Budget deal eluding Cuomo, legislature as deadline nears
ALBANY — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and legislative leaders emerged from closed-door negotiations Sunday without a deal on the state budget, but eyeing a $1 billion increase in school aid and a package of laws to combat sexual harassment as a Monday night deadline loomed.
If the school aid increase holds in negotiations Monday, that would mark a 4 percent increase in current spending, although how that funding would be distributed hasn’t been decided, according to Senate and Assembly sources.
“The final number is still being worked on,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) said Sunday night after a two-hour, closed-door conference with majority members.
Cuomo, the Senate and Assembly each proposed measures following the #MeToo movement after sexual harassment scandals in Hollywood.
Assembly members Deborah Glick (D-Manhattan) and Amy Paulin (D-Scarsdale) said a package of sexual harassment laws is expected to be included in the budget, but that details of the measures were still being negotiated.
Assembly Democrats, holding a special meeting Sunday night, said lawmakers also are considering a new surcharge on “for hire vehicles” traveling below 96th Street in Manhattan, but not impose it elsewhere. The fee would go to help New York’s troubled subway system and ease Manhattan gridlock.
Cuomo and legislative leaders would have to agree to a spending plan by midnight Monday to allow for the three days’ public review of the deal before a vote Thursday. Cuomo can order “messages of necessity,” however, to suspend the three days of review and has often done so for budget and major policy votes.
Legislators are aiming to finish the budget ahead of their two-week Passover-Easter break, which begins Friday.
“We’ve agreed we’re going to get it done on time, and we’re still finalizing a whole bunch of fiscal and appropriation matters — education and higher ed,” said Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan (R-East Northport). “We’re close.”
The Assembly also expects to include Cuomo’s proposal to create a voluntary payroll tax and charitable entities in his plan to mitigate the effect of a new federal tax on some high salaried New Yorkers who also pay high property taxes. The federal law’s cap of deductibility of state and local property taxes hits many Long Islanders hard.
Negotiations resume Monday.
The issues on which Senate Republicans and Assembly Democrats remain at loggerheads include gun control measures and elimination of bail in most criminal cases. Flanagan said the gun control and school safety ideas prompted by the latest school shootings are “still a huge issue; we’re paying attention . . . in painstaking detail.”
Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.
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