Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.

New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul introduced a $233 billion state budget for the 2025 fiscal year — the largest in the state’s history — Tuesday morning in Albany.

The Fiscal Year 2025 Executive Budget centers on lowering crime and addressing New Yorkers’ physical and mental health while protecting the state’s fiscal health, Hochul said during the conference. She said the budget will not increase state income taxes.

The budget invests heavily in crime prevention, allocating $40 million to address retail theft, another $40 million to address domestic violence and $35 million to address hate crimes.

When discussing the $10 million increase in investment for hate crime prevention from the prior fiscal year, Hochul cited the “huge uptick” in hate crimes directed toward Jewish and Muslim New Yorkers amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

SUNY Upstate Medical University started an investigation into a swastika found in an anatomy lab on Friday, according to a campus-wide email sent by Julie White, the university’s dean of student affairs.

“With the shocking escalation (and) more crimes since the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, we now feel the need to increase that support,” Hochul said. “This will all be used to protect our most vulnerable communities and strengthen security at organizations and houses of worship.”

Hochul’s budget also included $200 million for the launch of the One Network for Regional Advanced Manufacturing Partnerships program, which will create four new workforce development centers along the Interstate 90 corridor and a flagship facility in Syracuse.

“In this budget, Governor Hochul further advances her goal to secure the jobs of tomorrow
… by making key investments to attract industries that will make New York State the home of advanced manufacturing and technological innovation,” New York state Budget Director Blake Washington wrote in the briefing book.

Micron Technology, which announced its $100 billion investment in October 2022, will begin construction in 2024 on its semiconductor plant in Clay, a town just north of Syracuse. Micron expects to both directly and indirectly create 50,000 jobs once all four planned facilities in the region are built.

To address the ongoing housing crisis, Hochul’s budget dedicates $500 million in capital funds to develop up to 15,000 housing units on state-owned property, she said.

“Housing unsheltered New Yorkers, long term residents and new arrivals alike remains a challenge as long as we lack sufficient affordable housing options,” Hochul said. “Even federal vouchers are meaningless if there’s no available apartment inventory.”

The Rural Housing Coalition of New York criticized the budget, writing that she neglected the majority of the state by mostly addressing vacant state-owned properties and New York City housing.

“Last year’s Executive Budget at least had ambitious and farsighted initiatives to address the housing crisis,” wrote Michael J. Borges, the coalition’s executive director, in a Tuesday evening press release.

The budget also includes $35.3 billion for school aid, an increase of $825 million from
last year. According to Hochul’s office, it would be the largest investment in education in New York’s history.

The budget proposes $1.2 billion in new capital funding for SUNY and CUNY schools across New York. The funds will “maintain and preserve campus facilities and make strategic investments,” according to the briefing book. The budget also directs $154 million toward community colleges.

“With these record investments, we’re also focused on improving student performance, like teaching kids how to read in a way they understand,” Hochul said. “Abandoning debunked theories, updating our curriculum to use proven teaching methods.”

Hochul also said the state plans to invest $4.8 billion into state mental health programs, which have increased by 45% since 2022 — her first year as governor.

The mental health investments include $24 million for criminal justice-related programs, $37 million for the “street homeless population” and $43 million to keep supportive housing units for “those who need the services,” Hochul said. The state will also invest $45 million into mental health services specifically for youth in the state.

Hochul’s budget features a $35.5 billion plan to fund Medicaid health care for eligible New Yorkers. Medicaid spending in New York exceeded the state’s projections by $1.5 billion in the 2024 financial year, which Hochul attributes to more people using the program than initially anticipated.

The state is also awaiting repayment from state hospitals that received funds from a one-time bridge loan, she said.

“The federal government has paid the hospitals, but the majority, thus far, have not paid us,” Hochul said.

In her speech, Hochul announced that the Biden Administration approved an amendment to the 1115 Waiver — a health equity form — to allocate $6 billion in federal funds toward the state’s healthcare system, specifically hospitals. The fund will “advance health equity, reduce health disparities and strengthen access to primary and behavioral health care across the state,” according to the briefing book.

The budget also extends $2.4 billion to continue to support asylum seekers in New York City and throughout the state, which includes short-term shelter services for migrants, a plan to offset costs of operating humanitarian emergency response centers and legal services to help asylum seekers receive work authorization.

In May 2023, Hochul issued an executive order to expand resources to support asylum seekers in New York state, which was criticized by local Republican officials. Judge Robert Antonacci of Onondaga County Supreme Court approved temporary orders to block as many as 200 migrants from being housed in the Candlewood Suites Syracuse-Airport Hotel.

The New York Immigration Coalition called Hochul’s efforts in the budget “a step in the right direction,” but said it “falls short of what is needed to fully support immigrant families and boost legal service provider capacity to meet the needs of all immigrant New Yorkers,” according to a Tuesday afternoon press release.

The budget is due and must be enacted by April 1, the start of the fiscal year.

Published on January 16, 2024 at 11:14 pm