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NY State Passes $140B Budget Just Before Deadline

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y. -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York State lawmakers were able to pass a $140 billion budget that provides tax relief for businesses, homeowners and renters. 

Governor Andrew Cuomo and Albany lawmakers passed a $140 billion budget at the 11th hour on Monday night.

Governor Andrew Cuomo and Albany lawmakers passed a $140 billion budget at the 11th hour on Monday night.

Photo Credit: File

The new budget was passed at approximately 11:15 p.m. on Monday just minutes before the new fiscal year for the state began. It marks the fourth consecutive year lawmakers have passed a budget before the deadline. 

The new budget will provide a credit on property tax that will save homeowners an estimated $1.5 billion over the next three years. 

“This budget builds on the State’s progress over the past three years in order to grow the economy and create new opportunities for New Yorkers and their families,” Cuomo said in a statement. “This budget maintains the fiscal discipline that has characterized the last three years of progress by holding the growth in spending below two percent, while also making broad tax cuts that will help homeowners and businesses thrive. It also contains targeted investments that will transform our schools, ensure safer, cleaner, and fairer communities, and restore the public’s trust in government. This budget contains the framework that will allow us to build a new New York, and I commend the members of the Senate and the Assembly who have joined us to continue that progress.”

The budget also calls for the simplification of business taxes and a reduction in the business tax rate from 7.1 percent to 6.5 percent. 

The 2014-15 spending plan will also provide $1.5 billion over the next five years to help phase in universal, full-day kindergarten in schools over the next five years. 

The budget boasts a 5.3 percent increase in education aid, with 70 percent of the increase going to high needs school districts. 

The new budget also calls for reform on Common Core standards, including the ban of all bubble testing for students in pre-kindergarten through second grade.

The new legislation also guarantees that no student in grades three through eight will have the results of Common Core English or math tests appear on their permanent records. 

 

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