March 18, 2026 · General Government / Local Assistance · 1,820 words · 5 speakers · 19 segments
And welcome to the first meeting of the joint Budget conference Subcommittee on General Government and Local Assistance. I'm Senator James Scoufus. I'm happy to co chair this subcommittee with my colleague who you'll hear from in just a moment. I want to thank my assembly co chair and all our colleagues for being here as we begin these discussions on the 2026, 2027 state budget. On the senate side I am joined by by Senator Monica Martinez, Senator Chris Ryan, also serving on this conference committee. The subcommittee is Senator Robert Jackson who I know is engaged in floor activity right now, as well as Senator Eric Bottcher who is serving as an alternate. Senator Mark Walch is serving as the Senate ranker and Senator Alexis Wyke is serving as the alternate to Senator Walchek. At this time I turn it over to my co chair Assemblymember Solages from the assembly for opening remarks and introductions.
Well, thank you Senator. It's a pleasure to co chair this budget committee with you and it's my first one so it's very exciting. And from our cities to our towns, our villages, our counties and special district local governments are where policy meets people. And they are on the front lines of maintaining infrastructure, supporting our public safety and delivering essential services every day. So I thank all my colleagues here as well as our great teams who are currently negotiating this budget. But we really have to be honest in the moment that we're in because local governments are being asked to do more with less. There's rising costs, aging infrastructure, increasing demands. And so the conversations that we are having here is important because we want to make sure our municipalities have the resources they need to thrive. And so with that I'm going to be introducing my colleagues who are on the this dais. I'm going to first start with Assembly Member Jamie Williams, Assembly Member Stacey Pfeffer, Amato Assembly Member and Chair of Cities Committee Patrick Burke, Alternate Chris Burdick as well as another alternate Paula Elaine K. And then I'd like to also acknowledge the ranker assembly member Ari Brown as well as assembly member Brian Magdala. So with that, okay.
So with that we'll proceed. We'll each designate a secretary for the purpose of taking minutes. On the Senate side, we'll designate Joyce
Andrea and it's my honor to designate Caroline Burke as our secretary. The following agencies are announced to be at our table. It's a long list, so please be patient with me. We have the Department of Tax and Finance, Division of Budget, Executive Chamber, Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government, Department of Financial Services, Offices of General Service, General Stage. Sorry, excuse me, General State Charges, the Office of Inspector General, Department of State, the Department of Audit and Control, Division of Tax Appeals, the Office of Information Technology Services, Aid to Localities, Statewide Financial Systems, State Board of Elections, Alcohol Beverage Control and Miscellaneous General Government.
As you can hear, we have our work cut out for us here on this subcommittee. I'd now like to open up the floor to comments from other senators. And we'll start with Senator Walchick.
Thanks, Mr. Chair and legislators. As we work through this process and towards a final budget, affordability has to remain at the front and center. New Yorkers high taxes, burdensome regulations and rising housing, energy and insurance costs continue to make it harder for small businesses to grow and compete with other states. Our conference has advanced proposals to lower taxes, freeze property taxes, reduce housing construction costs costs and streamline some of those unnecessary regulations. But we have to do more to help local governments when it comes to costly Albany mandates. So I look forward to working with my colleagues to implement a fiscally responsible and on time budget that provides sufficient funding for local and government initiatives throughout our state. This budget should focus on lowering costs, rejecting new taxes and mandates and making New York more competitive. And specifically, when you look at some of the differences in proposals, you see that AIM was flat in the Governor's proposal, flat in the assembly proposal. The Senate did increase AIM, but with a focus of 302 million on New York City AIM chips, which is our highway funding. Flat in the Governor's proposal, a small increase in the assembly, 250 million increase, which we appreciate across the board in the Senate this year. But it's important for New Yorkers to recognize that no matter where you drive, someone is maintaining that essential road to get you where you're going. And I hope that the enacted budget provides meaningful relief for families and small businesses by lowering those costs, reducing those burdens and supporting our local governments in New York. And with that. Thank you, Chairman.
Thank you. We've been joined by Senator Bottcher. Welcome. I'll now turn it over to my assembly counterpart.
