Sen. Stephen Chan, D-Queens, speaks on the state Senate floor in March while state Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, looks on. Both Chan and Borrello questioned the lack of affordability measures in the recently approved 2026-27 state budget.

State Sen. George Borrello isn’t happy with the lack of items in the state budget to make New York more affordable.

He’s not alone – and his company includes Democrats in the state Senate as well.

Borrello spoke specifically about Gov. Kathy Hochul’s $1 billion POWER program that will provide rebates to those who filed income taxes in New York in 2024. The program will provide $200 to joint filers with incomes under $150,000 and $150 to joint filers with incomes between $150,000 and $300,000. Single filers with incomes under $150,000 will receive $100. The rebates will be issued as advanced credit checks and will be mailed out between September and December.

Those eligible for checks must have filed a timely New York State Resident Income Tax Return for Tax Year 2024; been a full-time resident for New York state for Tax Year 2024, reported income within the qualifying thresholds; and not been claimed as a dependent on another taxpayer’s return.

“I thought it was interesting that one of the initiatives in this bill is to protect your wallet,” Borrello said in his comments on the budget bill. “How are we going to protect people’s wallets? We’ll give them $100. To have their wallets protected from? Bad policy here from the pickpockets in Albany, picking their pockets to the tune of thousands of dollars. It is the failure to do anything about rising energy costs. But we’re going to blame the producers, job creators, the people who have actually paid the bills here in New York state. We’ll pick their pockets more. But you know what, those pockets are portable. They leave.”

The budget also included efforts to lower costs including putting New York on a path to universal childcare and decrease auto insurance rates down for drivers. In addition to the POWER program checks, Hochul touted budget legislation requiring utilities to present a budget constrained option when requesting a rate increase to ensure efficiency and affordability are prioritized, ensuring customers do not foot the bill for hidden costs like lobbying, political contributions and unnecessary executive travel; allowing for the installation of an “Affordability Monitor” within any utility company when the average residential bills creep too high, modernizing the way utility rate cases are reviewed to help keep prices manageable, incentivizing the use of smart thermostats to help reduce energy usage and lower bills and establishing the RATES commission to investigate the root causes of surging utility bills, evaluate utility profits, review energy market designs and recommend actionable, transparent reforms.

That wasn’t enough for Sen. Stephen Chan, D-Kings, who was critical of the budget bills as well.

“So what happened to the affordability crisis that the governor and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have been talking about being important for months?” Chan asked. “What happened to the no tax on overtime? What happened to the larger rebates for our working class and ratepayers, the bigger breaks for seniors and disabled veterans? I don’t see it. … Two hundred seventy billion dollars spent and I see very little that actually addresses the immediate crisis that faces our good citizens of NEw York today – and that is affordability. Real affordability.”