Political arena

Klein back at budget table

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While no longer co-majority leader of the state Senate, Bronx state Sen. Jeff Klein has kept his seat at the table in budget negotiations this year.

He joined Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Assemblyman Carl Heastie, both Democrats, and Republican state Sen. Majority Leader Dean Skelos in the first discussion of the year about the state budget, on Feb. 25. This spring, the Senate and Assembly will vote on a series of bills that fund the government and local initiatives across the state. The budget could also include legislation on hot-button topics like ethics reform or the Dream Act to provide tuition assistance to undocumented immigrants.

Last year, Mr. Klein used his influential position to allocate about $14 million to his district, with more than $1 million of the funds going to organizations in Riverdale.

Details of this year’s budget are weeks away. Days after the first meeting, Mr. Klein said he is glad to have another official from the Bronx, Mr. Heastie, in the room with him.

“I think it’s terrific to have two Bronxites at the negotiating table make sure that the Bronx is well taken care of,” Mr. Klein said in a Feb. 27 phone interview, adding that he and Mr. Heastie welcomed the inclusion of funding for four new Metro-North stations in the Bronx in the governor’s preliminary budget.

The senator said he would push for proposals that his group of breakaway Senate Democrats announced at the beginning of the year, from creating a $650 million fund for a new version of Mitchell-Lama housing to using billions of dollars in settlements with big banks on infrastructure and jobs programs.

As in 2014, Mr. Klein enters the negotiations with Mr. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio publicly feuding over key aspects of the budget. Last year, the main bone of contention was how to fund universal preschool, with the mayor eventually crediting Mr. Klein for brokering a compromise. This time, the governor and the mayor seem to disagree on affordable housing, mayoral control of the school system and other issues.

Jeff Klein, Carl Heastie, budget, Andrew Cuomo, Sheldon Silver, Jeffrey Dinowitz, cell phones, DOE, Political arena, Shant Shahrigian
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