ALBANY – New York’s governor,
senate and assembly leaders Sunday reached an agreement on the 2015-16
state budget.
Governor Andrew Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said the spending plan includes “landmark education reforms and investment,” an ethics package with the nation’s “strongest disclosure laws for legislators with outside income,” and new investments in rebuilding and growing the state’s economy.
The budget agreement holds spending growth below two percent. Total state operating funds amount to over $94.2 billion; school aid is up 6.1 percent at $23.5 billion; Medicaid grew by 4.6 percent to over $17.4 billion; and funds from financial settlements of $5.4 billion include $1.5 billion for the Upstate Revitalization Initiative and $500 million to make New York the first state to have statewide broadband.
Officials said full details of the budget will be released later today.
