June 13, 2026
By State Senator Tom O’Mara
“It’s even more expensive, and worse, than we were told”
That didn’t take long. In my first column in the aftermath of the recently enacted 2026-2027 state budget, I wrote, “This final budget was forced through and enacted under a process that’s broken and that leaves most legislators and especially the public at large still not knowing everything that’s in it. Believe me, we’ll be hearing surprising details on what Democrats have snuck into this spending plan for weeks to come.” It took less than two weeks for the surprises to start.
Remember Governor Hochul, her Division of the Budget (DOB), and the Democrat-led Legislature told taxpayers, when they finally got around to enacting the final budget with just a few days left in May (two months late), that it totaled around $268 billion. That represented an increase of about $15 billion over last year or roughly 6%, outpacing inflation by over 66%, If that’s not outrageous enough.
Now we learn that it’s actually at least $277 billion. That’s right, early last week the state DOB quietly put out an updated financial plan revealing that the new budget, in the end, is approaching $10 billion more than what we were told, a nearly $25 billion hike over last year’s budget, meaning that it’s actually a 9% increase, year to year, outpacing inflation by 150%!
That’s not just some minor accounting error. It’s not just a few dollars and cents more. No, it’s not. Somehow, during the 13 days between the time the budget was voted on and early last week, the budget grew by another nearly $10 billion than what we were told it would be. Dig a little deeper and you learn that Albany Democrats have decided to just roll the dice on being able to afford it all a few years from now.
In other words, it’s an ultimate “kick the can down the road” fiscal plan.
Once again, taxpayers are left facing the fiscal cliff. Taxpayers are left with a one-party, all-Democrat state government that — as so many of us have said time and again for nearly a decade now – simply has no intention, not now or ever, of prioritizing the overriding need in this state to cut taxes, eliminate unfunded mandates, restrain overregulation, reduce debt, control borrowing, make New York more economically competitive, and other rational fiscal and economic practices.
New York’s taxpayers, families, and job creators keep telling us that this state is on the wrong track. They keep telling us that they can no longer afford to live, work, raise a family, or start a small business here. They keep leaving in droves.
And the answer from the Albany Democrats? Keep spending more. In less than two weeks, the Hochul administration is now telling us that, oops, the new budget is actually $10 billion more than what we told you it was 13 days ago. State spending, virtually any way you look at it, is far outpacing inflation. It’s a state awash in red ink with built-in, multi-year, multi-billion-dollar budget gaps in the years ahead.
The spending is out of control, it’s not sustainable, and Albany Democrats know it. Instead of being guided by common sense and responsibility, however, they just keep throwing caution to the wind. They just keep following a “spend it now and figure it out later” approach to this state’s future, and it’s failing.
In the meantime, taxpayers are expected to go on being worried about making ends meet during the worst affordability crisis they have ever faced. I’ll remind you that a recent statewide poll from the Siena Research Institute showed that more than 70 percent of respondents believed the state’s fiscal condition is fair or poor. The survey also found 75% of respondents reporting that the cost of utilities was having a “serious impact on their financial condition.” Fifty-one percent said their bills for heating and electricity are unaffordable, with nearly 30 percent admitting that they have been forced to borrow money or take on debt to cover utility costs.
The Albany Democrat fix, in this budget, is a joke, a one-time, so-called “energy rebate” of $100 to $200 (depending on your marital status and income) to New York households. I’m sure it’ll be delivered shortly before Election Day. And get this, the rebate will go to every qualifying household whether or not it actually pays the utility. It’s just another pandering handout to get votes. There were no actions to actually lower utility bills.
It’s worth repeating: The final 2026-2027 New York State budget is out of touch with the affordability crisis crushing New York’s state and local taxpayers, and their families and communities, and local economies. The final plan is rightly criticized for its continued focus on spending that is out of control, for its reliance on a broken budget adoption process, and for its failure to move New York in a better, more responsible direction economically, fiscally, and on public policy priorities in fundamentally key areas including energy, health care, and public safety and security.
In my initial post-budget column I also wrote, “New York State taxpayers today and long into the future already face trying to afford, live, and work under a bloated, wasteful, and unaffordable state government. This budget makes it worse. It ignores the economic and fiscal warnings on the horizon.”
It’s careless, it’s reckless, and taxpayers keep paying the price.
