State Sen. Betty Little, R-Queensbury says she voted against the 2020-21 state budget because she didn’t feel she was able to get enough information before having to make a decision.

Meanwhile, David Fisher of Madrid, the New York Farm Bureau president, said he has mixed opinions.

“I voted against the budget because we knew too little too late,” she said in a Thursday, April 2 prepared statement. “Because of the need to ‘socially distance,’ negotiations were entirely behind closed doors and lawmakers and advocacy groups were severely limited in knowing and responding to what was happening. This is the situation we’re dealing with and it isn’t a criticism of the governor and the legislative leaders. But, I did not feel comfortable voting for something that I knew too little about, particularly the policy pieces that could be addressed later this year instead of in the budget.”

She also said she thinks the budget should do more to assist businesses that will be crucial to rebuilding the post-pandemic economy.

“New York’s chapter of the National Federation of Independent Businesses is calling the new budget a missed opportunity to help those who we will rely most upon to rebuild the economy,” Little’s statement said. “Adoption of the budget must not mark the end of (the) session. Our work isn’t done. We need to engage our businesses, large and small, and work with them to ease their burdens, giving them the best chance possible to come back strong. Their success is absolutely critical.

“The new state budget is nothing anyone should hang their hat on. It is an aspirational placeholder of funding that may be available depending on how long the pandemic persists, the resiliency of our economy bouncing back and whether or not federal relief aid becomes available for state and local governments.”

Fisher said he is happy to see agricultural spending lines are intact, but was disappointed that a tax credit for farms didn’t make the final cut.

“The final budget deal is about as good as we could expect during these times. Many of the important budget lines that support research, environmental compliance, marketing and promotion remain intact and are appreciated. There are also much needed updates to the recently enacted farm labor law that address fixes New York Farm Bureau was seeking, including clarification for family and salaried employees,” Fisher said. “However, some of the requests to address serious financial needs on farms that we were hopeful would make the final budget only weeks ago, like the refundable investment tax credit for farms, are no longer in it. Farms and agricultural businesses are in great need and we hope that New York State will continue to work with us to support our farms and food system, that are clearly essential in good times and bad.

“New York Farm Bureau understands the dire straits that New York State is facing in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The deficits are real, not only for the expected projections for state government, but also for New York’s farmers who are seeing drastic drops in their customer base and commodity prices because of the virtual shutdown of our economy.”