Monday, March 31, 2014

Albany Lawmakers Pass Fourth Consecutive On-Time Budget


State lawmakers have passed New York’s fourth on-time budget in a row.


The state Senate passed all the budget bills just before 11 p.m. Monday, and the Assembly followed less than 30 minutes later, meeting the midnight deadline.


The $ 138 billion budget includes $ 1.5 billion dollars in property tax cuts for suburban and upstate homeowners.


Here in the city, renters will have a tax credit of their own for the first time.


“So whether you’re a Republican or Democrat, I think you’re sensitive to the fact that property taxes are choking people,” said state Senate Republican Conference Leader Dean Skelos.


“We’re doing the first-of-its-kind renter tax credit to give renter relief to so many hard hit New Yorkers,” said state Senate Independent Democratic Conference Leader Jeff Klein. “Altogether, the package is over $ 170 million over a two-year period.”


“There are a lot of good features of this budget, and this budget is all about compromise,” said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. “There are things I’d rather not see in this budget, but on balance, I think it’s a great budget.”


As part of the budget, $ 300 million goes to funding universal pre-K, although without the tax hike Mayor Bill de Blasio wanted.


The budget also contains significant protections for charter schools.





NEWS – NY1




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