ALBANY, N.Y. — With the on-again, off-again drama of a potential state government shutdown and long political battles during the last three weeks, New Yorkers have had little chance to see major parts of the 2011-12 state budget all in one place as it has taken shape.
As of Monday, about 70 percent of the more than $135 billion budget had been approved in pieces through weekly emergency spending bills, rather than in the legally prescribed process of striking a total budget agreement. The budget was due April 1. Lawmakers say about $5 billion of a projected $9.2 billion deficit will have been addressed after Monday’s voting.
Major elements — including Paterson’s proposal to cut school aid by 5 percent for savings of $1.4 billion — are still pending.
Monday’s action was scheduled to include the following:
— $302 million cut from aid and incentives to New York City, although lawmakers say a proposal could compensate for the loss by giving the city school district more money. But that hasn’t yet been approved. Other cities would also see decreases as $15 million more is cut in the rest of the state.
— $17 million saved by merging the Homeland Security and Emergency Services departments and related emergency services.
— $111 million saved by merging other state agencies and sharing administrative costs.
— $17 million saved by suspending training of a new state police class for a second year. The ranks are expected drop by about 269 positions through attrition. Ninety troopers will be reassigned from schools where they worked as resource officers.
— $4 million saved by delaying the extensive roof renovation at the Capitol, which has seen expansive work to improve the historic building’s appearance.
— $78 million in new spending to create a state agency that will better serve indigent defendants accused of crimes.
— $3 million spent to keep the Buffalo Bills in Buffalo, a deal made with the NFL team over a decade ago.
—$25 million allocated to continue free MetroCards for New York City students to use to get to school on mass transit.
—$7 million saved by closing the Lyon Mountain minimum security prison in Clinton County and the minimum security part of the Butler Correctional Facility in Wane County. The Ogdensburg Correctional Facility and Moriah Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility in Minneville had been slated for closing, but will remain open in northern New York.
— A $1.60 per pack increase in the cigarette tax to $4.35, the nation’s highest. Chewing tobacco and most other tobacco products would also be taxed at 75 percent of the wholesale cost, up from 46 percent; snuff would be taxed at $2 per ounce, instead of 96 cents per ounce; and little cigars would be taxed like cigarettes.
— Trying to tax cigarettes sold by Indian tribes to non-Indians. State officials say that will comply with federal law, but tribal leaders say the taxation violates treaties and their sovereignty. A stamp would be placed on cigarettes showing the tax was paid and a portion of cigarettes estimated to be smoked by tribe members would be exempt from the tax.
Previous agreements on June 7 and June 14 included other elements of the budget for the current fiscal year already nearly three months gone. They include:
— $327 million worth of cuts in programs for the mentally disabled and social services programs, including welfare. The Legislature reversed some of Gov. David Paterson’s proposed cuts in welfare aid and assistance for low-income elderly residents as well as in summer youth programs.
— $775 million in health care cuts for the 2010-11 fiscal year, most of which were proposed by Paterson. New York City area hospitals were expected to be hit with $250 million of the reductions. The cuts will hit hospitals, nursing homes and other health providers and programs statewide. The measure approved by the Legislature was less than the $1 billion in cuts Paterson had proposed in his executive budget in January. The final cuts Paterson agreed to include $6 million for stem-cell research, a top priority for the legally blind governor.