

To address New York’s housing crisis, the budget includes $600 million in capital funding to support housing statewide, as well as $150 million for a new program to build affordable housing on State and municipally-owned sites. Public housing authorities outside of New York City will receive $75 million, with another $50 million for Land Banks to redevelop blighted or abandoned properties.

Also included is a new opt-in construction or commercial conversion tax exemption for affordable homes and rentals, and real property tax exemptions for accessory dwelling units (ADUs). New tenant protections prohibit removal by eviction or refusal to renew a lease without good cause within New York City and by local option in the rest of the state.

At this time, most of the housing proposals address New York City, although in Westchester the shortage of housing that is affordable for most people who live and work here is acute and worsening. The Assembly is investigating proposals — including a Mitchell-Lama 2.0 to build more affordable owner-occupied housing — in the coming years. 

Additional Highlights from the SFY 2024-25 Budget

• $800 million for financially distressed and safety-net hospitals
• $347 for gun violence prevention and reduction
• $150 million to build swimming pools in underserved communities
• $84 million to increase reimbursement for mental health services
• $36 million for abortion providers and nonprofit organizations to increase access to care
• $35 million to protect houses of worship, religious schools and other at-risk sites, plus the addition of 28 hate-crime eligible offenses to State law
• $31.1 million to provide mental health care and services to individuals in the criminal justice system
• $8 million for Joseph P. Dwyer Veterans Peer-to-Peer Support
• $7.5 million for the Hudson River Estuary Management Program
• $3,000 tax credits for small business investments in retail theft prevention
• Amendment distinguishing squatters from rightful tenants in State housing law
• Provisions to allow the Office of Cannabis Management to padlock illegal cannabis businesses

The Work Ahead

Every budget session closes with an acknowledgement of how much more remains to be done, and this year was no different. Our future agenda must include the following:

• To fight climate change and make energy costs more affordable, I will continue to work for passage of the NY HEAT Act and Climate Change Superfund legislation.
• Oversight of Executive reforms to the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP), which provides services to physically disabled and chronically ill New Yorkers, is critical to maintaining quality services.
• It is imperative that we expand our workforce for healthcare and mental healthcare services — all of the mental health programs in the world will not do any good, if there are not enough trained professionals to staff them.
• Last, and not least, we need far higher investments in our infrastructure, to keep up with the rate of decay to our roads, bridges, and other facilities; to make our state more resilient to climate change; and to modernize our energy and other systems.