Senator Bonacic Supports 2018-2019 Senate Budget Resolution that Controls Spending and Protects Hardworking Taxpayers

(Albany, NY)- State Senator John J. Bonacic (R/C/I-Mt. Hope) voted in favor of the Senate’s one-house budget plan for FY 2018-19 today that promotes affordability, opportunity, and security for all New Yorkers. This fiscally responsible plan keeps state spending within the two-percent cap and serves as a blueprint for the creation of a better budget and a stronger, safer, and more prosperous New York.

The Senate’s one-house budget resolution includes none of the new taxes and fees proposed by the Executive, but instead cuts taxes to create jobs; reduces the state’s high cost of living; provides record levels of funding for education, the environment, and opioid abuse prevention; and addresses the serious public health and safety challenges facing the state’s communities.

“My colleagues and I in the Republican Conference are laser-focused on cutting taxes, and protecting the hardworking, middle-class taxpayers of New York State,” said Senator Bonacic. “This budget resolution passed today cuts onerous fees and taxes, improves the regulatory climate for small businesses, invests in our children, improves our infrastructure, and protects our state’s most vulnerable citizens.”

Specifically, the Senate budget resolution would:

• Adhere to the self-imposed two-percent spending cap, which has saved taxpayers almost $41 billion since it was implemented in 2010;
• Reject $1 billion in onerous taxes and fees proposed in the Governor’s Executive Budget Proposal;
• Increase the education spending by $1 billion, bringing the total investment in schools to a record level of $26.1 billion;
• Double the Governor’s Foundation Aid proposal to $717 million;
• Provide record support for heroin and opioid abuse prevention and treatment, a total of $265 million;
• Restore more than $6.125 million in Executive Budget cuts for veterans initiatives;
• Protect and expand the STAR property tax rebate program, which has saved taxpayers $23 billion;
• Add $65 million for the Consolidated Local Street and Highway Program (CHIPS) for a total of more than $503 million;
• Include an additional $4.5 million for women’s health initiatives; and
• Provide a record $300 million for the environmental protection fund.

For more information on the Senate’s budget proposal, visit www.nysenate.gov.