Statement by Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos

I am very encouraged that the Governor has again proposed a budget that closes the deficit by reducing spending and without increasing taxes or fees, and includes plans for job creation, property tax relief and other reforms to make sure tax dollars are spent wisely. These are long held priorities of the Senate Republican conference.  

The Governor has advanced a number of innovative reforms and made it clear that we need to reform Medicaid and the pension system to ease these costly burdens on local governments and property taxpayers. 

We must resolve the issue of teacher evaluations to ensure that New York schools can receive more than $1 billion in state and federal aid to improve the education for our children.  Last year the Senate acted on school accountability reforms in order to ensure that students have the best teachers in the classroom.  This year we look forward to working with the Governor and Assembly to get it done.

Our conference will review and discuss the details of the Governor’s budget plan as well as additional measures to cut taxes and reduce the cost of doing business in New York State.  I am confident we can once again pass an early and fiscally responsible budget that protects taxpayers and helps create new jobs.