ALBANY, N.Y. (WTEN) — In her 2024 budget, Gov. Kathy Hochul addressed rebuilding the state’s workforce, focusing in part on changes in state employee fringe benefits and fixed costs. Those fixed costs include payment in place of taxes to the City of Albany for the Empire State Plaza and taxes on other state-owned lands, as well as payments for judgments against the state.
All governmental funds spending is projected to stay flat, per the budget, because $600 million was funded as part of last year’s budget. New York offers several benefits to current and past employees, and their costs were affected by that 9-figure infusion. They include health insurance, pensions, Social Security payroll tax payments, and workers’ compensation coverage for injured workers. Check out how the funding has changed since last year, according to the governor:
The state health insurance program (NYSHIP) will cost less after the $600 million deposit. Meanwhile, due to higher salaries, cost of living adjustments, and collective bargaining agreements, both pensions and social security payments cost more. Other increased costs are owed to wage and property tax increases and current spending trends, according to the governor.