Governor releases his final emergency spending bill. Legislators have the weekend to hammer out any changes.
View full sizeNew York Gov. David Paterson arrives at the Capitol in Albany on March 3. ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. David Paterson’s emergency spending bill to the Legislature will include a cap on school and local government property taxes, a smaller restoration to school aid than sought by the Assembly, and several tax and revenue producers tied to school aid.
The plan would eliminate the state’s $9.2 billion deficit.
The bill, to be announced Friday, would allow wine to be sold in grocery stores and temporarily end an exemption on the state’s 4 percent sales tax for clothes and shoes costing less than $110.
Paterson’s plan would also empower the public university systems to set their own tuition to a maximum each year. But he would also increase the Tuition Assistance Plan to help poorer students.
The Legislature opposes some of these measures and has the weekend to seek changes. But Paterson plans to force a vote Monday on the weekly emergency appropriation that, if rejected, would shut down government. The state budget was due April 1 and Paterson has resorted to including elements of the budget in weekly emergency spending bills when negotiations with the Legislature stalled.
“Today, I am taking the final step toward enacting a budget and closing the deficit,” Paterson said. “When taken with the other portions of the budget that have already been passed, the final budget will fulfill the core principles of my initial proposal: shared sacrifice combined with recurring spending reductions and responsible budgeting.”
Paterson’s bill also would call for the 3,500 New Yorkers who make more than $10 million a year to lose half their state tax break for charitable donations. Managers of hedge funds for big investors who live outside the state but work in New York will now pay the same tax as hedge fund managers who live in New York.
In the critical area of school aid, Paterson would restore $300 million of the $1.4 billion, or 5 percent, cut he proposed in January to contend with the state’s $9.2 billion deficit. The Assembly’s Democratic majority sought to restore $600 million.
The bill also would include several other taxes, fees and other actions including:
• The delay of some business tax credits.
• Incorporation of the already approved $1.60 per pack increase in cigarettes
• Requirement that sales tax be paid by customers of online hotel reservation services that find customers for unused hotel rooms.
Paterson also incorporates about $200 million more in tax revenues received from April to June than originally projected. Paterson’s plan includes no borrowing, something many legislators and advocates thought would be impossible.
» Get the details on what's been approved in the budget so far