Gov. Hochul glad-hands at Riverdale Y

When you have to choose between diapers or some kind of food, you choose diapers.”

Selma Margulies

Governor Kathy Hochul was joined by Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz as she flashed her famous pearly whites and glad-handed members of the Riverdale Y’s older adult program last week.

The governor’s visit was prompted by her recent initiatives, including $45 million in funding for home-based and community-based older adult services, much like the one at the Y, and New York’s first-ever inflation refund credit.

“Everything went up. All your clothes and every time you went to the store, your jaw dropped up,” Hochul told a crowded room of individuals eating buttered bread and soup. “We're going to put that back in your pockets . . . individuals $300 and $500 for families.”  

Inflation rates are currently the highest and most problematic in NYC, according to a recent report by WalletHub. The current rate of inflation in the U.S. is 2.9 percent, .9 percent higher than the Federal Reserve’s target and a stark contrast to the 8.3 percent inflation rate in 2022.

“The current rate of inflation is quite normal; it just doesn't feel like that for most people,” Oleg Ivanets said in the report, assistant professor and chair of the Department of Financial Studies at Concordia University Wisconsin. “And that's because ‘normal inflation’ means the prices stop increasing, but they are already too high for most goods.”

During her speech, Hochul anecdotally mentioned she saw a tube of toothpaste selling for $15. In December, The Press published a letter to the editor which ridiculed Hochul’s refund and crunched the numbers. The $300 refund for individual taxpayers with incomes under $150,000 comes to $25 a month in a year. Offering $500 to joint filers with incomes under $300,000 comes to $41.66 a month.

 “Gov. Hochul's $3 billion proposed inflation refund to taxpayers funded out of a surplus of excess tax revenue is nothing more than a pre-election bribe to grease the wheels of her upcoming 2026 reelection campaign,” wrote Larry Penner of Riverdale.

But others agree that any money is better than nothing.

Selma Margulies was having lunch at the Riverdale Y, where she has been a member for more than a decade, when Gov. Hochul made her announcement.

“When you have to choose between diapers or some kind of food, you choose diapers,” said Margulies who is a new great grandmother and sees the financial hardships her children and her children’s children are faced with. “I never thought of doing that when I had kids, this was never necessary and that's a struggle that shouldn't be.”

Despite Hochul raising the minimum wage on Jan. 1, people are struggling to make ends meet and it seems individuals need more than $25 a month to make a difference.