Senator Bonacic Supports 2018-2019 State Budget that Protects Taxpayers and Provides Record Funding for Schools and Opioid Abuse Pevention

(Albany, NY)- State Senator John J. Bonacic (R/C/I-Mt. Hope) announced today that he has voted in support of the FY 2018-19 State Budget that achieves key objectives to promote affordability, opportunity, and security for hardworking taxpayers. The final budget maintains fiscal discipline by keeping within the self-imposed two-percent spending cap and closes a $4.5 billion deficit, while also preventing billions of dollars in new taxes and fees to protect taxpayers and encourage economic growth.

The $168.5 billion budget rejects $1 billion in new taxes and fees proposed in the Executive Budget and helps reduce the state’s high cost of living; provide record levels of funding for education, the environment, and opioid abuse prevention; and address the serious public health and safety challenges facing the state’s communities.

“My colleagues and I in the Senate Republican Majority are committed to lowering taxes, creating jobs, investing in education and improving the lives of middle-class New Yorkers, and this budget achieves those goals,” said Senator Bonacic. “This is a fiscally sound document that invests in our children’s future, and protects middle-class taxpayers.”

Highlights of the FY 2018-19 State Budget include:

• A rejection of $1 billion in onerous tax-and-fee increases proposed by the Governor and billions more proposed by the Assembly;
• Adherence to a self-imposed two-percent spending cap for the eighth year in a row, which has saved taxpayers in New York $52 billion;
• A $54.4 million investment in agriculture, which includes money for in cutting-edge agricultural research, support for the next generation of family-farmers, environmental stewardship, and protections for plant, animal, and public health;
• A record $26.6 billion investment for education, an increase of $1billion over last year. That money includes $619 million in Foundation Aid;
• An investment of $300 million for clean water projects;
• A $20 million capital increase over the Executives budget for libraries;
• An investment of $503 million for roads and bridges; and
• $247 million to combat the heroin and opioid epidemic.

For more information on the enacted budget, visit www.nysenate.gov.