Senator Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick & Fellow Senate Republicans Unveil Plan to Create a More Affordable New York

ALBANY, NY – In response to a fiscally irresponsible state budget proposal that continues uncontrolled state spending, Senator Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick and members of the Republican Conference today unveiled their vision to provide relief and create “A More Affordable New York.” This is one of several impactful initiatives being proposed as part of the conference’s Rescue New York Agenda. While Governor Hochul and her Democratic allies in the Legislature continue ignoring everyday New Yorkers with the same old tax and spend routine, the Senate Republican Conference is putting forward real solutions to help the middle class and build a stronger economy statewide.

“New Yorkers have been shouldering the burden of Albany’s fiscal irresponsibility for far too long. Unfunded mandates from above bear down on our local governments in Nassau County and across our state. These edicts are always implemented without any community input and then, in turn, end up raising our property taxes and increasing our cost of living, which eventually drives hard-working taxpayers out of our state. I stand firmly against the elimination of enhanced Medicaid payments that our local governments should be receiving. Eliminating this would put further pressure on our municipalities to raise local property taxes. Our job in state government is to alleviate the financial stress that our constituents are enduring. Packing on more costs from Albany furthering their financial strain is not the answer,” said Senator Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick, State Senate District 9.

The Republican Conference specifically called out several Executive Budget proposals that would exacerbate New York State’s lack of affordability, including:

1. Eliminating enhanced Medicaid payments to local governments, which would create enormous pressure to increase local property taxes;
2. Increasing unemployment insurance taxes on already struggling small businesses and farms;
3. Further increasing payroll taxes in the MTA region; and
4. Siphoning hundreds of millions of dollars in state money into New York City to pay for the settlement of illegal immigrants.
    

In contrast, the Senate Republicans’ “A More Affordable New York” initiative will put money back into the pockets of taxpayers and make our state affordable once again as families continue to struggle with rising costs due to record high inflation, including: 

1. Eliminating costly unfunded mandates that drive up local property taxes;
2. Protecting businesses from unemployment insurance tax hikes by creating an Unemployment Insurance Solvency Reserve Fund and repealing the interest assessment surcharge, which is the assessment on businesses to pay back the UI Trust Fund’s deficit;
3. Repealing Congestion Pricing; and
4. Providing relief from heating costs geared toward the middle class.