|
SILVER: NEW BUDGET 'BRIGHTENS
FUTURE FOR WORKING FAMILIES'
The Assembly is expected to begin passage today of a state budget that Speaker Sheldon Silver is hailing as "a tremendous victory for the future of working families in our state" through its increased investments in education, job creation, higher education and transportation "The open and public process employed by the Legislature's joint budget conference committees and the hard work of rank-and-file members of the Assembly Majority have achieved a budget that means better lives for working families and a stronger, more competitive state economy," Silver said. "The budget meets our commitment to an educational environment geared to the success of each student by funding the next phase of class size reduction and universal pre-K and by supporting better preparation of teachers, better maintenance of school buildings and modern, well-equipped classrooms," Silver said. "Through a new Empire Zone program that targets job creation in economically distressed areas, we continue to develop more effective strategies to ensure more employment opportunities and a stronger, expanding economy. "To help sustain Wall Street and Silicon Alley in New York City, the budget moves the long-sought, critically needed full-length Second Avenue subway line forward as part of a major, statewide investment in mass transit systems, roads and bridges, which are vital to the continued economic viability of our state," Silver said. "We also recognize the importance of a well-educated, skilled work force through increased funding for our colleges and universities, which serve as innovators and incubators for emerging businesses and industries, and for the Tuition Assistance Program to ensure the children of working families have access to higher education opportunities. "Working families will also receive help in making ends meet
from an increased income tax deduction for couples aimed at reducing
the so-called marriage penalty, from enhancements to the child care
credit and earned income tax credit and from the Medicaid buy-in program
for disabled workers who want to remain productive and on the job,"
Silver said. "There are budget victories as well for our business
community through reduced taxes and improvements to the Power for
Jobs and CAPCO programs, for our elderly through a significant expansion
and improvement to the EPIC program and for local governments, from
enhanced revenue sharing to help counties meet the first-year costs
of Family Health Plus to supplemental aid that targets vital financial
assistance to debt-plagued, upstate cities." -- Historic $1.1 billion increase in education aid to help children attain higher standards and improve teacher training programs, including $290 million increase in the Assembly Majority's LADDER program to help local schools reduce class size, expand pre-K, update computer technology and recruit quality teachers. -- An additional $50 million for school construction and reconstruction projects under the 1998 Assembly-initiated "Rebuild Schools to Uphold Education" program, which when added to the $145 million currently available under RESCUE, brings total funding for educational infrastructure projects to $195 million. -- Increased Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) funding, including raising the maximum benefit from $4,125 to $5,000 for freshman, expanded to all students over the next four years; boosting the family income eligibility level from $50,500 to $80,000; gradually increasing the minimum award to $500; and lifting TAP tuition cap to 95 percent of annual tuition costs this year and eliminating it next year. -- Enhancements to higher education opportunity programs, increased child care funding for college students and a $125 per student base-aid increase for community colleges. Tax Relief/Job Creation/Economic Development -- A $1.2 billion tax cut package, including an increase in the standard income tax deduction for couples from $13,000 to $14,600 to reduce the "marriage penalty," promote tax fairness and save taxpayers $200 million when fully implemented; an increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit, saving working families $125 million a year; enhancements to the Child and Dependent Care Credit; a college tuition deduction of up to $10,000; and reducing the Gross Receipts Tax (GRT) for residential electric ratepayers. -- Package also includes the establishment of an Assembly-initiated, tax-free Empire Zones program to boost job creation by providing $40 million in annual savings to businesses located in struggling parts of the state and tax credits for building low- and moderate-income housing. -- And it includes a $330 million energy tax-cut plan, highlighted by elimination of the GRT for commercial and industrial electric customers; expansion of the Power for Jobs program to provide 300 megawatts of low-cost power to businesses that create or maintain jobs; and elimination of the minimum tax on petroleum businesses and aviation-fuel businesses; as well as additional, targeted, tax-relief items, such as tax reductions for financial-services and mutual-fund companies; tax credits for construction or rehabilitation of buildings that exceed current environmental standards; a 10 percent ton-mileage tax reduction to benefit the trucking industry; and significant enhancement of sales-tax exemptions in the television, telecommunications and cable industries. Transportation -- A $17.1 billion program to expand and maintain the state's network of roads, bridges and canals; a $17.1 billion statewide, mass transit program, including a full-length Second Avenue subway line that will provide significant relief in transportation congestion to the east side of Manhattan, the heart of New York City's commercial and financial district, and assist the city in purchasing clean-fuel buses; and a $3.8 billion transportation bond proposal, which will be placed before voters in November and will provide funds necessary to support the road-and-bridge building and mass transit program. Health/Human Services -- A significant enhancement of the state's EPIC program to reduce senior's out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs; a $679 million child care subsidy to assist working families in meeting the costs of quality child care; a $40 million initiative to recruit and retain child-care employees and $18.5 million to improve the quality of child care; and $35 million to support a summer youth jobs program in New York City. -30- |
||||
