Hochul proposes $216-billion, 2022-23 budget that increases spending on pandemic relief, infrastructure and education...
New York Governor Kathy Hochul is proposing a $216-billion budget for 2022-2023 that includes a middle class tax cut... and, includes investments in pandemic relief, infrastructure, and education. However... Hochul Tuesday also said her spending plan is balanced this year... and, for several more to come. She says the budget includes historic investments in a number of areas... thanks to a number of factors... including federal pandemic relief. Hochul says there are also more tax revenues, and a "thriving stock market." Hochul says the COVID-19 pandemic has laid a number of issues bare that New Yorkers have struggled with the past two-years... and, some more recently. She says her budget includes a significant amount in additional recovery funds... totaling $2-billion to help landlords and tenants, and hard hit small businesses. Hochul adds that the $1.2-billion tax cut that she proposed in her State of the State Address will put the money back into the pockets of 6-million middle class New Yorkers. She says there will also be a $2-billion tax rebate for more than 2-million middle class home owners. As for education... Hochul says she's proposing a record $31-billion in total state aid for schools in New York state. The legislature must approve a budget by Apr. 1.
Borrello calls Hochul's budget message "encouraging..." but, still concerned about spending...
The region's state Senator says he's "encouraged" that Governor Hochul's proposed budget doesn’t rely on new taxes or fees and includes some initiatives that would benefit middle-class taxpayers. Sunset Bay Republican George Borrello he's also pleased to see that she will accelerate the income tax cuts authored a few years ago by the former Senate GOP majority... and will now begin next year. However, Borrello says he would like to see some of the mandates put on county governments relaxed. He adds that small businesses are continuing to stuggle to recover. He says while Hochul has proposed modest small business relief, the best way the state can help is by directing billions in unspent federal aid to ease the crushing unemployment insurance tax rates the state has levied on small employers to replenish the depleted fund.
Hochul says COVID-19 numbers starting to trend in right direction, with omicron effect waning...
Governor Kathy Hochul says the trends of recent days look positive that New York may soon be able to "close the book" on the Winter Surge of COVID-19 cases... fueled by the omicron variant. As she began her budget presentation Tuesday morning... Hochul noted that the number of new cases over the past 11 days had fallen from just over 90,000 on Jan. 7, to 22,312 on Monday. She says that's a 75% drop... which she called "incredible." She adds the positivity rate is now down to just over 12%... an 11-point drop in the seven-day infection rate from the Winter high reported on Jan. 2. Chautauqua County will release it's weekly COVID numbers today. Last week... the county reported it's highest figures of the pandemic with 1,855 cases reported from Jan. 2-8.
Jamestown-area gasoline prices remain steady past week...
Gasoline prices in the Jamestown-area remain stable this week... though the price of regular, unleaded fuel rose a penny over the past week. The AAA East Central's Gas Price Report says this weeks local price remains $3.53 a gallon, which is $1.03 more than last year at this time. Nationally... AAA says prices increased by a penny to $3.31 per gallon, driven primarily by the cost of crude oil which has vaulted over $80-dollars a barrel. Officials say the main reason for that increase is the perception that the COVID-19 omicron variant may ebb... allowing the world’s economic engines to kick into high gear. The potential increase in oil demand, coupled with lagging crude production, will only increase prices. Since the price of oil accounts for roughly half of what consumers pay at the pump... this will likely result in higher gas prices.
NYS appears ready to pass New Jersey as number one in mobile sports betting...
New York likely surpassed New Jersey for the top spot in the U.S. sports betting market during the first two weekends mobile bets were offered. That's according to a company that most of the legal U.S. sports betting industry uses to verify that its customers are where they say they are. GeoComply Solutions recorded 17.9 million transactions last weekend in New York, up from 17.2 million the weekend before. The data records the amount of times the company was called on to verify a customer's location. It's considered a good indicator for at least a minimum level of sports betting activity. New Jersey's level of activity also increased over that same period, but trailed New York.
DiBlasio not running for governor...
Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio will not be running for governor. On Tuesday, he ended months of speculation by announcing he would not enter the Democratic primary in which Governor Kathy Hochul already has a commanding start, having locked up endorsements and fundraising. De Blasio left office at the end of 2021 after eight years of mayor of the largest city in the country. He had been hinting for months about a 2022 run for governor... but, said on Twitter that he would instead devote himself to fighting inequality in New York.
