New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo this week was studying options for how to spend a $4.2 billion state budget surplus.
The windfall came as a result of recent financial settlements with banks and insurance companies, state officials said.
BNP Paribas, for example, agreed to pay a $2.2 billion penalty to the state after pleading guilty to charges that it violated economic sanctions by processing transactions for clients in blacklisted countries including Sudan, Cuba and Iran.
The administration said the windfall from the Paribas penalty will be used to help limit annual spending growth to less than 2 percent, not on special one-time programs or projects. And $298 million from that settlement will go into a special fund for addiction treatment at the state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, officials said — a 51 percent boost above the agency’s budget for the year.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration said Monday that it was reviewing options for the remaining unanticipated revenue. Possibilities include paying down state debt, building up the state’s financial reserves, or spending the money on one-time capital expenses.
20 comments:
His Royal Smugness is in trouble again. It's an absolute sure bet that dumb NY voters will still vote for him in November.
It's not a surplus if the state is still in 300 billion dollars of debt!
NY State debt stands at $300 billion. Best to pay off some of the debt with the surplus. But you can be sure that Albany pols would want him to re-instate their members items.
Why don't we help pay off the billions of debt we have. Rebuilding some of our crumbling infrastructure is a good idea too.
However I know that its going to be spent on complete nonsense like providing assistance to illegals or paying for their dream act.
If "Mr Wonderful" does not want to pay down the debt, how about lowering the taxes. That's always popular in an election year.
Ah, the fiscal hawks pop in early to deliver their faithful dose of deficit doom and gloom, as if A-rated bonds weren't already yielding nearly historic lows. Does it ever pop into your conservative brains that you can keep your moral indignation by Albany using that money for a tax refund to spur business and consumer activity in the highest taxed state of the country?
Give it back to the taxpayers where you got it in the first place.
They earned it. You took it.
I would suggest building a mega homeless shelter.
Rebuild failing bridges, rebuild roadways, upgrade the airports, build schools, etc.
No one off tax rebates, because that's all this would be. Don't pay down debt when interest rates are at historic lows. Don't hide just how much the unions are ripping us off. Invest the money eliminating jobs instead. Get NYC some garbage trucks that only need one driver instead of two or three union DSNY employees with a nice pension. Get cameras to ticket dangerous drivers, it's worked elsewhere and means you don't need to hire extra cops to make the streets safer, and can maybe get rid of some (median compensation package > 200k/year for cops). Upgrade signals on the subway and cut the number of employees on the train from 2-1 or 2-0 etc...Stop screwing the taxpayers of tomorrow and invest in the future just as the generations before you did.
START WORKING ON OUR STATE'S INFRASTRUCTURE!
read:A.Cuomo &Fannie&Freddie/village voice,8/5/2008. who began the subprime loan scam. the banks were forced by his HUD to give these dangerous loans to the minorities, who could not afford housing.
the banks now are being forced to pay billions to the Obama gov. ,by the Holder/Obama /dem/prog. D.O.J.
B of A....Morgan/chase /citi etc.
Don't pay down debt when interest rates are at historic lows.
The fact that you made this statement sarcastically as though you think it would be a good idea, and then lumped in a STATE fiscal matter with a CITY union implies you aren't too "with it" on how the government works.
State gives out plenty of grants to local government anon. The money can be used to reduce local union employment today so that tomorrow NYC taxpayers don't have to subsidize union employees all over the state. But tomorrow's taxpayers aren't your concern. Fuck the future I want mine now right anon?
State gives out plenty of grants to local government anon
The sanitation pension is covered by NYCERS. Not the NY State retirement system. The pension funds of the various state counties do not mix with NYSLRS. It has nothing to do with state grants, capital infrastructure, or local agency funding initiatives that apply state money in the city. Anon #10 is just confusing all of the axes he/she has to grind.
I'm sick of the NYC union bloat, but it simply is NOT an issue of the state surplus except for those city unions which happen to be in the NYSLRS system, which exclude sanitation, police, fire, and teachers - the usual target of Queenscrap loonies. MTA is under NYSLRS, but no one complained about them, probably because no one here even thinks to look it up before they talk.
Maybe some of the surplus can be used to reinstate the Moreland Commission that was disbanded by the Governor when the corruption investigation was closing in on alleged improprieties of Independence Party honcho Giulio Cavallo. Why was Giulio Cavallo, from Westchester, hired by Senator Maltese a number of years ago for his Glendale, Queens office? The inference is that it was a no-show job given to Cavallo in exchange for giving the Independence Party endorsement to Nicholas Spano, who was running for the State Senate in Westchester as a Republican, and needed the extra votes on the Independence Party line. Maybe the people deserve an explanation, since it was their tax dollars that were used in this apparent scam. If it wasn't a scam, then we deserve a credible explanation.
Also, it appears that a Milton Williams, Jr., was one of the Moreland Commissioners, according to a NY Times article on the Moreland Commission scandal. Is he the son of Milton Williams, a Supreme Court Justice? If he is, that tells you something about the "independence" of this Commission.
The people should be sick of this crap, but they are ignorant and apathetic, and only vote for the same shysters who delude them into thinking that giving out freebies is equivalent to acting in the best interests of society.
Give our part time state legislators a well deserved raise.
Or use the surplus to pay the legal fees of legislators who find themselves under indictment.
You know that's what they'd do with it if nobody was closely watching.
Why not a 500 foot tall statue of Obama with outstretched arms, to be put on the Mexican border. Then a 1,000 foot tall statue of Andy to replace the Statue of Liberty???
I know you're joking anon, but more statues would be great. NYC could use more public art. Ideally something involving a sword.
There are a lot of rusting bridges in this state.....
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