NEW YORK (AP)—Welfare recipients in New York State will soon start seeing their monthly checks go up, thanks to the first increase in the basic cash allowance in 19 years.

The increase was approved in the state’s new budget and begins this month. For a single person, monthly allowances will go up $14, from $137.10 to $151.10.

For a family of three, the increase is $30, from $291 to $321; for a family of four, it will go up $38, to $413.70 from $375.70.

The change was part of Gov. David A. Paterson’s budget; the subsidy is also expected to increase incrementally in 2010 and 2011.

Advocates for the poor had fought for the change for years, arguing that the subsidy was not high enough.

“It was way overdue,” said Mark Dunlea, the executive director of the Hunger Action Network of New York State, a group that lobbied for the change.