The state budget has finally been passed, after being delayed for more than a month, but North Country lawmakers are unhappy with the end result.

Assemblyman Scott Gray was critical of the legislation, saying it was passed with “greed instead of need.”

“It’s more than a month late, but New York finally has a state budget in place. The result is what we anticipated: massive overspending and an erasure of choice. Not to mention, the secretive manner by which this budget proceeded—legislative debates were forced during the night thanks to the abused ‘messages of necessity’ from Gov. Hochul—effectively shielded the entire process from taxpayers and the media,” Gray said.

Gray pointed to a number of issues in the budget, including agriculture grant funding being cut by 75%, while income and business taxes have been increased, he said.

Under the new budget counties are on the hook for Medicaid costs as well, burdening taxpayers, Gray said.

While Gray was critical of many aspects of the budget, he did offer support for increased education investment, expansion of free school meals and an incentive program to utilize local farms to provide locally sourced school lunches.

Increased spending for mental health support, changes to bail reform to allow for greater judicial discretion and the removal of Governor Hochul’s housing plan were also praised by Gray in his press release.

Senator Dan Stec said it was a shame lawmakers failed to “craft a fiscally responsible plan that would end our state’s cycle of economic stagnation and rising costs and taxes.”

““Study after study shows that New York’s high tax-and-spend climate has pushed residents and businesses to leave our state for more and better opportunities elsewhere. This year’s budget only exacerbates that situation. It spends at an unsustainable $229 billion and positions New York for a major budget deficit next year and a $15 billion long-term budget gap,” Stec said.

Stec said the budget focuses on the wrong priorities, including “shortchanging” free and reduced lunch programs in schools, as well as spending millions on “cannabis-related programs.”

Stec was also critical of state lawmakers for “intercepting eFMAP funding and shifting more than $2 billion in costs onto local taxpayers over the next four years.”

Much like Gray, Stec argued the bail reform fixes put in place in the budget failed to address “unsafe policy.”

“The governor and Democrat leaders paid lip service to prioritizing public safety and have ultimately done very little to address and stem rising crime and repeat offenses,” Stec said.

Senator Mark Walcyzk was equally critical of the new spending bill, calling the budget negotiating process “embarrassing,” saying the bills include “a little good but a lot of bad and ugly.”

Walczyk called attention to legislation that would require homeowners to transition away from fossil fuels for heating their homes, prohibiting the installation of fossil-fuel equipment as well.

“An alarming piece of legislation that will directly impact the 49th Senate District are the out of touch policies regarding electrification. Found in S4006-C, Albany Democrats crammed through terrible policy that the Senator has been sounding the alarm on for months on end. Included under part RR in S4006-C is the ban of fossil fuels for single family homes. The bill advances language that would ‘prohibit installation of fossil-fuel equipment and building systems in new construction of seven stories or fewer or industrial buildings greater than 100,000 square feet starting in 2026 and in all new buildings starting in 2029.’ This legislation has been pushed through with complete disregard for the residents and owners of single family homes in Upstate New York,” Walczyk said.