April 3, 2019. This op-ed discusses the opposition to the governor and lieutenant governor’s pay raises included in New York State’s 2020 fiscal year budget. The author notes that Governor Cuomo received a 40 percent pay raise and will be the highest paid chief executive by 2021. The author goes on to discuss how the pay raise was included in the budget despite funding for library construction and the Special Olympics being cut.

Once again, the state budget was passed on time — but just barely.

We wonder if one reason it was passed in the dark hours right before the deadline was to hide a last-minute gift for the governor and lieutenant governor.

A separate provision passed alongside the budget will make Gov. Andrew Cuomo the nation’s highest paid state chief executive by 2021 — a raise of close to 40 percent.

Ron Deutsch, director of the labor-backed Fiscal Policy Institute, said the human service workers have gone without cost-of-living adjustments for more than a decade.

“The governor gives himself a raise and pays lip service to gender pay equity while leaving a predominantly female workforce out in the cold once again,” Deutsch said. He noted that 60 percent of the workers in question could qualify for public assistance benefits.

Many New Yorkers haven’t seen much of a raise (if any) in the past few years, while New York’s taxes continue to rise.

Click here to read the full article from The Daily Star.