Budget augurs pain
Schools dodge bullet this year
Gov. David Paterson broke the news to New Yorkers on Aug. 11: “There will be pain.”
That pain will come to rank and file New Yorkers and both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors through budget cuts, if approved by the Legislature, to the tune of $1 billion which will also close the current budget shortfall of $630 million. More than half – $505 million – will come from cuts in Medicaid and other health-related programs.
Paterson called legislators back to work early. Senators and Assembly members will be in Albany Aug. 19 to try to fix the growing budget deficit, which Paterson and his staff estimate has grown higher than anticipate and expect to grow larger within the next month.
“Because of the fact the budget deficit grew in just three months for the 2009-2010 budget year, I am pretty sure this deficit will grow even more,” said Paterson, who says he put together the $1.2 billion package in spending cuts. The longtime state senator turned governor said, “By the end of September, I believe there will be even further deficit, and I am asking the Legislature to come back and consider further cuts. The plan I have laid out includes the current $630 million deficit to close this year’s gap. The additional funding will offset next year’s deficit.”
Paterson proposes to cut agency spending by 10 percent and to impose a hiring freeze at all levels. His budget cuts include $250 million: 6 percent in cuts to local government programs and $100 million of the current $200 million in discretionary funds he says can be trimmed from the state’s financial equation.
Student lending programs and incentives will remain in place, but the City University of New York system’s funding will be trimmed by 6 percent. “Since the State University system has already had cutbacks, they are not going to be affected again,” said Paterson. Now, however, “CUNY will be treated on the same level as SUNY.”
Funds already allocated to school districts will remain untouched with schools on the verge of opening and not ready to take any cuts in spending. “They have already put their budgets in place,” said Paterson. He offered no such assurances for next year’s school funding.
The hardest hit will be in the health care industry. “We would be very grateful if the health care industry would recognize we have this problem and they might be the first to help us address it,” Paterson said. “Hospitals and nursing homes will have a right to be upset by this, and I hope all in Albany bear some responsibility. Circumstances involving Wall Street and our investment houses have something to do with this, as well. We have to parcel it out equally and fairly.”
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