Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, R-Jamestown, speaks about the late state budget on Thursday during the Assembly’s session.

Assemblyman Andy Goodell is concerned as much with what state legislators haven’t discussed as part of budget talks as he is with the fact the state budget is late.

Goodell, speaking on the Assembly floor on Thursday before lawmakers left Albany for the long holiday weekend, said all the legislature has really agreed to so far is the state’s debt service budget bill – which is typically the first budget bill to be agreed to. That leaves a lot left to be negotiated.

“As my colleagues correctly pointed out, we don’t have a budget that deals with anything else,” the Jamestown Republican said. “We don’t have legislation that deals with concerns that my constituents have about crime and safety in communities. We don’t have a budget bill or any other bill that’s in front of us today or tomorrow or Saturday or Monday that deals with the migrant crisis and the costs that that’s imposing on all of us and the strain it’s putting on all of our residents. There’s a lot of tough issues. We don’t have any bills pending in front of us that would reduce costs for consumers. We’d like to raise all the taxes and fees on them but we don’t have anything that gives them some relief.”

Both houses of the legislature approved budget extenders and debt service bills Thursday, with Gov. Kathy Hochul signing the budget extender bill. The bill funds state government through April 4. There has been no public announcement of agreement on housing and education funding, in addition to the items Goodell mentioned in his remarks on the Assembly floor.

State legislators are scheduled to return to Albany on Tuesday.

“So I share my concerns with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle about what we don’t have today and I hope we can have a spirited discussion about what we ought to be talking about after we take Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday off,” Goodell said.

Goodell voted against the debt service bill while giving his annual warning about the state’s mounting debt load. The legislation approved Thursday calls for $13.5 billion in state debt payments, with 78.5% of that money ($10.5 billion) earmarked for interest, not principal on the debt.

Rather than take out bonds, Goodell again said the state should begin paying for more projects out of the state’s general fund, which would free up billions of dollars each year that could instead be spent on programs.

“I understand debt is really attractive when you want something today but don’t want to pay today,” Goodell said. “But as these numbers point out, when we don’t pay for what we want to spend today and instead borrow it, it costs us a lot of money. Just think about this. If we had no debt, we’d have $10.5 billion more to spend without raising taxes. We’d be saving today $10.5 billion in interest payments if we hadn’t accrued this debt in the past.”