NBC 2 – WGRZ
Albany
http://www.wgrz.com/news/article/116272/13/Lawmakers-Pass-On-Time-Budget-Close-Deficit
New York’s Legislature, once determined to be the most dysfunctional in the nation, has passed a historically difficult budget on time.
The Republican-led Senate passed its share of budget bills by midnight Wednesday. The Democrat-led Assembly carried on past midnight to pass its share of budget bills.
Although lawmakers had hoped to pass the budget early before midnight Wednesday, their action still resulted in just the fourth
on-time budget since 1983. The budget is due Friday.
The budget proposal is historic for its 2 percent cut in total spending and for eliminating a $10 billion deficit.
The budget is also just the fourth on-time budget since 1983.
The Democratic-controlled Assembly and Republican-led Senate starting passing budget bills Tuesday night, and resumed Wednesday by approving measures that would fund general government operations, public protection and capital projects. Lawmakers in both houses also approved the state’s revenue bill, which includes taxes and fees.
Still left for lawmakers to vote on Wednesday were budget bills that included deep spending cuts to local education aid and family assistance, and health and mental hygiene.
Both bills also include the bulk of the spending for the tentative $132.5 billion budget. Lawmakers and the public have also yet to see what specific aid cuts would be imposed on school districts. The school-aid data could be released late Wednesday or Thursday, officials said.
The budget calls for a roughly 2 percent decrease in state spending from the current fiscal year, a $1.2 billion cut in school aid and $2.8 billion in savings from the Medicaid program. Lawmakers and Governor Andrew Cuomo reached a tentative budget deal Sunday evening.
The budget debate came as hundreds of protestors descended on the Capitol to rally against cuts in school aid and health care, and made a last-ditch effort to retain higher income-tax rates for the wealthy.
As she boarded a bus in Buffalo filled with other protestors on their way to the capitol Wednesday morning, Julie Boody of the Alliance for quality education said keeping the so called “Millionaires Tax” would provide enough funding to offset several controversial budget cuts.
The tax, which brought the state $4 billion annually, was not included in this year’s spending plan and thus would be set to expire on December 31st.
“It is a revenue making tool. They’re talking about $1.5 billion dollars in cuts to education.. that revenue tool is another way to restore some of that funding,” Ms. Boody told WGRZ-TV.
“What they are proposing is hurting us, they’re hurting our families, they’re hurting the children and it has to stop,” she said.
“New Yorkers from every part of the state are outraged that the budget will sacrifice our kids’ education in order to give another tax cut to millionaires,” said Karen Scharff, executive director of Citizen Action of New York, an advocacy group.
Sen. Greg Ball, R-Patterson, Putnam County, countered by saying that dumping the higher income-tax rates is good for the economy. “It’s not a millionaire tax,” Ball said. “It’s a job-killing tax.”
Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, said the budget added back about $272 million in cuts to schools as a way to mainly help rural and upstate school districts. The budget would still cut $1.2 billion to local education aid.
“We’re going to have a reasonable distribution so it’s more in terms of old shares,” Skelos said. “The cuts will be by those traditional shares. Not everything will be restored, but it will be back up to the traditional shares.”
Speaking on the floor of the State Assembly, freshman lawmaker John Ceretto (R-Niagara Falls) said, “we know these are tough decisions but we’re changing the tide. We’re bringing this state back to where it belongs.”
By Wednesday afternoon about 300 protestors clogged the hallways of the Capitol and the flight of stairs known as the “Million Dollar Staircase.” State Police closed the hallway to the Senate chamber and the public viewing galleries of both the Senate and Assembly.
“That seems to be a sign that the Governor and the Assembly are actually worried about the public being present for their budget deliberations,” said Anthony Gorny of VOICE-Buffalo, who spoke with 2 On Your Side in a telephone interview at the height of the noisy protest.
Protestors were planning to camp all night at the Capitol to oppose the budget, and planned to bring in more than 70 pizzas, and make S’mores for their breakfast there Thursday morning.
Legislators are trying to beat the clock and pass the 2011-12 fiscal year budget one day early.
The state’s fiscal year ends Thursday at midnight; the fiscal year runs from April 1 through March 31.
The budget hasn’t been approved on time since 2006. In 1983, it was approved early, on March 28.
Gov. Mario Cuomo was in his first year in 1983, and now his son, current Gov. Andrew Cuomo, is seeking to also get an early budget in his first year. Both budgets, coincidentally, occurred in difficult fiscal times.
“We appreciate the Legislature’s swift efforts and commitment to passing this transformational budget plan,” said Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto.
An early budget for Cuomo would be a significant victory as the Democratic governor seeks to tackle the state’s troubled finances.
“If someone had suggested just a few months ago that you would get a budget on time, cut taxes, no new borrowing, get bipartisan support from all over the state, you would have thought it some sort of fantasy,” said Assembly Joseph Morelle, D-Irondequoit, Monroe County. “But here we are.”
Assemblyman Robert Castelli, R-Goldens Bridge, Westchester County, said the momentum was on Cuomo’s side to pass other contentious measures later this year.
“While this year’s budget was one of compromise, it is also a budget passed in good faith: faith that the governor will live up to his promises and work with the Legislature in the coming months to pass necessary reforms such as a property-tax cap, unfunded-mandate relief, Medicaid reform, independent redistricting, pension and medical-malpractice reform,” he said in a statement.
This story was written by Cara Matthews of the Gannett Albany Bureau and includes reporting by Joseph Spector of the Gannett Albany Bureau.
(Gannett Albany Bureau & WGRZ)
