New York Ensures Payrolls, Bills Are Paid as Budget Delayed

(Bloomberg) -- New York will be able to pay its bills and cut employee paychecks despite missing an April 1 state budget deadline.

Lawmakers passed so-called extender legislation on Monday, which will fund state operations and payrolls through April 7 and buy some time for Governor Kathy Hochul to finalize a deal with the Legislature. passage of a budget extender bill will ensure that more than 60,000 state employees will be paid this week. However, since the extender was passed after the time in which OSC indicated it must be done to avoid any disruptions, there may be a delay and employees on the institutional payroll should watch closely.”

“We want to make sure all of our dedicated public servants are getting their paycheck,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie told reporters in Albany on Monday. “And it will just try to give us a couple more days to finish this process up.”

The more than $200 billion state budget is being held up by negotiations over the details of several controversial policy changes, including discussions about changes to the state's bail and discovery laws, people familiar with the negotiations told Bloomberg News. Without the extender legislation, employees' paychecks would be delayed, state comptroller Tom DiNapoli's office warned last week.

On Monday, DiNapoli said more than 60,000 state employees will be paid this week thanks to the extender bill but that there may still be delays because it was passed later than his office had recommended.

Other possible policy changes under discussion include an expansion of childcare subsidies, gas tax relief for New York drivers, legislation to make permanent a pandemic change that allowed people to order alcohol to-go from restaurants, and the authorization of several new casino licenses in downstate New York.

‘Risky Business'

Hochul on Monday said she was “confident” that she would reach a deal with lawmakers in a matter of days. She said her entire budget negotiation team except one person had Covid over the last week and called it a “very different budget process” from her predecessors.

“These are complicated issues. There's a lot of passion behind them, I understand that,” Hochul said at a press briefing in Albany shortly after getting her second Covid booster shot. “So we're going to take the time to make sure we answer all the questions from the members to their leaders and that's the give and take that's going on. Again, it may not be customary, but I'm demonstrating how I'm governing very differently.”

The budget hold up was criticized by lawmakers and good governance groups, who say the delays raised questions of Albany's competence, transparency and accountability among the governor and legislative leaders.

“Delays and lack of time for public and legislative review diminish public accountability and New Yorkers' confidence that their government can fulfill its obligations well,” said Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonprofit group focused on state and city finances. “Much of the continuing negotiations center on how much more to spend on an array of recurring and one-time programs. Plain and simple, this is risky business.”