📘 JSA2026 FY2026 Commonwealth Budget – Volume I: Executive Summary, Financial Plan & Forecast

Prepared by the Office of Jason S. Arnold – 2026 Gubernatorial Candidate, State of New York
This is a citizen-led, transparent alternative to the Governor’s FY2026 Executive Budget. It reflects the vision of a functioning commonwealth: efficient, honest, and accountable.

🏛️ Purpose of this Document

This budget is not a critique. It is a correction.

New York’s fiscal infrastructure has been hollowed out by gimmicks, short-term politics, and decades of broken promises. The FY2026 JSA2026 Commonwealth Budget aims to do what Albany has refused to do: tell the truth, plan for the future, and build a budget that puts working families first — not consultants, not cronies, not lobbyists.

💰 FY2026 General Fund Summary (JSA2026 Proposal)

• Total Revenue: $244.1 billion
• Total Disbursements: $241.6 billion
• Structural Surplus: $2.5 billion (rolled into Commonwealth Reserve)
• Projected Structural Gap (FY27–FY29): Eliminated by law (see Reform Provisions)

📉 Why the Current Budget is Unsustainable

• Hochul’s FY2026 Executive Budget projects no structural changes while allowing deficits to rise to $11B by FY29.
• 94% of criminal cases are resolved by plea deals — but no public portal tracks them.
• Medicaid will surpass $105B this year — with no cost-performance mandate.
• Over $3B in one-time tax refunds will be issued while infrastructure crumbles and broadband deserts expand.
• PTET (Pass-Through Entity Tax) credit usage is being used to hide deficits with rollover accounting.

✅ JSA2026 Budget Framework: Overview

• Reject all future budgets based on temporary revenue (refunds, gimmicks, timing shifts)
• Codify 5% Commonwealth Reserve requirement based on receipts, not projections
• Cap annual Medicaid growth at 3% unless linked to fraud recovery or outcome improvement
• Deploy Operation Efficiency to trim agency overhead by 10% over 3 years
• Cancel unused capital commitments and lease idle state properties under Operation Ghost Town
• Redirect tax credits from private developers to SEZ/LEZ infrastructure & education pilot zones
• Create a public-facing Budget Risk Dashboard tied to inflation, real estate collapse, and labor shortfalls

📊 Economic Assumptions (JSA2026 Forecast)

• Employment Growth: 0.9% in FY26 (adjusted for upstate regional drag)
• Wage Growth: 3.3% (slightly below DOB estimate, accounts for inflation cooling)
• Real GDP Growth: 1.1%
• Inflation: 3.0% forecast (anchored to conservative federal trajectory)
• Tax Revenue Growth: 2.8% YOY (no PTET inflation)

🔚 Executive Message from Jason S. Arnold

Albany wants to convince you we’re doing just fine — that a temporary rebate or borrowed surplus means your family is safer, your school is stronger, your future is secure.

But we all know better.

This budget isn’t about partisan ideals or press conferences. It’s about results. It’s about math. It’s about building a real commonwealth — where every dollar goes further, every agency works harder, and every New Yorker finally sees the benefit of the taxes they pay.

Volume II will present the agency-by-agency corrections. Until then — this is your budget, New York.

🗽 Jason S. Arnold, Candidate for Governor
📍 https://jsa2026.com
☎️ (516) 586-0660
✉️ jaysarnold@icloud.com