ALBANY – State assembly members are set to personally enjoy a million-dollar renovation for their lounge space just off the chamber floor — even as they push to hike taxes on businesses while driving up spending, The Post has learned.
The Office of General Services, a division of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration which handles much of the capitol complex, is moving forward with plans to renovate the space with the price tag potentially exceeding $1 million, according to bidding documents reviewed by The Post.
The move comes as the same pols who exclusively get to recline on the couches in the antechamber and chomp down on treats prepared in the lounge’s kitchenette demand Hochul hike taxes on businesses amid next year’s proposed $263 billion state budget.
The assembly is living large in luxury. AP “Albany Democrats always find money for themselves while asking New Yorkers to pay more. They are completely out of touch,” upstate Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), a former assembly woman, told The Post.
Ex-Assemblyman Andy Goodell (R-Chautaqua) added, “The assembly members should work harder rather than ‘lounge’ around.”
Lawmakers ran for the hills Wednesday for Passover break after failing to come to an agreement with Hochul on her proposed $263 billion state budget proposal.
Despite being on a scheduled two-week recess, lawmakers will likely have to gather to vote Tuesday on another stopgap spending bill to keep state workers paid.
At least some will likely skip the tally in person, Goodell said.
The renovation comes as the state is hiking taxes. Getty Images for UltraViolet, Women's March, Girls for Gender Equity “Rather than upgrade the assembly lounge, the assembly should eliminate empty seat voting and require its members to actually attend legislative floor debates and vote in person,” he said.
The renovations are planned to be finished by Dec. 11, allowing construction to take place during the roughly seven months state lawmakers spend away from Albany from June through December to hit the campaign trail.
A rep for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) did not return a Post request for comment.
The state Assembly included a number of new tax hikes on high-income residents and corporations in its largely symbolic one-house budget proposal last month, as it has in recent years, though the effort to raise some sort of levies has renewed vigor this years now that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is pushing the cause in Albany.
