ALBANY -- Gov. David Paterson on Tuesday proposed a $121.1 billion state budget for the 2009-2010 fiscal year that includes some layoffs and a cut in school aid while mostly holding overall spending flat from the current fiscal year.
Paterson's proposal to the Legislature would fill $15.4 billion in deficits over two years.
The budget would reduce school aid by 3.3 percent, or $698 million.
Even after reductions, the Democrat said school aid would still total $20.7 billion.
Paterson's plan also anticipates a decrease of 3,108 state jobs mostly through attrition in a process he says will minimize layoffs.
The 2009-2010 budget calls for 521 layoffs.
Paterson presented the budget a month early to try to deal with what he calls a historic fiscal crisis in the state.
"In his inaugural address, President Franklin Roosevelt told a nation in the grips of the Great Depression that now is 'the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly,'" Paterson said in prepared remarks released before his 11 a.m. presentation.
"He warned the American people must not shrink from 'honestly facing' the dark reality of the country," Paterson said. "Today, we, too, cannot shrink from the challenges ahead."
Paterson said that while annual spending growth in the last five years averaged 7.8 percent, the first budget he's proposing would increase state operating funds by just a half of 1 percent. That would put state funds — the figure that excludes federal aid — at $79.8 billion, which he said is the lowest figure in 14 years.
The budget is far from final. The Legislature would have to agree to the spending plan due April 1, but Paterson hopes to seal a budget deal earlier to more quickly enact spending cuts attacking the deficits. He has blamed the deficits on decades of overspending, often for special interests led by labor unions, and on the Wall Street meltdown hitting an industry that has provided 20 percent of state revenues in recent years.
"It's going to be a very difficult year," Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said Monday night after he was briefed privately on the budget. "But I'm confident the Assembly, Senate and governor will be able to work together."
Groups that would see their funding held flat from the current year say that amounts to a cut, one they can't afford.
"The way we see it, schools have been historically underfunded and they are due a $1.9 billion payment on the CFE case and so anything less is a cut for schools," said Billy Easton, executive director of the Alliance for Quality Education. His group was a major player in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit, which ended with the state's highest court deciding the state has underfunded New York City schools, denying the sound education guaranteed by the state constitution.
School districts and the New York State Association of Counties have warned that reduced state funding, more unfunded mandates like a 2010 hike in the welfare grant that Paterson proposes, and even flat funding could force higher local property taxes.
The budget would reduce school aid by 3.3 percent, or $698 million.
Even after reductions, the Democrat said school aid would still total $20.7 billion.
Paterson's plan also anticipates a decrease of 3,108 state jobs mostly through attrition in a process he says will minimize layoffs.
The 2009-2010 budget calls for 521 layoffs.
Paterson presented the budget a month early to try to deal with what he calls a historic fiscal crisis in the state.
"In his inaugural address, President Franklin Roosevelt told a nation in the grips of the Great Depression that now is 'the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly,'" Paterson said in prepared remarks released before his 11 a.m. presentation.
"He warned the American people must not shrink from 'honestly facing' the dark reality of the country," Paterson said. "Today, we, too, cannot shrink from the challenges ahead."
Paterson said that while annual spending growth in the last five years averaged 7.8 percent, the first budget he's proposing would increase state operating funds by just a half of 1 percent. That would put state funds — the figure that excludes federal aid — at $79.8 billion, which he said is the lowest figure in 14 years.
The budget is far from final. The Legislature would have to agree to the spending plan due April 1, but Paterson hopes to seal a budget deal earlier to more quickly enact spending cuts attacking the deficits. He has blamed the deficits on decades of overspending, often for special interests led by labor unions, and on the Wall Street meltdown hitting an industry that has provided 20 percent of state revenues in recent years.
"It's going to be a very difficult year," Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said Monday night after he was briefed privately on the budget. "But I'm confident the Assembly, Senate and governor will be able to work together."
Groups that would see their funding held flat from the current year say that amounts to a cut, one they can't afford.
"The way we see it, schools have been historically underfunded and they are due a $1.9 billion payment on the CFE case and so anything less is a cut for schools," said Billy Easton, executive director of the Alliance for Quality Education. His group was a major player in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit, which ended with the state's highest court deciding the state has underfunded New York City schools, denying the sound education guaranteed by the state constitution.
School districts and the New York State Association of Counties have warned that reduced state funding, more unfunded mandates like a 2010 hike in the welfare grant that Paterson proposes, and even flat funding could force higher local property taxes.
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