PJ Wendel

Chautauqua County Government could be hit with a $4.3 million shortfall this year should New York State move forward with clawing back Medicaid funds.

The Enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Program (E-FMAP) funds are monies from the federal government to New York State that are meant to go to local counties, but Governor Kathy Hochul‘s proposed budget holds onto those monies.

County Executive PJ Wendel said if this stays in the budget, it would put counties back 20 years. He said the idea of the state holding onto E-FMAP monies isn’t new and that former Governor Andrew Cuomo had proposed doing the same in the past, “But the Budget Director, who was the Budget Director under Governor Cuomo, Robert Mujica; we were told kind of slipped this in without the Governor’s (Hochul) knowledge. Well, we all said this on a meeting last week, if anybody slipped anything into our budget without our knowledge they probably wouldn’t be working for us. This person has since left, so there’s a vacant position for.. I think there’s an Acting Budget Director now. So the Budget Director position is really vacant so we’re going after a ghost.”

Wendel said the claw back of funds is going into the state’s fund balance and not designated for any specific program.

He said he learned this week that the state is also behind on Medicaid reimbursements to counties to the tune of $8 million for Chautauqua County alone.

Should the Medicaid claw back continue to be part of the state budget when it’s passed April 1, Wendel said the $4.3 million that Chautauqua County would lose in funding is a large portion of the budget, “As you know, we have a very favorable fund balance. This year we did use $4 million in capital projects. So, I’d hate to cancel any of those capital projects cause they are necessary and sometimes, it’s most often times, deferred maintenance and stuff we’re putting off. We do have the ability right now to cover that, but why is it that we are being punished for being fiscally prudent when the Governor can’t seem to get their budget under control?”

Wendel added the New York State Association of Counties, which he is a member of and sits on the board of directors, is working to negotiate with Hochul’s office on this item. He said he hopes those who have pull with Hochul, like Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, can sway her to pull this out of the budget. Wendel said he doesn’t believe the State Legislature has any say over the budget item and that it’s at the Governor’s discretion.

Dr. Mary Bassett

New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett has announced she will resign on January 1.

In a statement, Bassett said she plans to return to the Harvard Chan School of Public Health.

Bassett, a former New York City health commissioner, replaced Howard Zucker a year ago, who had served as a holdover from Governor Andrew Cuomo‘s administration. She was the first major appointment to Governor Kathy Hochul‘s new administration.

Bassett was the primary official in charge of the state’s response to a resurgence of COVID-19 cases, an ongoing rollout of vaccinations and booster shots as well as efforts to respond to an outbreak of polio and monekypox, now known as mpox.

In a statement, Hochul said she is “deeply grateful” to Bassett for her service leading the department over the last 12 months.

Her departure comes weeks after Division of Budget Director Robert Mujica submitted his resignation to take a job leading Puerto Rico’s financial oversight agency.

State Budget Director Robert Mujica, Governor Kathy Hochul

New York would boost state school aid, provide sweeping property tax relief and deliver bonuses to health care workers over the next year if lawmakers pass a $216.3 billion dollar budget outlined by Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday.

The Associated Press reports top legislative leaders are expected to keep negotiating with Hochul to finalize the budget, which must be in place by April 1.

Hochul is proposing a 3.1% spending increase in taxpayer dollars for her 2022 proposed budget. The Democratic governor says the spending increase is just below the rate of inflation.

School spending would increase by $2.1 billion dollars, a 7.1% increase. New York raised taxes on high earners and corporations last year with plans to use millions in new tax revenues to keep increasing the state’s share of school aid.

Her budget also includes $1.2 billion in bonuses for health care and front line workers. If that passes, it’ll be up to the state to come up with specifics of how it would guarantee such bonuses.

Hochul proposes offering $2.2 billion in one-time property tax rebates for low- and middle-income homeowners. That rebate would arrive this fall.

Hochul also wants New York to decrease tax rates for the middle class by $162 million through April 2023. Currently, the state is set to wait until 2025 to fully phase in those long-planned tax cuts.

Counties could also raise sales taxes without approval from state lawmakers under another proposal by Hochul. But state budget director Robert Mujica stressed that Hochul’s budget itself wouldn’t raise taxes.

New York has yet to launch recreational marijuana sales, but budget officials project the industry will bring in $56 million in revenues through March 2023.

Mujica said the state expects to start issuing licenses for sellers of adult-use recreational marijuana sometime next year.

Hochul’s budget also includes a $200 million dollar fund backed by state and private dollars to provide capital and startup support to help applicants from under-represented communities.

New York’s recent launch of mobile sports betting is expected to bring in $249 million in revenue through March alone. That’s expected to climb to $357 million through March 2023.

New York is bringing in much more tax revenue than state budget officials expected last year. The latest budget projections released Tuesday say New York will see $5 billion more in tax revenues through March than projected last fall.

That revenue jump is due in part to the state’s slowly recovering economy, as well as tax hikes lawmakers passed last year on high earners and large corporations.

Hochul said she wants the state to set aside more funding in case of future catastrophes. Rainy day funds would eventually make up 15% of the state’s budget under her multi-year plan.