Assemblymember Cahill’s Statement on the Passing of the State Budget

March 31, 2009

Today, the Legislature passed a $132 billion budget closing a $17.65 billion deficit, the largest in New York’s history. In the face of unprecedented challenges, the budget protects essential services and the quality of our health care and education systems without shifting the burden to property taxpayers. The plan strikes a fair balance between necessary spending cuts, the distribution of federal stimulus aid, and a temporary income tax increase on New York’s highest earners.

The World and the U.S. have never faced an economic downturn of this magnitude. The impact on New York is even more pronounced due to the collapse of the financial markets that have long been at the center of our economic prosperity. Our plan deals with the realities of the recession by prioritizing spending in areas that will help struggling New Yorkers and utilizing President Obama’s stimulus the way it was intended, to preserve and create jobs to revitalize our economy.

We make education a top priority. The cuts that were initially proposed would have resulted in severe cutbacks, layoffs and regressive property tax increases. The restoration of $1.2 billion in education funding, targeted increases in federal aid and the preservation of the STAR property tax relief exemption will allow us to keep our commitment to provide a quality education to all of our children. We must strive to go further by continuing to advance innovative cost saving solutions through the consolidation of special education, administrative and transportation services through our BOCES systems across the state to lower the burden on property taxpayers.

Access to quality higher education is crucial to our economic recovery. Our budget fully funds financial aid and creates a low-interest student loan program to keep higher education within the reach of working families. Access is only one part of the equation. We also provide our public institutions like New Paltz College and SUNY Ulster, with the resources they will need to drive our recovery.

The budget continues to build upon measures enacted over the past few years to reform our health care delivery system by modernizing Medicaid to emphasize primary and preventive care. The plan reverses some damaging cuts in health care, and implements permanent changes that will lead to billions in savings for years to come, while preserving access to quality care in our communities.

Rising unemployment means that more and more families are going to be looking for help. Increasing the reach of our safety net through public assistance grants, providing for social service programs and health care will allow us to meet our obligations to those who have fallen on hard times by ensuring access to the support they need.

The expansion of the bottle deposit law, a measure I have been advocating for years, to cover bottled water will have an immediate impact on our environment. The reform of the Rockefeller drug laws will now emphasize treatment and prevention over costly incarceration. These long overdue changes that will cut costs and raise revenues while simultaneously improving the environment and restoring fairness to our justice system.

I helped to lead the way in defeating two proposals that would have been particularly harmful to our communities. The final budget continues full payment of property taxes on state owned lands. The proposal to freeze those payments would have been especially burdensome to communities in the Catskill region. I also built a bipartisan coalition to block a proposal to eliminate the Hudson River Valley Greenway -- a planning entity critical to protecting the natural beauty, safety and ecological balance of the region.

After unprecedented losses on Wall Street and in other tax revenues, a three-year temporary income tax increase on high earners will be imposed. By restoring progressivity to our tax code -- a change that will impact less than three percent of New Yorkers -- we are offsetting the need for many of the proposed fee increases and service cuts that would have disproportionately impacted working families, Senior and children across the state.

Passing an on-time, responsible spending plan was just one of many challenges before us. This economic crisis has presented us with a once in a lifetime opportunity to remake New York State. I will continue to work with the Governor and my colleagues in the Legislature to seize upon this moment to fight for affordable and accessible health care coverage, equity in education, property tax relief, energy independence and real economic development; initiatives that will truly serve working families in the Catskill and Hudson Valley regions.

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