The New York State Senate voted to finalize a $136 billion budget August 3, following the Assembly’s approval of the plan. The 32-28 vote, which was split along party lines, enacted the plan into law 125 days late.
The budget reduces funding to the Human Services department by 8 percent, including a 4.8 percent reduction in funding to the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) over last year, to $5.1 billion. The OTDA provides support services and financial assistance to seniors and people with disabilities who are unable to work.
Edith Prentiss, president of the 504 Democratic Club, responded by saying, “Let’s look at what wasn't even on the table this year!” She referred to parity between the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption and the Disability Rent Increase Exemption, and to the expansion of the Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage Program, the state’s prescription drug plan for seniors.
Michael Hogan, commissioner of the state Office of Mental Health, praised the plan, saying the budget “sustains essential mental health services at a time when many New Yorkers are severely challenged by the current economic climate.”
“The budget continues to defer multi-year obligations, freeze residential development and constrain spending, while preserving programs that meet the basic mental health obligations of New Yorkers with the most serious mental disorders,” Hogan said.
The Cerebral Palsy Associations of New York State will present their Legislator of the Year Award to Senator Frank Padavan in late October, in part for voting against the state budget because the organization says it will have negative impacts on people with disabilities.
Governor David Patterson’s Director of Communications, Morgan Hook, said, "Today the state finalized a budget that closes a $9.2 billion budget gap. This was done primarily through spending cuts and with no borrowing.”
“Additionally, for the first time in State history, we have taken action – through a Federal Medical Assistance Percentages (FMAP) contingency plan, which was championed by the Governor – in anticipation of a loss of federal revenue, and put spending cuts in place to fill the gap,” Hook said. That plan includes a potential $1 billion in additional spending cuts to state programs if the federal government fails to extend Medicaid stimulus funds that expire at the end of the year.
Under the plan, the State will reduce a wide range of services paid for by the General Fund and State special revenue funds beginning September 16 and continue to do so through the end of the fiscal year on March 31. Funding for services such as public assistance, debt service, and court judgments would be exempt from the cuts. If the Federal government extends the stimulus funds, the additional cuts would cease.
"While I will continue to advocate for full FMAP funding from Congress, passage of this contingency plan is the responsible measure to keep our budget in balance and avoid mid-year cuts should the funds not materialize," Governor Paterson said in passing Program Bill No. 324, the FMAP contingency plan, on August 2. "I'm pleased the Legislature has realized the importance of this legislation and joined me in supporting it."
This article was published in the November 2010 issue of Able News.
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