ALBANY – The state’s new $73.3 billion budget contains huge new spending increases for education and Medicaid, as well as some significant tax cuts.
But the 1999-2000 fiscal package that lawmakers wrapped up this week also contains a variety of smaller, lesser-known expenditures and some tiny tax reductions as well.
Here are some of the other actions taken by Gov. Pataki and the Legislature: Spending increases
*$19 million to continue efforts to make state computers Y2K compliant.
*$1.7 million for a “motor vehicle theft and insurance fraud” prevention program.
*$40 million for stepped-up efforts to control pollution from vehicles and factories.
*$10.5 million for a Limited English Proficiency program.
*$10 million for a Statewide Public Safety Communications system.
*$13.2 million to begin the phased replacement of the State Police’s aviation system.
*$20 million for a New York Intranet, for state and local governments as well as nonprofit agencies. Taxes
*Reduced the excise tax on beer by 1 percent per gallon and increasing the exemption on state excise taxes on beer for smaller brewers, for a taxpayer savings of $14.1 million a year.
*Reduced the tax on boxing and wrestling matches from 5.5 percent to 3 percent and capped the maximum tax for any single event at $100,000.
*Gave a $500 tax credit for individuals and companies that buy defibrillators, which can save the lives of heart-attack victims.
*Agreed to delay until March 1 the planned Dec. 1 elimination of the 4 percent sales tax on clothing and footwear worth up to $110, bringing the state an additional $150 million in revenues.
But lawmakers authorized two tax-free shopping weeks in September and January, saving shoppers a projected $50 million.
In other actions, the Legislature:
*Approved the sale of the state-controlled Medical Malpractice Insurance Association, which sells med-mal insurance to doctors, for an estimated $250 million a year over the next two years.
*Agreed to try again to get around U.S. Supreme Court rulings that said state efforts to set up a special school district for Orthodox Jews in Orange County are unconstitutional.