Here's what's in the $229B state budget for Long Island

ALBANY — Beyond the big headlines about schools, housing and taxes, the state budget contains a range of benefits for Long Island.

There’s money for the Belmont Park racetrack and environmental protection projects, like the South Shore estuary. There’s authorization to create a sewer and wastewater management district in Suffolk County.

There’s also a new law to govern Native American burial sites, which, while applying statewide, was especially driven by Long Island tribes.

There’s also increased funding for statewide programs, such as a distressed hospital fund, that could benefit Island entities. Legislators added $500 million to the fund, on top of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s original $1.2 billion proposal, officials said.

There is $550,000 for the Peconic Estuary Partnership to address algal blooms; $500,000 for a reef/oyster bed project in Jamaica Bay, and $750,000 for the South Fork commuter bus service.

Some of the high-profile Island items include:

Suffolk County sewer and wastewater management district

Tucked into the massive environmental and economic development bill, a provision authorizes the county to move toward asking voters to create a single, unified district to manage sewage issues.

The County Legislature next would have to approve setting a countywide referendum in November for voters to consider a 1/8-cent sales tax increase to help fund the new district.

The management district long has been a priority for County Executive Steve Bellone, who is leaving office this year because of term limits.

Environmentalists, health experts, construction groups and labor unions, which don’t always agree on issues, have joined to back the initiative.

“It’s been our No. 1 priority this year” regarding the state budget, said Mark Herbst, executive director of the Long Island Contractors Association. “We’ve been talking with everyone, been working through all the different iterations and we’re happy voters now will have an opportunity for one unified district.”

Herbst said the benefits of a unified district would include getting more of the county hooked into sewer systems — the majority of the county isn’t currently — streamlining the process for businesses that want to expand and join a sewer system and leverage the county’s ability to qualify for federal funds.

$455 million loan for Belmont renovations

It’s no surprise this was included in the budget as the governor and both houses of the State Legislature have backed the proposal since February.

Hochul has said the loan will allow the New York Racing Association to “winterize” Belmont and consolidate downstate horse racing at the venue while ending racing at Aqueduct — which, separately, is expected to compete for a casino license. The Belmont grandstand would be overhauled and more existing acreage would be used for parkland.

NYRA would repay the loan over 25 years.

Critics had said the state shouldn’t subsidize what they called an “abusive and dying” sport with money that will primarily benefit wealthy horse owners.

NYRA CEO David O’Rourke said Hochul and legislators recognized the “importance of this project to the countless New York families and small businesses reliant on a strong horseracing economy.”

Native American burial grounds

For the first time, a new state law will require landowners to halt development on a project if they discover a burial site. New York has been one of just four states without such protections.

Last year, Hochul vetoed a bill over developers' concerns, officials said. But the disagreements about the measure were never that great, said Assemb. Fred Thiele (D-Sag Harbor).

Primarily, they centered on “who could touch the remains” and be responsible for removal — and the timeframe for acting, Thiele said. In the end, they agreed that landowners couldn’t touch the remains but when landowners and a tribe couldn’t agree on next steps, a state or independent archaeologist would oversee it while tribes monitored, the assemblyman said.

The removal process would generally take 90 days, though it includes some provisions for extensions. Thiele said the new law could apply to other unmarked burial sites, such as Revolutionary War sites.

Long Island lawmakers had been trying to pass burial-site legislation for nearly two decades. Thiele called it a “victory for Native Americans” across the state.

By Yancey Roy

yancey.roy@newsday.com@yanceyroy