State budget 68 days late and counting, with state legislature on break
Story Created:
Jul 6, 2010 at 4:14 PM EDT
Story Updated:
Jul 8, 2010 at 4:54 PM EDT
NEW YORK STATE (WKTV) - Despite the fact that there is no state budget, the New York State Legislature is on break.
The state senate has adjourned indefinitely, but without a state budget, there is still lots of work to do.
Senators last met on Thursday, and while they had passed parts of the budget, they didn't pass the revenue section, which would provide the funds necessary for the approved spending.
However, the New York State Assembly has passed the revenue bill, which details how the state is going to raise the money they're going to spend for the year.
Meanwhile, Governor David Paterson showed his displeasure by furiously vetoing the parts of the budget that passed - all 6,900 bills.
On Tuesday, Senator James Seward said there are three options when it comes to the budget and the current state of it in the Capitol.
The most likely option, Senator Seward said, is that the Senate will be called back as early as Tuesday, July 13th to pass what the the revenue bill already passed by the New York State Assembly.
Option Two would be to re-open negotiations with Governor Paterson, Seward said.
Option Three would be to, in effect, start over from scratch, re-doing everything with spending cuts, and not raising taxes.
"I see where the Governor is coming from - looking to curtail spending," Senator Seward said. "I agree with him in that regard. I wish he had been as aggressive last year."
Senator Joseph Griffo is equally as frustrated by the budget process.
"I'm really concerned right now, I think, that's it's 99% done, but its been done in a piece-meal way," Senator Griffo said. "It ultimately is going to have a negative effect on the State of New York, because of many decisions that were made. And I think that is unfortunate."
The budget total falls somewhere between $135 - $136 billion.
Meanwhile, the Senate is now working with a $ 9.2 billion deficit, a factor making it difficult to pass a budget without raising taxes.
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