Gov. Kathy Hochul’s budget blueprint for 2025 tempers her policy ambitions with some welcome fiscal restraint — or what passes for it in big-spending New York.
Hochul’s proposed $233 billion budget reflects a modest increase of $1 billion, or 0.5%, over this year’s enacted budget. It does not increase income taxes and bolsters the state’s rainy-day fund, while also funding initiatives on crime, mental health treatment and economic development. The governor also must deal with an expensive crisis of Washington’s making, the influx of migrants into New York City.