New York budget reaction

Posted 8/21/12

ALBANY, NY — The most trumpeted feature of the newly passed New York State budget is the hike in the minimum wage to $15 per hour. But that might not necessarily take effect in the entire …

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New York budget reaction

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ALBANY, NY — The most trumpeted feature of the newly passed New York State budget is the hike in the minimum wage to $15 per hour. But that might not necessarily take effect in the entire state.

In New York City, the increase from $9 to $15 will take place over three years from the end of 2016, but companies with fewer than 10 employees have an extra year to reach that level. In Long Island and some other locations close to the city, the increase to $15 will take place over six years. In all upstate counties, the minimum will increase to $12.50 over five years, and will only climb to $15 if, in the opinion of two government agencies, the economy can handle the increase.

In reacting to the passage of the budget, New York State Sen. John Bonacic issued a statement that ignored the minimum wage and instead focused on other parts of the budget.

He pointed out a number of features he considers wins for constituents: “A landmark, new tax cut of approximately $4.2 billion for millions of middle-class New Yorkers, when fully phased in; keeping spending growth below two percent, with no new taxes, which is crucial to protecting New Yorkers financially; a record-high level of school aid, $24.8 billion; a record $55 billion transportation capital plan to achieve true parity in infrastructure funding between upstate and downstate.”

Congressman Chris Gibson, who is not running for the same office again, but who is considering a run for the governor’s office, did address the minimum wage increase, and was not very pleased with it. He said Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s “mandate to raise the minimum wage without serious regard to the consequences on upstate, non-profits, small businesses and family farms is a direct result of his desire to drive up his flagging poll numbers.”

Gibson was also critical of the process by which the budget was negotiated. He said, “Once again, we have a budget deal that was delivered to New Yorkers after backroom arm twisting and deal making, and driven by political spats and retribution.”

Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the Democratic minority leader in the Senate, was also critical of the process, saying that in fact the three-men-in-a-room process, which has been playing out in Albany for decades in terms of negotiating the budget, had even taken a step backwards. She told the television news program “Capital Tonight” that in the past, journalists knew where the three men—the governor, the Senate majority leader, and the Assembly speaker—were meeting and could ask them questions about the negotiations. But this year, even that bit of transparency was often missing, and the process was too often closed.

Another part of the process that also drew complaints was the total lack of ethics reform contained in the budget legislation. Because the former speaker of the Assembly and Senate majority leader were both convicted of fraud charges this year, and a record number of lawmakers have been indicted over the past decade, there was an expectation among many that ethics reform would be addressed in the budget process.

Initially, Cuomo had a package of ethics reforms in the budget, but they were dropped early on. Blair Horner, executive director of New York Public Interest Research Group said, “Almost immediately, the governor dropped the issue and spent virtually no time marshalling public support behind his plan. He says ethics will be a top priority for the second half of the legislative session. We’ll see.”

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