New York budget 2024-2025: What’s in it for the Adirondacks

Clean water and Adirondack Park funding reinstated in state budget, plus a look at what was left behind

By Gwendolyn Craig

Twenty days late and nearly $4 billion more than first proposed, New York’s 2024-2025 budget includes lukewarm environmental wins including reinstated clean water and Adirondack Park funding.

The Legislature finished passing budget bills on Saturday, after multiple budget extenders paid the state’s bills throughout the month. 

Gov. Kathy Hochul and leaders in the state Assembly and Senate received criticism from Republicans, Democrats and stakeholders over the negotiating process of the $237 billion spending plan, which largely happened behind closed doors.

“Late again” and “shrouded in secrecy,” said Blair Horner, executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group. 

Assemblyman Billy Jones, D-Chateaugay Lake, called the budget season “very frustrating.” Republican Assembly Leader Will Barclay said “it will take time before the public knows exactly what it’s paying for. Yet again, the basic standards of public input, open government and transparency continue to erode in Albany.”

But the Democratic governor called the budget “a common-sense agenda that makes New York safer and more affordable.” The spending plan included no tax increases.

Clean water funding restored

Hochul’s original budget pitch included $500 million for Clean Water Infrastructure Act funds, but those that read the fine print noticed it was across two years. The proposal was a 50% cut to water and wastewater treatment funds across the state.

The Hochul administration paired the announcement with changes made to grant administration for rural communities in January. The changes were to the Environmental Facilities’s Water Infrastructure Improvement Act program, increasing the cap on state matching grants from 25% to 50%. 

“This change will support smaller communities, like those in the Adirondacks, which often struggle with accessing clean water grants and delivering affordable projects,” the Hochul administration had said.

The Adirondack Council had called the change moot if the Hochul administration was going to cut clean water funding in half. The environmental lobbying organization praised Hochul and state leaders for adding $250 million back in in the final budget, as did many other groups and lawmakers.

A statewide report showed $80 billion is needed to fix water and wastewater systems across New York. 

State Sen. Dan Stec, R-Queensbury, said he would have liked more than $500 million in the budget, but was pleased to see it wasn’t cut as proposed in the executive budget.

Climate falls short

While the clean water funding was a win for most, many environmental advocates felt the final budget was a disappointment for climate change initiatives. 

The Climate Change Superfund Act, which would have made fossil fuel companies pay for their pollution in a $3 billion fund to be spent on climate change costs, did not make it into the budget. 

The New York Heat Act, which would have capped utility costs for low-income customers and would have ended the “‘100-foot rule,’ which charges existing gas customers for the cost of new gas pipeline hookups,” according to the New York League of Conservation Voters, did not make it in either.

Nathan Gusdorf, director of the Fiscal Policy Institute, criticized the climate transition spending as too little and “putting New York at risk” meeting Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act mandates for expanded electrification and reduced carbon emissions.

Funds for environment, energy

The Environmental Protection Fund, used to acquire and preserve land, remained at $400 million, and in negotiations, Hochul’s proposal to use it for some staff salaries was removed. 

The budget also included the Renewable Action through Project Interconnection and Deployment Act, a new permitting process that is supposed to streamline electric transmission and interconnection projects. 

There is $15 million to plant 25 million trees by 2033, a $40 million program to create plans for extreme weather and $15 million for the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services to supply generators, pumps and other technology to flooded localities.

Hochul said she thought the budget “prioritizes accelerating our clean energy future to drive down emissions, building communities that can withstand extreme storms, and investing in clean water.”

Adirondack initiatives back in budget

A slate of Adirondack groups that had requested $10 million in funding for the Adirondacks and Catskills to address visitor safety and wilderness protection got their wish. Hochul had proposed “up to $8 million” for the forest preserves, but the final budget increased it.

“We were pleased to see the state’s continued commitment to making the Adirondack and Catskill forest preserves ecologically healthier and recreationally safer through better care and stewardship,” said Raul “Rocci” Aguirre, executive director of the Adirondack Council. “Public use of the preserve is essential to the economic vitality of the Adirondack Park and its communities.  Providing world-class management of the Forest Preserve will keep these wild landscapes healthy for generations to come.” 

Other budget highlights involving Adirondack Park include:

• The Survey of Climate and Adirondack Lake Ecosystems, which had received no funding under Hochul’s proposal, was restored to $2 million.
• The Timbuctoo Climate Careers Institute, which Hochul did not fund in her executive budget, received $1.25 million. Institute partners had sought $2.1 million, the funding it had received in last year’s budget.
• The Adirondack Diversity Initiative was slated for a $120,000 cut under Hochul’s proposed budget. Its funding was restored to $420,000.
• The Adirondack Mountain Club received $250,000 for the funding of its visitor centers. ADK runs the High Peaks Information Center at its Heart Lake Program Center near the High Peaks Wilderness, and the Cascade Welcome Center on Route 73 just outside of Lake Placid. ADK applauded the funding.
• The Adirondack Architectural Heritage received $500,000 for a fire safety system at the Camp Santanoni Historic Area in the town of Newcomb.
• The town of North Elba will receive up to $1,500,000 for the resurfacing of Adirondak Loj Road.
• The Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, which manages some sites in the Adirondacks including John Brown Farm, received $200 million to invest in state parks.
• The Olympic Regional Development Authority received $82.5 million for maintaining and improving its existing facilities.

Top photo: Leigh Walrath, front, and Phil Snyder on Moss Lake conducting early field work for the SCALE survey of Adirondack lakes. The Survey of Climate and Adirondack Lake Ecosystems, which had received no funding under Hochul’s proposal, was restored to $2 million. Photo by Zachary Matson