Swimming in Cash
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul unveiled a $216.3 billion state budget last week, the latest example of a somewhat surprising trend: states, who were in a pandemic-induced fiscal crunch this time last year, have seen a revenue bump.
As I reported in The Wall Street Journal, tax revenue for states increased by 24% between 2020 and 2021, according to an Urban institute analysis. In New York that’s meant $9.6 billion in extra receipts, mostly from income tax, above October projections. You read that right: billion with a B.
The result is more money than anyone can recall. Citizens Budget Commission President Andrew Rein said he can’t remember a time when the state is projecting budget surpluses for the next five years: “I have never seen a financial plan that’s balanced as far as the eye can see,” he said. Former Gov. David Paterson, a Democrat who put together his first budget during the Great Recession, told Politico that he was “seethingly jealous” of Hochul’s fiscal fortune.
Hochul has enough money to be able to bulk up state reserves, increase Medicaid reimbursement rates, hike school aid by 7% — more than even the Board of Regents asked, as Mr. Precious noted in the Buffalo News — and still spend $2.2 billion on property tax rebates and $1.2 billion in bonuses for healthcare workers. Those checks will arrive sometime before Hochul, a Democrat, faces voters in her bid for a full term this fall.
Hearings on the spending proposal will start this week in Albany, and continue through the March 31 budget deadline. To meet the inevitable demands of lawmakers, Hochul has already put $2 billion on the table for “pandemic recovery initiatives.” With full coffers and a lower-key governor, will we finally have a (*gulp*) easy budget season?
THE WEEK AHEAD: State officials will need to determine whether to renew mask-or-vax requirements for businesses. In New York City, Mayor Eric Adams has said he’ll unveil new policing strategies after an officer was fatally shot Friday in Harlem.
AM I A HORRIBLE PARENT? I finally got the 10-year-old to watch Star Wars, which is great. But we started with Episode I and are proceeding chronologically. Should we have started with Episode IV and gone in order of release? Should we deviate for side plots, like Rogue One? Have I irreparably damaged my child??!?
A QUESTION: I’m going to take a break from trivia this week and try some crowdsourcing. We have airline credits expiring this spring from a canceled trip. Where in the U.S. should we go? My goals are (1) good weather in March, (2) a place we can rent that has a hot tub, (3) is cool to just hang out in, (4) allows for day trips to do fun outdoor stuff and (5) allows for day trips to do fun cityesque stuff. Any ideas?
THE LAST ANSWER: The term gerrymandering comes from former Massachusetts politician Elbridge Gerry, who drew a district that looked like a salamander. I will confess I’ve been living a lie, and thought it was Eldridge with a D. Alas. Also: his surname was pronounced with a hard G — so we should all be saying GARY-mandering instead of JERRY-mandering.