Additional statement from Assemblyman Byrne
“One of the measures we have been working on since last year was to pass legislation that would prevent the people of the Mahopac Central School District from being punished with millions of dollars in lost state building aid due to a self reported filing error from the school district.
For those of you that may not remember, we passed legislation last year to rectify the problem along with Senator Harckham in the Senate, only for it to later be vetoed by Governor Cuomo. Thankfully, identical language from this same bill was included in the recently passed budget, providing Mahopac Central School District residents with much needed relief for a problem that was never their fault.
While I appreciate the Assembly Majority Leader’s response that our bill was the only one the Majorities could place in the budget, many other New Yorkers across the state are still in similar circumstances since the Governor vetoed their forgiveness bills last year as well. This type of legislation clearly has a fiscal impact and rightfully belongs in the education portion of the state budget (unlike many other measures that found its way in the same omnibus bill), but we must also continue to work towards a state-wide forgiveness bill that assists our other fellow New Yorkers.
To my neighbors in Mahopac, remember how we felt when the Governor vetoed our bill this past year? The uncertainty and the anger. Other districts still feel that way.
I truly appreciate the work of my colleagues, including Assembly Majority Leader Crystal People-Stokes and Senator Harckham, for their assistance in getting this particlar piece of legislation done, but it is clear we still have much more work to do.”