Yonkers needs tens of millions in state aid to balance its budget and to avoid steep property tax hikes or painful spending cuts. Buffalo, after years of fiscal mismanagement, is flat on its back and openly seeks a state bailout.
Governor Kathy Hochul happens to come from Buffalo and wants an additional $40 million in aid for her hometown. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins happens to come from Yonkers, and she wants $40 million for her city. There’s symmetry here!
On paper, this looks like an easy deal – fund both and move on. But Albany doesn’t work that way. Not when bigger fights are still unresolved.
With just days to go before the April 1 budget deadline, the process has entered its most opaque phase. As Stewart-Cousins put it, “the beginning is over.” Now comes the hard work: power brokers meeting behind closed doors.
Three Men No Longer in the Room
In the olden days, before 2019 when Stewart-Cousins ascended to her leadership position, the press referred to these closed-door negotiations as “three men in a room,” when the power positions of governor, senate majority leader and assembly speaker were all men. Each year, they hammered out the final budget and presented it as a fait accompli to the state senators and assembly members who voted to ratify it. Although there is considerably more openness now, the core dynamic remains basically the same. The final deal will be shaped by representatives of the same three power centers.
Three Budgets, Three Different Yonkers Outcomes
There are currently three competing proposals for aid to Yonkers and Buffalo:
- Governor’s Budget:
$15 million in Aid and Incentives for Municipalities (AIM) funding (up from $5 million last year) to both Yonkers, Buffalo, and several other cities, but Buffalo also receives an extra $40 million for a total of $55 million. Yonkers does not receive additional aid beyond the $15 million. - Senate Budget:
Provides both Yonkers and Buffalo with a total $55 million.. - Assembly Budget:
Includes the $15 million base plus $16.6 million, for a total of $31.6 million for Yonkers, without any express additional funding for Buffalo beyond $15 million.
The infusion of additional aid matters greatly to both Yonkers and Buffalo, which respectively are the third and second largest cities in New York State based on population. In the context of a $260 billion state budget, an increase of $40 million in funding for each city would represent nothing greater than a rounding error. One would think that is exactly why the differences will be resolved.
The Real Budget Battles
The fight over aid to Yonkers and Buffalo, however, isn’t what’s holding things up. It is a side issue. The main event is elsewhere:
- Taxes and New York City
Mayor Mamdani is pushing to close a roughly $5 billion NYC deficit by raising state taxes on the rich. Hochul has rejected that approach, offering instead $1.5 billion in aid over two years. Her proposal is nowhere near what is needed to solve NYC’s structural budget problems. - Affordability vs. Climate Policy and Car Insurance
In this election year, Hochul is centering her agenda on “affordability.” That means delaying certain climate mandates in an effort to avoid spikes in utility bills and pursuing auto insurance reforms to try to bring down costs. The Legislature appears to be far less willing to slow down climate timelines. - Higher Education Spending
The Governor proposes modest increases for SUNY and CUNY. The Legislature wants to spend in the range of hundreds of millions to over a billion more in capital funding.
So What Happens Next?
Settling with Yonkers and Buffalo should be easy. It’s relatively cheap and satisfies two key political power bases. But that can’t happen until the larger issues are settled.
The central question that must be answered first is: Will the state raise taxes — or will it approve a budget that does not solve the problems of the state’s largest cities?
If Hochul holds the line on taxes, spending will be constrained and every dollar will be contested. If she relents, the entire negotiation loosens – and solving the Yonkers’ problem become easier
Bottom Line
Horse trading hasn’t really begun yet.
Right now, Albany is still deciding how much money there is to spend. Once that’s resolved, the smaller deals can quickly fall into place. Until then, Yonkers is waiting — along with everyone else.
