Hochul’s $9B surprise leaves New York facing a fiscal cliff

“Apparently, Democrats had to pass the State Budget so they could find out what was in it”: So Ed Rau, the Assembly minority leader, slammed the after-the-fact revelation that the just-passed spending bills actually mean $277 billion in outlays, not the $268 billion Gov. Kathy Hochul’s team originally claimed.

The stealth spike stunned everyone else — and there’s absolutely no doubt Hochul & Co. knew the truth all along.

After all, the money to cover the extra spending will come from a federal fund, and the feds OK’d the move as early as March 20.

Hochul & Co. just didn’t want the public to see the true bottom line — an increase of $23 billion, or 9%, from last year’s enacted budget.

More, the added outlays are mostly to provide health coverage to illegal migrants, spending that infuriates lots of New Yorkers.

Since New York already spends more resident than nearly every other state, the 9% spike is outrageous in itself.

Bigger problem: The feds cover the added spending only through December 2028; after that, the Empire State must come up with the cash, and Hochul offers no clue of how Albany will find it.

That is: She’s setting up New York to fall off a fiscal cliff.

“What’s crystal clear is that despite very strong revenues, the State squandered the opportunity to stabilize its fiscal future,” fumes Citizens Budget Commission President Andrew Rein. “It layered billions of dollars of spending on top of a base it already could not sustain.”

Indeed, the whole budget is out of whack — facing a $32 billion cumulative cash shortfall through 2030.

And all this at a time when the economy is strong; what happens when it turns south and revenues fall off?

Unless Albany slashes spending big-time, it’s setting New Yorkers up for major tax hikes.

No wonder people keep fleeing the state.