ALBANY — Lawmakers are quietly discussing an early retirement incentive to state workers as way to trim New York’s payroll during a fiscal crisis and avoid layoffs.

Paterson said he doesn’t plan to offer an early retirement proposal at this time.

“I think the early retirement program is actually more expensive if we do it right now,” Paterson told The Associated Press at an event in Washington. “First of all, one of the problems is nobody’s retiring because nobody wants to be out of work in this environment, so no, we’re really not ... It’s just not something we think is feasible right now.”

“It is going to make private sector New Yorkers angry because you already get the sense that public employees make more,” said Elizabeth Lynam, deputy research director for the Citizens Budget Commission. She said it would be like a golden parachute for public employees that secured enhanced benefits through the Legislature in recent years.

Gov. David Paterson has said the state faces $47 billion in deficits over the next three years in part because of overspending. He’s also said the work force must be reduced by attrition and, potentially, by layoffs. New York’s powerful public employee unions, however, have opposed his proposals to gain concessions, such as delaying a paycheck, to avoid layoffs.

Republican and Democratic legislators confirmed there is discussion of an early retirement incentive for state employees, but no proposal yet.

New York’s power public employee unions including Public Employees Federation and the New York State United Teachers union said they favor early retirement incentives to trim the work force.

NYSUT President Richard Iannuzzi said early retirement incentives targeted to the highest paid employees could result in considerable savings to the state and school districts.

Unions have opposed renegotiating their contracts, most of which were settled in 2007 with about 3-percent raises over each of the next three years. A retirement package wouldn’t require negotiations with unions.

There are several active bills that would provide early retirement incentives for public employees.

Such a program could help the dozens of employees now working for the Senate’s Republican majority. Republicans lost the majority in the Nov. 4 elections and are expected to also lose control of its patronage jobs.

Scott Reif, a spokesman for Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos, wouldn’t say if an early retirement proposal would be in the Senate’s Dec. 15 session. Senate Democratic Leader Malcolm Smith and Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver wouldn’t comment.

The last time New York offered state employees an early retirement incentive was in 2002, months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. That plan attracted 5,500 employees, but cost the state $250 million in increased pension costs. It gave employees up to three years in added pension credits, and allowed employees 55 years old or older with at least 25 years of service to retire without penalty.