Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, Senate Independent Democratic Conference Leader Jeffrey Klein, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie today announced an agreement on the FY 2018 State Budget. The agreement continues the state’s record of fiscal responsibility, holding spending growth to 2 percent while reducing taxes, making smart investments in education, enacting comprehensive criminal justice reforms, creating good-paying jobs, and rebuilding New York’s infrastructure.
About the FY 2018 Budget
- State Operating Funds spending is $98.1 billion in FY 2018 – an increase of 2 percent. (State Operating Funds exclude Federal funds and capital).
- All Funds spending is $153.1 billion for FY 2018.
- Increases Education Aid by $1.1 billion, including a $700 million increase in Foundation Aid, bringing the new Education Aid total to $25.8 billion or an increase of 4.4 percent.
- Increases Medicaid State share funding to $23.5 billion.
- Extends tax rate on millionaires – 45,000 taxpayers impacted, 50 percent non-residents, preserving as $3.4 billion in revenue next year.
- Begins Middle Class Tax Cut – saving taxpayers $250 on average next year, and 6 million New Yorkers $700 annually when fully effective.
- Includes the free college tuition plan at SUNY and CUNY two and four-year colleges for working- and middle-class families
Statement from Governor Andrew M. Cuomo:
“With this Budget, New York is once again showing what responsible government can achieve. The result is a Budget that advances the core progressive principles that built New York: investing in the middle class, strengthening the economy and creating opportunity for all.
“This Budget enacts the Middle Class Recovery Act to continue the Empire State’s upward trajectory and creates a path forward for those striving to get ahead. By making college at our world-class public universities tuition-free, we have established a national model for access to higher education, and achieved another New York first.
“For too long, draconian punishments for youthful mistakes have ruined the lives of countless young New Yorkers. By coming together, we reversed this injustice and raised the age of criminal responsibility once and for all so that 16- and 17-year-olds are no longer automatically processed as adults.
“This Budget continues the progress we have achieved to improve the lives of New Yorkers, and build a stronger, better Empire State that truly lives up to its motto: Excelsior.”
