In his “Promise of a New New York Progress Report” Friday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo touted his administration’s victories during this year’s legislative session, which ended yesterday. A number of them affect state taxes and spending, including:
—Providing mortgage foreclosure counseling to help New Yorkers who are fighting to keep their homes.
—Issuing an executive order to limit excessive compensation for nonprofit groups that provide services to needy New Yorkers. The percentage will increase 5 annually until it reaches 85 percent in 2015.
—Reforming the pension plan to require higher contributions from new employees; changing the retirement age from 62 to 63 and cracking down on pension padding.
—Increasing public-assistance grants by 10 percent. The amount had been the same since 1990.
—Increasing state funding for community colleges. Base aid was increased from $2,122 to $2,272 per student. It is the first increase in base aid for community colleges since the 2007-08 fiscal year.
—Completing a state budget for the 2012-13 fiscal year early, closing a $2 billion deficit, keeping taxes flat and limiting the growth in spending to 2 percent or less for the second consecutive year.
—Providing the governor with authority to move certain funds between state agencies to save money in back-office operations, such as business services, information technology and call centers. No less than 75 percent of state funding has to go to direct care or services.
A copy of the governor’s report is below:
