Legislature Returns for Week Four , Still No Budget Agreement

By Karen DeWitt

Albany, New York – State lawmakers began week four of the special legislative sessions called by Governor Paterson to try to resolve the state's budget crisis, but so far, there's no agreement in sight.

For the fourth Monday in a row, rank and file lawmakers returned to the Capitol, as the legislative leaders tried once again to reach agreement with Governor Paterson on a plan to close a more than $3 billion dollar budget gap.

Paterson over the weekend said he was following through on his earlier threat to fill some of the budget gap himself, by raiding some funds, borrowing temporarily from others, and generally "switching money around".

"There's a lot of juggling," said Paterson.

The governor says the state has already delayed down payments on money owed to schools, local governments, and service contractors. Those payments are usually made in September, October and November, but he says this year, the state has needed that money for other purposes. Payment will be due in full in mid December.

Paterson's budget director, Robert Megna, says the state has also dipped into a fund set aside to pay for capital projects, though he believes it is possible for New York to squeak by in the month of December, by a "Very, very thin margin", and meet all of it's obligations, but he says there would be very little in reserve.

Some have predicted that the state will have as little as $36 million dollars on hand by December 31st. And Megna points out that while short term shifting of funds is permissible under state law, the money needs to be paid back before the fiscal year ends in March.

Both the governor and his budget director warn that New York is now at the point where other troubled states, including California were, before they "started to go off of the cliff".

While the governor huddled at the executive mansion in a private meeting with legislative leaders, rank and file Senators and Assemblymembers dutifully showed up for session, which in the Senate, lasted for just a couple of minutes. Lawmakers, obviously weary of returning to the Capitol week after week, grumbled that the entire exercise was a waste of their time.

Senator Suzi Oppenheimer, a Democrat from Westchester, said she had given up a planned trip to Florida in order to make Monday's session.

"So I'm imaging palm trees, sandy beaches, while I slog through the rain up here," she said with a laugh.

Senator Tom Libous, a Binghamton Republican, says he has not given up on an agreement.

"I'm hopeful that I came here for a reason," said Libous, who said an accord could be reached quickly if only the governor would give up on his demand to cut education aid in the middle of the school year. Both Republicans and Democrats have objected to that proposal.

Before the five-day break for Thanksgiving, Paterson had released a new, scaled back version of his plan, to balance the budget. The proposal still calls for mid year school reductions and health care spending cuts, but the governor has cut his requests for reductions in half, in an attempt to break the now month long log jam.