WXXI: Budget Talks Stalled (2008-03-20)

The state budget is due in around a week and a half, but lawmakers have left on a six-day Easter vacation, and the new Governor, David Paterson, spent the day in Rochester, dimming hopes for an on time spending plan.

Senators and Assemblymembers are stuck over the same issue that helped make the state budget late for 20 years in a row- they can't decide how much money is available to spend on programs and fund tax breaks.

The stalemate comes as the state's and the nation's economic picture is worsening, and the new governor, David Paterson, has asked for $800 million dollars in additional cuts.

"We're in a recession, and that's causing a problem," said Paterson.

One of the major arguments is over a proposal by Assembly Democrats to raise the income tax on rich New Yorkers who earn more than a million dollars a year. Democrats say it's a relatively painless way to provide enough money in a troubled time to restore cuts in the governor's budget to schools and health care. Senate Republican Leader Joe Bruno, also rejects the cuts proposed by former Governor Spitzer, but he says the Senate is against the idea of an income tax hike.

"I need the Assembly to get off this kick," Bruno said.

Governor Paterson has also all but ruled out an increase in the income tax on millionaires.

The Senate plan would raise the extra money through a tax amnesty program, increased sales of lottery tickets, and collecting taxes on the sale of some cigarettes on Indian lands.

The Assembly Speaker, Sheldon Silver is sharply critical of the Senate's budget plan, saying it's nothing more than a "press release" that does not add up.

During an exchange between the two major party legislative leaders at Governor Paterson's first budget meeting, Senator Bruno, partly tongue in cheek, urged the Democrats to eliminate all of the wrangling and simply pass the Senate's budget.

"We could get on with our lives," said Bruno, to laughter.

"All I want to make sure is that we don't have to come back in September and change it again," replied Silver.

Silver's concern is one that is shared by many. Some are saying it may be better to have a late budget, than an on-time spending plan that has to be downgraded in a few months.