A North Country assemblyman says he is skeptical of the governor’s proposal to give free SUNY college to poor and middle class families.

“The cost of the program is estimated to be about $163 million annually. I simply do not think families can afford the long-term costs of such a program,” according to Assemblyman Marc Butler, R-Newport, who represents a piece of southern and central St. Lawrence County, from Fine up to Madrid..

“Further compounding my suspicions about this proposal is that the governor wants to allow SUNY institutions to increase tuition up to $250 annually over the next five years, potentially raising tuition by a total of $1,250.”

SUNY’s communications department says annual tuition increases were not unusual prior to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s free college proposal.

“NYSUNY 2020 … expired last year after being in place for five years. NYSUNY 2020 was implemented to set predictable tuition allowing SUNY’s Board of Trustees to raise tuition up to $300 each year. For the 2016-2017 academic year, tuition stayed at 2015-2016 levels,” according to Holly Liapis from SUNY’s communications department.

“Sure, the governor thinks sharing a stage with Bernie Sanders to announce free tuition for college sounds great, but going over the details, my colleagues and I recognize that a program like this could easily run out of control and well beyond what taxpayers can afford,” Butler said in a prepared statement.

The initiative would be phased in over three years, beginning for New Yorkers making up to $100,000 annually in the fall of 2017, increasing to $110,000 in 2018, and reaching $125,000 in 2019.