GOV DROPS FRESH $3B BUDGET BOMB
ALBANY -- Gov. Paterson told astonished state leaders yesterday that the state's newly adopted, record-high budget may already be as much as $3 billion in the red.
But that was nothing compared to the shock they'd received moments earlier when the bumbling governor apparently mixed up his fiscal years and suggested this year's deficit was actually twice as high -- an incredible $6 billion.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) turned to Assembly Labor Committee Chairwoman Susan John (D-Rochester) and whispered in amazement, "Six billion?"
Silver then folded his arms and shook his head at least once as the governor continued.
When Paterson was done, he took the podium and said, "I think the governor was talking about next year's budget."
He was right.
Paterson had apparently added the just-disclosed $3 billion deficit for the current 2009-2010 fiscal year to the projected $2.5 billion deficit for the 2010-2011 fiscal year and thrown in another half-billion.
Paterson presumably meant to say that would be the total deficit for the fiscal year beginning April 2010 if spending isn't reduced.
"So we're looking at closing that $3 billion, and we know that on top of that it is another $2½ billion, so approximately $6 billion of deficit reduction must take place between now and April," he said, managing to confuse nearly everyone.
Paterson, who appeared with other political leaders at a press conference to announce the extension of unemployment benefits, said he may ask the Legislature to begin cutting spending before it adjourns next month.
That's when he has threatened to begin laying off 8,600 state workers because of budget problems unrelated to the new deficit.
"We're going to have to start thinking now about what further cuts would be," he said.
"It's a disturbing kind of announcement to make, but it's actually true."
Paterson blamed this year's projected deficit on his reliance on revenue projections that were finalized in February but failed to reflect a further drop that was happening when the budget was passed in early April.
Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith (D-Queens) shot distressed looks at an aide when the governor began talking about spending cuts.
Sources later said Paterson hadn't alerted Smith to that possibility and added that Smith didn't think a budget-cutting session in June was necessary.
Paterson's grim assessment came a day after state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said state revenues had fallen short by nearly a quarter-billion dollars during April, the first month of the fiscal year.
"This was a poor start to the fiscal year," said DiNapoli.
Paterson and state lawmakers approved a $132 billion budget in early April that raised taxes by $8 billion and increased spending by 9 percent.
They insisted at the time that it would remain balanced because of the higher taxes and the addition of more than $6 billion in federal stimulus money.
Paterson seems to speak from
Paterson seems to speak from two sides of his mouth. On one side he talks about a fiscal crisis that requires budget cuts. On the other side of his mouth he talks about increasing spending and raising tax rates. This is NOT the kind of leadership that we need in New York!!!!!!!!!!
Let's bring Rudy to Albany so he could do at the state level what he did for NYC in the 1990s!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is exactly why strong
This is exactly why strong leadership is needed. Here you have Paterson waffling between making budget cuts and imposing huge tax hikes; you have a Democrat Legislature that is actually frightened of the mere mention of budget cuts.
And of course, as usual, the cuts Paterson wants to make aren't even the right ones. Paterson wants to put people who actually WORK out of a job, rather than trimming the massive amounts of available fat from the out-of-control beaurocracies in NY government. They don't seem to understand that bad policy is generally more expensive than deregulation (thanks to the combined effects of the cost of enforcement and the lost revenue of people choosing to NOT get involved in said regulated activities), and usually just makes whatever problem they were attempting to solve that much worse.
Even as it becomes more and more clear that free market principles, deregulation and lower taxes are the answers to New York's woes (just look at the states which choose to stay the hell out of their citizens' ways, for proof), Paterson and the Democrat Legislature just keep piling on the regs, the fees and the taxes, and continue to sink this economy deeper and deeper.
You have to ask: is there method to this madness, or are these people really and truly that dumb?
It just illustrates to me how badly we need a Rudy in Albany.
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