Editor’s Note: watch the Gray Area video here.

“The proposed executive budget for New York state, which includes a 7.9% increase in state operating spending, raises significant concerns. This increase is well above the rate of inflation and exceeds the constraints placed on local governments, which are required to stay under a 2% tax cap, sending the wrong message to local governments. While the overall spending growth is worrisome, my primary concern is that much of this increase appears to institutionalize recurring costs based on volatile, unanticipated revenues. These revenues are derived mainly from inflationary sales and personal income tax spikes, creating an unsustainable foundation for recurring expenditures and out-year deficits.

The governor’s budget does take positive steps to address affordability issues, including measures that aim to ease some of the burdens placed on New Yorkers. This includes universal meals in schools, an announced tax cut totaling $8.3 million for middle-class New Yorkers, and the expansion of the childcare tax credit program to $825 million. However, these measures rely on temporary, unanticipated revenue increases and fail to address long-term fiscal responsibility and affordability. The same caution for using one-time revenues for short-term relief should also extend to spending decisions.

I commend the governor for accelerating debt service prepayments, a prudent move that aligns one-time revenues with one-time obligations. However, I encourage a more disciplined approach to overall spending growth to safeguard the state’s fiscal stability in the face of real affordability.”