It’s not just the school kids who are on summer vacation this week.
It appears that the State Senate, who has still not passed a revenue plan necessary to hammer out a budget more than three months late, will not return to Albany until the week of July 12.
“I am absolutely frustrated and angered about this process,” said Queens Democratic Senator Joseph Addabbo, who informed his conference leader about his disgust. Addabbo said the Senate will use this week to negotiate with the Assembly, who passed a revenue plan that will increase revenues by $869 million this year.
Addabbo said that there is plenty of blame to go around for why there is still no budget, but he placed the lion’s share on Governor David A. Paterson, who for weeks has been passing portions of the budget through extenders.
“Albany for years was plagued with the idea or notion that three men in a room dictate a budget. We are now down to one man in a room, and it’s wrong,” Addabbo said.
Currently, the State Senate is still grappling with the proposal to allow city and state universities to set their own tuition rates and whether to come up with an alternative for federal Medicaid funding – something Paterson has strongly suggested doing.
Meanwhile, in the Assembly revenue bill, some of the provisions include temporarily suspending the sales tax exemption on clothing and footwear under $110 beginning October 1, 2010 through March 31, 2011. Starting April 1, 2011 the exemption would be reinstated at $55 for one year and then resume at $110 starting April 1, 2012.
Other revenue generators approved by the Assembly included business tax credit deferrals for taxpayers with more than $2 million in aggregated business tax credits, reducing itemized deductions for those with incomes above $10 million and restructuring the city personal income tax rate reduction for the New York State School Tax Relief Program.
“This was a tough fiscal year, and we had to make serious and significant cuts,” Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said in a statement. “My colleagues in the Assembly Majority and I have fought to save student MetroCards, senior centers and state parks, as well as other vital programs. The measure passed today will help keep the budget balanced and get our state on track to economic recovery.”
