Give New York Gov. David Paterson credit for saying the right things on Tuesday night in his five-minute address to New Yorkers on the state's current and worsening budget crisis.

He made it clear that New York can not wait until next year's budget process to start to address the state's dire fiscal situation. What is unclear is whether he can goad the Legislature into action when he gets them back to Albany on Aug. 19.

The basics are not good. Wall Street has had a massive decline in the last seven months, and it accounts for 20 percent of the state's revenues; it is projected that this year's budget gap has jumped from a projected $5 billion in March to $6.4 billion now, and the expected budget gap for the next three years goes from and estimated $21.5 billion in March to $26.2 currently.

So when Paterson correctly states “Costs are rising steadily and revenues are dropping dramatically,” we should all not only take notice, but expect action from the state's leaders. But like so much else from the Capitol, talk is one thing, action is another.

The governor's office announced on Wednesday that it would cut an additional 7 percent in state agency spending. It is not yet clear, though it is likely to be forthcoming, what Paterson will outline as specific acts for the Legislature to vote on when the go back to Albany.

Initial news reports indicated that could include large cuts in the state's workforce, cutting back on the growth of state aid to schools and reforming the always politically touchy, and expensive, Medicaid system.

Yet, to do so, especially in an election year where all 211 seats of the state Legislature are up, seems politically unfeasible and improbable. While some legislators may privately agree with Paterson's assessment of the state's fiscal health, they are not going to agree with cuts in the growth rate of some programs, previously approved, if their opponents can claim, incorrectly, that they are cutting entitlements to children, the disadvantaged, poor or senior citizens.

That was the charge lobbed against several New York Republicans in 1996, when they cut the growth rate, not the basics, of an entitlement that year. Members of the Assembly and Senate are not going to give their opponents such an election year tool.

So while there might be talk about such cuts, especially in school aid, don't expect much change. At this point it is not even clear that voters or those who get government benefits are willing to give up their piece of the state's pie, let alone the Legislature that doles them out.

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com