The Albany County Legislature issued an unanimous proclamation this week calling on the New York State Legislature to reject a proposal in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s budget that would allow the state to keep federal Medicaid funding that has been traditionally shared with counties.

In statements made this week, Chairman Andrew Joyce, Deputy Chairwoman Wanda Willingham, Majority Leader Dennis Feeney, Legislative Black Caucus Chairman William Clay and Minority Leader Frank Mauriello raised concerns about the impacts this shift would have on Albany County and its residents.

“Governor Hochul’s decision to withhold the Enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Program (eFMAP) funds, not only subverts Congress’ intent to have these funds pass through to counties, but comes on the heels of a devastating pandemic and record rates of inflation that has deeply impacted all residents in Albany County,” said Chairman Andrew Joyce. “Forcing localities to pick up a cost that the State should be responsible for under the Medicaid Cap agreement is counter intuitive and goes against all of our efforts to meet our financial obligations to our taxpayers. Now is not the time to be clawing back $8.5 million in budget savings from Albany County, while subsequently limiting how we cover this loss.”

“As Chair of Audit and Finance I am particularly concerned with the impact that the elimination of the Enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (eFMAP) pass-through will have on Albany County in both the short term and the long term,” said Deputy Chairwoman Wanda Willingham. “This decision negates two decades worth of precedent of sharing this funding, which counties rely upon to solidify their annual financial plans. Furthermore, counties were not given any advanced notice and have been unable to plan for this unprecedented situation, meaning those suffering from this decision the most will be our taxpayers as we try to reconcile with this loss of critical funding.”

“As the Democratic Majority Leader for the Albany County Legislature, I wholly oppose Gov. Hochul’s proposal to end the enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentage pass-through to counties. Congress clearly intended that these savings be passed onto counties, a fact that the State has acknowledged each year for the last 20 years when it did pass these savings to the counties,” said Majority Leader Dennis Feeney. “As a county, we lack many of the avenues that the State has available to generate revenue. Ending this pass-through savings now would force New York counties and New York City to come up with an additional $1 billion in our already stretched budgets – counties will have to increase taxes, cut programs, or both in order to making up this loss in funding. I urge our Representatives in the New York Legislature to reject the Governor’s proposal and stand up for the people of Albany County and counties throughout the State.”

Legislative Black Caucus Chairman William Clay added, “This change to the Enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Program (eFMAP) means residents most in need, including those living in Albany County’s disenfranchised neighborhoods will be directly harmed. Not only will there be a negative fiscal impact on them, but in order to pay for this shift brought on by Governor Hochul, counties will be forced to cut critical services. This equates to an $8.5 million loss in funding for Albany County that could have been spent on reducing the gun violence epidemic, improving our blighted neighborhoods, and ensuring mental and public health programs are fully funded.”

Minority Leader Frank Mauriello said, “State leaders are unfortunately playing budgetary games that could affect the services our localities provide to real people; our County can’t afford to lose $8.5 million because of it. I am proud to stand with other legislative and County leaders on a bipartisan basis to protect our County and its residents, and our Republican & Conservative Conference fully supports this proclamation.”