State lawmakers are poised to strike a budget deal that will add about $4 billion in additional spending to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s record $216 billion proposal — including the $850 million-plus in state and local taxpayer funds she wants for a new Buffalo Bills stadium, sources told The Post on Tuesday.
New York’s overdue fiscal 2023 budget could reach or exceed $220 billion, an increase of $8 billion over fiscal 2022, sources close to the negotiations said.
Higher-than-expected tax revenues and federal COVID-19 relief funding are expected to finance the spending splurge that’s under consideration.
Hochul and fellow Democrats who control both chambers of the state Legislature blew Friday’s deadline to adopt a new budget and on Monday passed a last-minute budget “extender” that gave them until Thursday to meet payroll obligations for tens of thousands of state employees.
“Hopefully we get everything wrapped up before Thursday…that’s kind of the deadline,” state Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris (D-Queens) said.
Gianaris said lawmakers were close to deals on key issues including Hochul’s proposed rollback of the state’s controversial bail-reform law.
“We’re gonna be handling gun charges differently. In some instances, it’s dealing with what constitutes gun trafficking and in others, it’s whether a particular charge is eligible for bail or not, but there’ll be a series of changes,” he said.
Gianaris also said, “Dealing with hate crimes is a priority for a lot of our members and you’ll see some changes on that.”
Sources said the plan for a new Bills stadium — which emerged as a Hochul priority last week — was expected to pass despite widespread opposition from lawmakers and the public.
Hochul pegged the total cost at $1.4 billion, with state taxpayers covering $600 million and residents of Erie County, where it will be built, chipping in another $250 million.
The teams’ billionaire owners — Florida residents Terry and Kim Pegula — will foot just $550 million of the price tag.
But independent budget watchdogs have warned that cost overruns and the price of actually operating the stadium could push the total taxpayer bill as high as $1.13 billion.
Hochul and lawmakers are also hashing out the details of a plan to bring legal casino gambling to New York City.
The measure would require the state Gaming Facility Location Board to issue a Request for Applications to open three new gambling parlors – with two or possibly all three located within the five boroughs – in addition to the four already operating upstate.
State Senate Democrats included a proposal that would set the price tag for each new license at $1 billion, but sources close to negotiations said that figure is still being decided.
“It’s important for a number of our members and a number of the assembly members that local officials have say over where casinos land, so there will be some element of that in the final product, but the details are still being worked out,” Gianaris said.
Lawmakers are also considering:
- An extension of the pandemic-era “alcohol to-go” measure
- Relief for sky-high prices at the gas pump
- A plan to revamp the state’s embattled ethics agency, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics
- More spending for home care workers, childcare, distressed hospitals, SUNY and CUNY students and potentially a state-funded deal to provide insurance to undocumented New Yorkers
- Sources in the state Senate and Assembly have complained that Hochul frustrated budget negotiations by introducing controversial policy items in March, several weeks after her initial proposal was released in January.
Sources also said that progress was slowed after a majority of Hochul’s negotiation team came down with positive cases of COVID-19.
The governor revealed Monday that all but one of her officials came down with the virus within the final days of budget conversations.
