Governor Andrew Cuomo is scheduled to release the 2021-22 Executive Budget proposal on Tuesday, January 19th which will really kick off the Legislative Session given that the Governor’s budget proposal will provide more detail on how many of the programs outlined this week in his State of the State Addresses.
How much detail is yet to be seen. The Governor hoped that the economic crisis cause by the COVID-19 pandemic, creating a $15 billion budget deficit would be offset by federal government intervention. However, until President Elect Joseph Biden takes office, on the 20th, it is unlikely that federal aid will be known for several more weeks. In the meantime, the Cuomo Administration has withheld billions in state expenditures in hopes of this financial relief from Washington. It is anticipated that monies that had been withheld would be returned to agencies that have cut state aid. If federal funds were never to arrive, these “withholds” would become permanent cuts, cuts that would total 20 percent.
Given this backdrop, it will be interesting to see how the Governor’s budget proposal is shaped – will it be a “bare bones” budget and then once federal aid is known, he will submit amendments or will it be constructed in some other manner. Also, it is anticipated that many of the programs businesses and other organizations are interested in will be tied to the budget proposal and these will need to be reviewed and addressed by the Legislature as they begin to assert themselves into the Budget process from now until the April 1 deadline.
Doug and Tracey will be speaking and reacting to the Governor’s budget on Friday, January 22nd via a one-hour webinar and we invite people to join to get their perspectives.
Anyone with questions on this or any other topic, please feel free to reach out to our office directly.