On Tuesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul presented a $216.3 billion spending plan for Fiscal Year 2023 that emphasizes strengthening the health care and teaching workforces, infrastructure improvements, affordable housing, clean air and water, and more funding for higher education.
The proposed budget, Hochul’s first, would also create new tax cuts and rebates to small businesses and middle-class homeowners. And the governor’s budget also includes $2 billion for immediate pandemic recovery initiatives.
The governor said in her budget address Tuesday that New York is in a “strong financial position” due to a combination of factors, including: increased tax receipts, a strong stock market, and an influx of federal aid through the American Rescue Plan and the Infrastructure Act, some of which have already been received.
She and Budget Director Robert Mujica said this week they predict a balanced budget through the fiscal year 2027, a big change from this time last year when the Division of Budget projected a $17 billion budget deficit.
Some of the budget highlights include:
- $10 billion plan to rebuild the health care workforce
- $31 billion plan to strengthen the teacher workforce and public schools
- Tax relief for small businesses and the middle class
- $32.8 billion for a DOT capital plan leveraging federal funding
- $900 million in child care subsidies
- $1 billion in small business tax credits for COVID-related expenses
- $1.5 billion in SUNY and CUNY aid for the next five years, including expanding TAP eligibility
- A $4 billion Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act
- $500 million for offshore wind
- $25 billion for affordable housing
- $224 million for law enforcement and community-based gun violence programs
“We have the means to immediately respond to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as embrace this once-in-a-generation opportunity for the future with a historic level of funding that is both socially responsible and fiscally prudent,” Hochul said. “As I said in my State of the State speech: It’s time for a better, fairer, and more inclusive version of the American Dream. I’m calling it the New York Dream.”
