Governor’s Cabinet member: state to invest $6.9 billion in SUNY and CUNY

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At a glance

Sam Hoyt delivering presentation in SLCWestern Region President of Empire State Development Sam Hoyt delivered a presentation on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s annual State of the State Address and Executive Budget Thursday, Jan. 21 in the Alfred State Student Leadership Center.

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Sam Hoyt delivered a presentation on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s annual State of the State Address and Executive Budget Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016 in the Alfred State Student Leadership Center

Western Region President of Empire State Development Sam Hoyt delivered a presentation on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s annual State of the State Address and Executive Budget Thursday, Jan. 21 in the Alfred State Student Leadership Center.

More than 200 faculty, staff, students, and community members and leaders attended the presentation. Hoyt served for nearly 20 years in the New York State Assembly, representing the 144th Assembly District, before his appointment to senior vice president for Regional Economic Development at the Empire State Development Corporation in 2011.

In his presentation, Hoyt said the governor’s budget invests $6.9 billion in SUNY and CUNY. It also proposes a five-year extension for the 2011 legislation that established the NYSUNY 2020 and NYCUNY 2020 program to keep tuition increases low and predictable, while providing $470 million in additional resources to the state’s public colleges and universities.

According to Hoyt, the program will continue to provide $110 million in new capital matching grant funding through Empire State Development for the NYSUNY 2020 and NYCUNY 2020 Challenge Grant Program. This will be coupled with an additional projected increase of $400 million in state funding over the next five years.

Hoyt said the governor is also committed to keeping state spending under 2 percent, noting that for a sixth time, the budget again limits the annual growth in State Operating Funds spending to 1.7 percent. He also said Cuomo is proposing to cut taxes for both small businesses who pay via the corporate tax and those who pay through personal income taxes.

Other topics included allocating $300 million to the Environmental Protection Fund, providing enhanced training and equipment to state troopers, investing $20 billion over five years in a $10 billion plan for affordable housing and a $10 billion Homelessness Action Plan, and raising the minimum wage for all workers to $15 an hour.

Photo by Jason Jordan/The Evening Tribune