Lawmaker pay raise, casino bail out emerge in budget talks
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo shot down a move to insert a possible bail out for a struggling upstate New York casino into budget negotiations as the Democrat and legislative leaders worked Wednesday to pass a spending plan ahead of a deadline.
Sunday is the start of a new state fiscal year and the deadline for a new budget. But lawmakers want to finish in time for the Jewish Passover, which begins Friday at sunset, or Christian Easter, which is Sunday.
Thomas Wilmot, owner of the del Lago Resort and Casino, was in Albany this week to lobby lawmakers for help after revenues fell well short of expectations a year after opening in the Finger Lakes region.