Gov. Kathy Hochul laid out her plans for addressing local issues at the Long Island Association’s State of the Region event at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury on Friday.
After being introduced by LIA CEO Matt Cohen, Hochul spent much of her 24-minute speech touting billions in state aid that she has proposed in her latest budget, while sprinkling in quips about Long Island’s high taxes and jabbing newly minted Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s stand against mask mandates.
The governor also said she will soon be announcing the lifting of COVID-related restrictions, but reminded the audience that Long Island’s positivity rate stood at 14 percent, highest in the state.
“We are coming back stronger than ever before,” she said.
Among the proposed relief she discussed is $1 billion to repair potholes, $2.2 billion for a middle-class property tax rebate and a $1.2 billion tax cut for middle-class taxpayers.
Hochul also talked about giving $100 million towards small business recovery and another $250 million in tax credits to small businesses to cover COVID-related expenses. In addition, the governor pledged more than $144 million for transit operating assistance for Nassau and Suffolk counties and nearly $25 million for pavement renewal on Northern Boulevard and the Long Island Expressway.
Hochul urged the audience to support the $4 billion Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act, which will be on the ballot in November and she mentioned the state’s $500 million investment in offshore wind projects.
During his remarks, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone discussed the relocation of the Yaphank Long Island Rail Road station to the Brookhaven National Laboratory. He also said the county needs to preserve an additional 10,000 acres of farmland.
“It’s critical to our economy,” Bellone said.
Bellone also called for cooperation between political parties, saying “compromise can’t be viewed as a dirty word.”
Blakeman, who was last to speak, echoed those sentiments by pledging to work with Bellone to solve regional issues.
“We can have policy differences…but locally, it’s about getting things done,” Blakeman said. “It shouldn’t be personal.”
Blakeman also touted the COVID test kits and PPE given out by the county, including 100,000 KN95 masks to Nassau school districts.
“We have to learn to live with the pandemic,” he said.
