New York State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle (R-C-I, Port Jefferson), chairman of the Senate’s Higher Education Committee today said the budget about to be enacted restored an orderly and open budget negotiation process, brought back fiscal responsibility to the state, closes a $10 billion budget deficit and creates a road to job creation and economic recovery, all with no new taxes or borrowing.
“This budget,” LaValle said, “reaches its financial goals with no new taxes and no borrowing and will cut next year's projected budget deficit from $15 billion to about $2 billion.”
School Aid
LaValle said, Long Island’s traditional share of school aid, though reduced, will be in-line with what has been received in the past. "I fully expect that the dollars restored to the education budget will be put into the classroom and not taken from programs for our children,” LaValle said. “This is the time to start redesigning the education process so that taxpayers are getting the maximum investment for their dollars. "
SUNY Hospitals
LaValle said the new budget restores a total of $87 million for SUNY Hospitals – including $27 million in pension relief -- and $3.77 million for the Long Island State Veterans Home. LaValle said, “It is my hope that the restoration of state support will allow Stony Brook to continue vital programs, such as the Burn Center.”
LaValle said there is more than approximately $69 million in the budget for SUNY capital projects, including the SUNY Stony Brook Medical Center Children’s Hospital ($45 million) and a Biomedicine Building ($24.2 million). “These capital projects will at first create construction jobs that get people working and push dollars back into the economy,” LaValle said, “ and once completed will create additional jobs, many in the medical and science fields with the attendant support staffs.”
The Biomedicine Building, LaValle said, will provide a platform for the development of very early stage technologies and their commercialization.
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