New York’s county leaders are protesting the Hochul administration’s plan to keep part of the federal funding the state relays to counties and New York City to help shoulder their massive Medicaid costs.
The shift would start April 1 and withhold an estimated $626 million that the counties and city otherwise would get over the next year. Gov. Kathy Hochul disclosed the plan and its impact in her budget proposal this month but intends to make that change administratively, without legislative approval needed.
County officials say they’d struggle to cover losses that large in already-set budgets and almost certainly raise property taxes in 2024 as a result. The 57 counties outside New York City would lose a total of $281 million, including $27.8 million in Westchester, $8.7 million in Rockland and $23 million in Monroe, according to estimates by the New York State Association of Counties.
“This is beyond ridiculous,” Rockland County Executive Ed Day fumed.
He said the funding loss would “blow a hole” in Rockland’s budget in the middle of the year, undermine its recovery from near-bankruptcy several years ago, and force a significant tax increase next year. He accused the state of using “political chicanery” and “thievery” to balance its budget.
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The move rekindles old tensions over Medicaid cost-sharing in New York, one of the few states that makes its counties contribute. The federal government pays much of the cost of medical bills through Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor and disabled, and leaves the rest to the states. In New York, the state passes part of its share to the counties, which had long complained of ballooning costs.
The state quieted those concerns in 2015 by capping the counties’ payments and shouldering the cost increases.
What the…
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