Thank you. From the assembly there. Are there any members that are interested in making comment at this time? Gentlemen, you can go ahead.
Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. And on behalf of the Assembly Minority Conference, myself and Assemblyman Brown would like to make a few comments. You know, we're right in the middle of the budget, the talks right now. And as we move forward in the budget talks, we need to really think about what this is going to affect and who it's going to affect back home and the people that we represent. You know, we constantly get feedback from our constituents, from our towns and local governments back home on what's really hurting them and what we're doing here at the state and how it affects them. One of the key components, being a former town supervisor, is that 2% tax cap, having that 2% tax gap, trying to stay under that tax cap, making sure that we spend that money wisely. We also need to make sure here at our level that we constantly look at what we can do to alleviate some of those rising costs, whether it's a mandated cost or just costs, whether it's electricity, fuel, anything else that really comes along. And as we look at some of the state policies and we. And what we need to do to give them relief through those mandates. The other thing right now, talking to constituents, which also affects our schools, our towns, our villages, our counties, is the high involved cost of utility bills. We all see it, we all hear it every single day right now, talking to individuals back home, making the decision whether to pay their electric bill or pay for food or the pharmaceuticals or anything else that they need. We do a lot of good things here. We see an increase in aim. We need to have that increase. That will be one key component of that, key component of that moving forward in the budget process. And at the same time, as we final those budgets, let's make sure we do this all together. Let's have all five parties in that room making sure that every taxpayer across New York State is represented as we finalize that budget. And we, as a conference, look forward to working with our majority members in the assembly, working across the table, across with the governor's office, the Senate, and looking forward to making sure that process does what it needs to do and again, helping our local governments be who they are, giving them the ability to breathe and so on. That I'd like to turn over to Ari Brown.
Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We keep hearing that affordability is the central theme of this year's budget. But local governments across New York are still being asked to operate in an environment where the number simply does not add up. The assembly proposal keeps aim at 865.2 million. Yet 150 million of this is temporary municipal assistance, meaning that a significant portion of what is presented as aid is still not permanent support municipalities can't rely on year after year. The senate goes to 1.17 billion, roughly 252 million above last year and more than 300 million above the Executive and Assembly proposals, which immediately Raised the question, if one house can identify that level of need, where are local governments elsewhere being told that the lower number is sufficient. At the same time, the assembly proposes 1.5 billion in additional temporary assistance over three years. But 1 billion of that goes to New York City, leaving just 500 million for every other city, town and village across the state. For suburban and small local governments already struggling with labor costs, sanitation, police, overtime, road work, water infrastructure, that imbalance is very difficult to justify. We also see miscellaneous financial assistance at 573.8 million, while the Senate moves it to 679.3 million, nearly 150 million above the governor's level. If fiscal need is really enough to justify that kind of spread between proposals, the local government deserves transparency about what formula is actually being used. Add to that 750 million for clean water infrastructure even as construction continues to rise dramatically. And many local officials are asking the same question. Are we budgeting for today's course or using last decade's assumptions, Local governments are doing their part under this 2% tax cap. Albany now has to do its part by replacing temporary patches with long term certainty. Thank you.
Any additional comments? Assembly Member Chris Brodick
thank you Chair. And I just want to commend your remarks at the outset, those of your Senate counterpart in terms of wanting to see the increased funds that we provide for our municipalities like it's crucial and
myself coming out of local government, I
certainly understand the kind of strain that our local governments are under. So strongly support the proposed legislative end.
Thank you Assemblymember. So we have not received a table target and conversations will be ongoing to resolve open issues in the areas of government, of general government.
Okay, so barring any final closing remarks, that concludes our subcommittee meeting. Want to thank everyone for joining this scintillating meeting that we just had and we all look forward to working as three ways get underway. Senate, assembly and Governor. As our Majority Leader likes to note, as of last week we have entered the beginning of the middle and there is a lot in the middle that awaits us in the coming weeks. Do you have any final remarks, Co Chair?
I look forward for the state legislature to have fun, so take care.
Thanks everybody. Thanks for joining.