An additional $2.4 billion makes New York's fiscal picture rosier than expected, but Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday the extra cash will help drive down the state's existing debt. 

Higher profits on Wall Street have given the state the $2.4 billion boost — shrinking next year's budget gap to $1 billion, according to the state's Mid-Year Budget update released late Tuesday. 

State leaders will target the extra cash to reduce forecast budget gaps, estimated to reach more than $7 billlion by 2028.

"I'd like to continue driving down our debt in our out-year gaps," the governor told reporters Wednesday at an unrelated event in Poughkeepsie. "That's what you do when you're trying to plan for the long-term."

Hochul is focused on remaining fiscally prudent amid the good news, and argued the stock market's success isn't something to bank on.

The governor is firm against not raising personal income taxes in the state next year as a higher personal income tax on New York's millionaires and billionaires expires in 2026. Progressive lawmakers and left-leaning economists continue to push to make the increase permanent.

"As we roll up our sleeves and head into budget season, I'm sure there will be robust conversations about managing our finances going forward," Hochul said.

Budget leaders set aside $3.2 billion as the future of a federal cap on state and local tax deductions — or SALT — remains up in the air.

Both presidential candidates have debated eliminating the $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions, which expires next year. New York tax filings could be delayed depending on policy changes.

"If people think that SALT deductibility is going to come back, they might choose to pay in different years, and so the state built in some cushions to deal with that," said Patrick Orecki, director of state studies with the Citizens Budget Commission.

The SALT cap was part of a Republican-backed tax cut package in 2017.

The nonpartisan CBC wants state leaders to put more money in its reserves, or rainy day fund, which has more than $21 billion.

And state leaders must decide how to rein in Medicaid spending, change the school aid formula and plug a $15 billion shortfall in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's capital plan caused by Hochul's suspension of congestion pricing.

But Ken Girardin, research director with the right-leaning Empire Center for Public Policy, credits Hochul for releasing the mid-year update on time.

"Under Gov. Cuomo, there was this really bad habit the state fell into of waiting until after Election Day to meet its legal obligation to let New York taxpayers see what revenues and expenses were looking like," said Girardin.

The extra time, he added, serves to benefit legislative leaders preparing for a challenging budget fight.

And Gov. Hochul says her team continues to work on a solution to properly fund the MTA, which has requested $68 billion in state support to fund the authority's five-year capital plan.

"We'll be putting in probably another $3 billion [in the next budget], which is what we did last year to stop the MTA from going off a fiscal cliff," Hochul said. "I'm the one who saved it."

The governor continues to stand by her last-minute call to suspend congestion pricing and reiterated Wednesday that her decision will pay off.

"At a time when inflation was still on the upward trends and it was wildly expensive to buy groceries and everyday New Yorkers were suffering, I said then and I still agree, $15 a day is too much," Hochul said.