Assemblyman Ken Blankenbush (R,C,I-Black River) finished voting on the 2015-16 State Budget noting that the final bills lacked any real substance. Blankenbush supported landmark increases for Agriculture and Market programs, but rejected the budget’s insufficient funding of schools and failure to include middle-class tax breaks.

“Although I am pleased by the significant increases for the agricultural programs that support family farms in my district, I do not think this budget went far enough to support middle-class working families, struggling school districts, and cash-strapped municipalities,” said Blankenbush. “This budget seems to have been slapped together in the eleventh hour without the care and attention it deserved. It’s clear that the ‘three men in a room’ approach isn’t working in the best interests of the people of our state.”

Blankenbush, Ranking Minority Member on the Assembly Committee on Agriculture, voted for the Aid to Localities portion of the enacted budget, which includes a more than $4 million increase to state agricultural programs. The approved funding saves several programs, including Northern New York Agricultural Development, Maple Producers, the North Country Low Cost Rabies Vaccine, and Dairy Profit Teams, among others. Additionally, there was an increase in funding for the New York Farm Viability Institute.

Blankenbush, however, rejected portions of the budget, notably the Education, Labor and Family Assistance bill, which included the questionable Education Transformation Act and a watered-down version of ethics reform.

“When it comes to our children’s education, this is where I am most disappointed in the budget – not only are our schools still being shortchanged, but we were presented with a regrettable version of education reform that would do little to support our students and educators. The governor and legislative leaders had a real opportunity to use the more than $5 billion cash windfall to fully fund our schools, but they didn’t,” Blankenbush said.

Blankenbush also expressed disappointment in the Capital Projects portion of the budget in relation to infrastructure investment, “While I am pleased to see that funding is there to repair bridges, I think more of it should have been used in cooperative partnership between the state and local governments, rather than just in the control of the governor and his agencies.”