ALBANY – Gov. Cuomo this morning unveiled plans to tackle one of the worst budget gaps in state history – a whopping $10 billion – by dramatically slashing state aid, closing prisons and laying off as many as 9,800 state workers.
The governor’s proposed $132.9 billion 2011-12 budget would include a rare reduction of in state spending of $3.7 billion from the current fiscal year. State operating funds – the portion of the budget excluding federal aid – would increase $900 million, or one percent, to $88.1 billion.
Cuomo called for $2.85 billion in cuts to Medicaid, or about two percent, including $982 million in expected growth. He would reduce school projected school aid by $2.85 billion to $19.4 billion.
CUOMO EXPOSES DIRTY BUDGET TRICK
The governor proposed assigning a commission to reduce the state’s prison system by 3,500 beds to account for a shrinking prison population. He called for consolidating 11 agencies into four, including merging the state department’s of Banking and Insurance, and as many as 9,800 layoffs and job cuts.
The budget cuts another $918 million in payments to schools and local governments, including $659 million to the city. Cuomo also proposed to hold back from the city a $302 million revenue-sharing payment for the second year in a row.
“We simply cannot afford to keep spending at our current rate,” Cuomo said in a statement. “This budget achieves real, year-to-year savings while restructuring the way we manage our state government.”
The governor was expected to formally detail his budget in a 1 p.m. address to lawmakers in Albany. The Legislature must approve the spending by the April 1 start of the state fiscal year.
Cuomo yesterday released a blistering op-ed denouncing the entire budget process as “a sham” designed to engineer annual spending hikes regardless of how much a governor cuts in his annual budget. He promised permanent changes to state law to prevent similar spikes in the future.
The spending plan, Cuomo said, also fulfilled his campaign to pledge to balance the budget without borrowing or raising taxes or fees proposes no new or increased taxes “to make New York more economically competitive.”
It did propose to bring in some $455 million new revenues by closing tax “loopholes,” expanding some lottery games, and tweaking two fees.
brendan.scott@nypost.com