Under Senate Republican leadership, chamber operations spending comes in $7 million under budget

Senate Republicans have delivered big budget savings to hard-working New York taxpayers over the last year - - bringing total chamber spending in at nearly $7 million under budget.

The figures were released today as part of the Senate’s most recent public Expenditure Report, which details all aspects of actual spending within the chamber for the six-month period from October 1, 2013 through March 31, 2014.   

“Our responsible leadership of the New York State Senate continues to be very beneficial to hard-working taxpayers and their families.  Since 2011, we’ve made a conscious effort to do more with less and placed increased scrutiny on all of our expenditures.  As a result, we’re spending less and returning to taxpayers more of their hard-earned money,” Senate Republican Leader Dean G. Skelos said.

“The philosophy of Senate Republicans has always been to rightsize government and to spend money wisely, as if it were their own. There is a sharp distinction between the Republicans, who significantly underspent their budget allocation, and the Democrats, who significantly overspent their budget when they briefly controlled the Senate.  Republicans practice what they preach - fiscal responsibility. This is why it is so important that this November, voters help Republicans retain the majority in the New York State Senate, for the good of the taxpayer,” Senator John A. DeFrancisco, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee said. 

The wise fiscal stewardship practiced by Senate Republicans since they were put back in charge of the Senate has been striking, and stands in stark contrast to the chronic overspending and fiscal mismanagement that characterized the New York City-led Senate Democrats during their brief yet disastrous two-year run in charge of the body.

In 2009-10 and 2010-11, Democrats wildly overspent their budget by $5.7 million and $7.7 million, respectively, and bloated the Senate payroll with hundreds of political hires - - spending a whopping $13 million more on staff than was budgeted.  

During that dark period in our state’s history, Senate Democrats raised taxes by $14 billion, including the job-killing MTA payroll tax and an onerous new energy surcharge, and eliminated the STAR rebate checks for seniors and homeowners across the state. As a direct result of their overspending, Democrats left a $10 billion structural budget deficit for Republicans to fix.

The 303-page Expenditure Report released today shows $85.1 million in disbursements for state fiscal year 2013-14, an increase of less than two percent over the last year, and $6.8 million or 7.4 percent under the Senate’s budgeted amount.

“We’ve made significant progress toward rightsizing our budget so the state no longer spends more than taxpayers can afford.  However, all of our progress can be erased in an instant if the New York City Democrats are handed the keys to the Senate and team up with Mayor de Blasio and the radical Working Families Party to enact their fiscally irresponsible tax-and-spend agenda on the people of New York State,” Senator Skelos concluded.

The entire Senate Expenditure Report can be found here:

http://www.nysenate.gov/expenditure-report-period-ending-3-31-2014

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