May 5, 2025

We have confirmed the info below re: state budget agreement including a 2.6% (flexible) Targeted Inflationary Increase.  By flexible we mean eligible agencies will not be restricted regarding how they can spend the funds as was the case last year when the COLA was bifurcated with a certain percentage of the increase being restricted to be used for staff salaries.  As has been the case for some time, agencies will still need to attest to compliance with terms and conditions.  

Dan Clark from Capital Confidential tonight is reporting the final COLA (Targeted Inflationary Increase) ito be included in the soon-to-be-enacted state budget will be 2.6%.  There are no budget bills available to check the accuracy of this report but Dan is good at his job:

Still no budget bills but unemployment insurance debt deal struck

I feel like if I tell you at this point when lawmakers and other folks at the Capitol are expecting budget bills, I might as well be throwing darts with a blindfold on.

Some of the remaining nine budget bills may begin to be introduced tonight. If we don’t see them overnight, we’ll likely see them sometime Tuesday during the day or Wednesday, Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie said.

“At the earliest tomorrow, at the latest Wednesday,” Heastie said when asked when bills would be introduced Monday.

If that prediction holds, we could expect to see lawmakers begin to vote on budget bills as early as Wednesday, but a Thursday start is more realistic. Voting on the budget usually takes about two days.

We did learn a little more from Heastie about specific items expected in the budget.

• Human services: The cost of living adjustment for human services organizations that contract with the state will increase by 2.6%. That’s up from the 2.1% Hochul proposed by much lower than the 7.8% pitched by the Legislature in March.