O’Mara on Cuomo budget: Watch out! More spending, more borrowing, more cost shifts

Albany, N.Y., January 21—State Senator Tom O’Mara (R-C, Big Flats) today warned that Governor Andrew Cuomo’s 2020-2021 proposed state budget charts a course for the future of New York that could leave state and local taxpayers “footing an outrageous bill.”   

O’Mara cautioned that the Cuomo budget sets the stage for a final budget that significantly increases state government spending, even with New York facing a $6-billion-plus deficit, adds billions of dollars to a state debt burden that is already one of the nation’s highest, and shifts costs to already overburdened local property taxpayers.

Today in Albany, the governor unveiled a roughly $178-billion proposed spending plan for the state’s new fiscal year beginning April 1, with the state facing what the governor estimated to be a $6.1-billion budget gap.

O’Mara said, “Does it make sense, when you’re already overspending and overtaxing, to call for more spending and more borrowing that everyone knows will sooner or later require higher taxes?  Governor Cuomo proposes billions upon billions of dollars of short- and long-term new spending and borrowing and that’s before he even sits down to negotiate with a State Legislature under one-party, downstate control that will not hesitate to spend even more and tax even more to pay for it.  We are staring at another year of ignoring the fiscal warning signs and failing to begin restoring some common sense to this government.  Future taxpayers are going to be left footing an outrageous bill for this governor’s and this Legislature’s overspending and overtaxing.”   

O’Mara said that he would keep working with his legislative colleagues across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions to keep attention focused on unfunded state mandates, job-killing state regulations, out-of-control debt, and a state tax burden that hurts family budgets and keeps New York’s business climate one of the worst in the nation.

He said that the next step in this year’s budget adoption process is for state legislators, local leaders, and the public to begin analyzing the details of the new Cuomo plan and assessing its impact on specific programs and services. 

Full details on the governor’s budget proposal will be available on the state Division of the Budget (DOB) website, www.budget.ny.gov.

The Legislature’s fiscal committees – the Finance Committee in the Senate, and the Assembly Ways and Means Committee – will begin a series of public hearings on the Cuomo plan next week.  The legislative hearings will continue through February.     

O’Mara also reminded area residents that his 2020 “Community and Legislative Survey” is available on his Senate website and offers opportunities to share opinions on specific state budget-related issues.  Participate in the survey HERE.