And, on the 125th day, the state finally passed a budget.
After a slew of budget extenders, numerous special sessions and frequent back-and-forth rhetoric between the different houses in the Legislature, the state finally came to a budget agreement with the final piece of the budget being approved by a 32-28 margin in the State Senate on Tuesday, August 3.
The last piece of the budget, which included an extra $1.5 billion in revenue including temporarily reinstating the state sales tax on footwear and clothing under $110 beginning October 1, put this year’s overall state budget at $136.5 billion. The Assembly had passed the final piece of the budget on July 1.
The final budget, which was the third latest in the state’s history, closes a $9.2 billion gap.
“Because of the $18 billion budget deficit last year, this was a particularly hard deficit to close because of the lack of resources,” said Governor David Paterson, during a conference call with reporters on Wednesday.
Paterson also trumpeted that this year’s gap was also closed without borrowing.
“We didn’t borrow a dime,” Paterson said. “Borrowing in the past few years has replaced taxes.”
However, the revenue portion of the bill, which was passed on Tuesday night, did not receive support from the Republicans, who criticized the budget for increasing spending at a time when the state needed to cut back.
“It was a disastrous budget – a disgrace in many ways,” said Queens Republican Frank Padavan, referring to the budgets of the last two years.
Padavan spoke about how this year’s budget added more than $2.2 billion in new taxes and fees, and he also criticized the budget process by not having conference committees to discuss the issue – something that is required by law.
“It was a disgraceful display of the lack of leadership particularly in the Senate,” Padavan said.
One of the main issues that was holding up the budget in the State Senate was whether to allow SUNY and CUNY institutions the ability to set their own tuition rates. Although the plan had a number of strong supporters in the Senate, the resolution will not be enacted into law in this year’s budget.
“This is a long term issue,” said State Senator Jose Peralta. “This is not going to be something that can be resolved in a month or two.”
