Buffalo, NY (WBEN) New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced a budget deal "conceptually" was in place on Thursday. The deal includes tax relief at the pump, and money for the Bills stadium.
Hochul announced the gas tax will be suspended starting in June.
State Senator Ed Rath, a Republican from Williamsville, says he's pleased with that development. "The suspension of the gas tax is a very good thing for the residents and the businesses in New York state as well as Western New York," says Rath. But he wishes that had gone further. "I wish we would have provided the full 33.3 cents. But we're only going to be doing half of that from New York State." Rath says he'll join Hochul in encouraging counties to do the same.
Another item Rath likes is state funding for the new Bills stadium. "I think the whole state benefits from the stadium deal, because it's the only major league football team in NFL team in New York State," says Rath.
Rath says he likes the formula in the funding. "Everyone has some skin in the game. It's a deal that I think is balanced, it's reasonable, and it's going to provide a beautiful $1.4 billion stadium for the bills to be here for the next 30 years," notes Rath. He warns without a deal, the Bills may have left town.
One thing he doesn't like is the overhaul of bail reform. He says it doesn't go far enough. "I think we should have a complete overhaul of the bail reform laws. We've heard small pieces of it being addressed. But our communities are dramatically less safe than they were several years ago." says Rath. He says judges do not have the discretion they need to determine if someone is a dangerous individual who could be a threat to society, and district attorneys have been struggling to maintain and to uphold the new discovery requirements that they have.
Hochul says the budget will be $220 billion.
