Politics

As has become an Albany tradition, the budget was passed in the early morning hours having been for the most part negotiated by what is known as “four men in a room” – the Governor, the Speaker of the Assembly, the Majority Leader of the Senate and the Leader of the Independent Democratic Conference of the Senate. The massive $168.3 billion budget is bigger than any other state’s budget with the exception of California, a state with twice as many people as New York.

In recent years, the state has made significant investments in our state parks. Specifically, additional funding has assisted in improvements at parks statewide and includes everything from playground equipment, entryways, beach areas, trails, and restroom facilities. Not only were many of these upgrades necessary as a result of age and preservation of our resources, they were strategically done to encourage tourism and increase park attendance.

As was widely reported, earlier this month Joe Percoco, a former top-aide to Governor Cuomo, was found guilty of three corruption-related charges. While corruption convictions of state officials, sadly, are nothing new, the Percoco conviction was front page news because of his very close relationship to Governor Cuomo. Also, the trial shed light on how a few connected people have tremendous control over billions of dollars of public money that is supposed to be used for economic development.

Our property taxes are among the highest in the nation. New York needs to make structural changes if there is any hope for reducing tax bills for property owners. Legislation has been introduced that would help alleviate some of this burden for Upstate residents and stimulate economic growth. For starters, the state needs to take over the full cost of Medicaid. Medicaid is a joint federal and state program largely administered by states and is paid for with federal, state and local funds.