NEW YORK - New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders on Sunday announced a fiscal 2012 budget agreement that does not include new taxes.
Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said the $132.5 billion budget closes a $10 billion deficit and cuts year-over-year spending by 2%. The budget agreement does not include Silver’s initiative to extend a personal income-tax surcharge on those earning $1 million or more. That higher tax will expire on Dec. 31. The governor, a Democrat, did not support continuing the surcharge tax.
Republicans control the Senate while Democrats have a majority in the Assembly. Fiscal 2012 begins April 1.
The compromise budget restores $272 million for educational spending, including funding for schools for the blind and deaf and summer school for special education programs. Human services, higher education, and agriculture programs will also gain more funding compared to Cuomo’s executive budget proposal, which he released on Feb. 1.
Officials agreed upon $54 million of miscellaneous cuts and a $170 million reduction to the Office of Court Administration. The budget also eliminates 3,700 prison beds and caps fiscal 2013 education and Medicaid spending to rein in those costs for the next two years. The agreement helps reduce next year’s estimated deficit to $2 billion from $15 billion, according to the governor’s office.
“This budget makes tough choices, which is what you sent me to Albany to do,” Cuomo said in a statement. “It closes a $10 billion deficit with no new taxes or borrowing, redesigns government to force it to cut waste and inefficiency, and finally delivers real results for hard-working families across New York State. I applaud and thank Majority Leader Skelos and Speaker Silver for working together to reach this agreement.”
The budget implements 10 regional economic development councils that will oversee business assistance programs and promote job creation.
While New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg praised state lawmakers for crafting a compromise budget before the March 31 deadline, he stressed that the plan fails to restore funding that would avoid potential New York City teacher layoffs of 4,000 to 4,300. Overall, the mayor plans to reduce teaching positions by 6,000 due to less state aid and the end of federal stimulus funds.
“We appreciate that some of the cuts in education aid were restored,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “But make no mistake: the final budget still cuts New York City more than ever before. The restorations are merely a fraction of the $600 million necessary to avoid additional layoffs and cuts in the city’s budget — beyond what was announced in February — for the upcoming fiscal year.”
