A 2020 Citizens Budget Commission report identified low-rise outer-borough areas such as Bensonhurst, Maspeth and Kew Gardens as having approved the fewest housing units per 1,000 residents since 2010; Hell’s Kitchen, Downtown Brooklyn and Long Island City built the most in that period.

According to Spectrum News, the nonpartisan Citizens Budget Commission estimates the change could raise property taxes by 7% to 14%.

To some observers, the delay in the budget didn’t seem justified. Andrew Rein, president of Citizens Budget Commission, a nonprofit fiscal watchdog, said in a statement that “this budget was not worth the wait.”

Andrew Rein, the head of the Citizens Budget Commission has warned that, “The budget weakens the state’s financial footing,” risking “massive program cuts or economically harmful tax increases.” He also said that it “sets the stage for a potentially damaging fiscal reckoning.”

"It was really about how do we make it so that people can still live in their homes, get to their jobs — but it's not free," said Kathryn Garcia, Hochul's director of state operations at a post-budget Citizens Budget Commission event when asked about the rebates for cap and invest.

But the state walked away from negotiations when the legislative leaders insisted on requiring affordable units without the tax break during budget negotiations, state deputy secretary Kathryn Garcia said at a Citizens Budget Commission event last week.

“The State budget was a mixed bag for New York City, although it is certainly better than the sum of proposals in the Executive Budget,” said Patrick Orecki, director of state studies at Citizens Budget Commission, a nonprofit fiscal watchdog.

The New York State Budget is finally approved! Join us on New York NOW as we dive into the details with analysis from Anna Gronewold, Yancey Roy, and Patrick Orecki.

“One thing is clear: this budget was not worth the wait,” Citizens Budget Commission President Andrew Rein said in a statement, citing a weakening of New York’s financial footing and the exclusion of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposals to address housing production and affordability.

By contrast, the Citizens Budget Commission in 2021 found that the MTA could save up to $2.87 billion annually by, for example, introducing a health-care premium cost share for retirees and moving to single-person train operations, something that Chicago and Boston have done since the late 1980s.

Citizens Budget Commission president Andrew Rein said the budget — which adds billions of dollars in new spending — "was not worth the wait" for the state's taxpayers.

Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, said in a Tuesday press release that the late budget “was not worth the wait.