PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (WCAX) – Following delays and late-night deals in Albany, New York lawmakers have finally delivered on a budget for 2025. The price tag comes in at $237 billion, roughly $4 billion more than what Gov. Kathy Hochul pitched to lawmakers, and $9 billion more than 2024′s budget.
The plan funds a whole array of things such as housing, health care and migrants. However, it includes a provision related to state prisons that has North Country officials worried.
And some lawmakers, like North Country Assemblyman Billy Jones, are less than satisfied with the process.
“Everyone is not happy usually when you come to a conclusion of a budget and certainly I am not, it has been a frustrating little while here but we keep moving on,” said Jones, D-Chateaugay Lake.
However, Jones says it’s not all bad. He says a crucial funding mechanism for schools, known as Hold Harmless, was kept in the final budget. If removed, it would have meant massive school budget cuts, including in Long Lake where school officials were facing a nearly 45% reduction in state aid.
“It was huge for a district our size to make up $128,000 is a task beyond comparable,” said David Snide, the interim superintendent of the Long Lake Central School District.
Snide says the decision is a relief, and he hopes schools are kept in the loop on future funding decisions.
“We are partners in this, we have to work together and it certainly would have been helpful to know this was coming down the line,” Snide said.
Also in the budget– language that could close more prisons. And the warning would be shorter, with just 90 days instead of a year.
Jones voted against that and is concerned North Country facilities could be on the chopping block.
“It is important to people,” he said. “They have jobs there, there are many programs within a correctional facility that provides services, jobs as well, our community colleges provide services within the correctional facilities and our hardworking men and women, civilian and corrections that work there.”
It’s not clear which five prisons Hochul will close, but in a precautionary move, town and village leaders near the Adirondack Correctional Facility are urging her to steer clear of that prison.