Spitzer, day three

January

In his State of the State address this afternoon, Gov. Eliot Spitzer will hit all the high points of what he promised in his campaignÃ¢â‚¬â€reforming government, reducing the growth in state spending, focusing on upstate development and improving education. He delivers his address to the Legislature at 1 p.m.

Here are some details:

Ã¢â‚¬â€On reform, Spitzer wants to overhaul campaign-finance, lobbying and election laws, and consolidate and reorganize the court system and local governments.

Ã¢â‚¬â€Spitzer says there will be no new taxes this year and the budget will have less growth in spending than previous years. He vowed there will be property-tax cuts, something Senate Republicans have also pledged to accomplish this year.

Ã¢â‚¬â€The governor wants to turnaround the lackluster upstate economy by appointing an upstate development Ã¢â‚¬Å“czarÃ¢â‚¬?, giving more aid to Ã¢â‚¬Å“distressedÃ¢â‚¬? municipalities so they can cut property taxes, and asking voters to borrow millions of dollars for an economic-development fund.

Ã¢â‚¬â€Spitzer wants to make pre-school spots available for all 4-year-olds within four years. He wants the state to approve more charter schools, something his predecessor, George Pataki, could not convince the Legislature to do last year. His plan differs somewhat from PatakiÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s because he wants the state to give more money to districts charter schools are concentrated in. He wants more money and more accountability for public schools.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007 at 12:21 pm by Cara Matthews.
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Spitzer, day three

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