Politics on the Hudson

Following a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open a section of Hudson River Park at Chelsea Piers 62 and 63 in New York City, Gov. David Paterson was asked about the irony of having the event on the day the state is shutting down dozens of parks and historic sites because of the state’s budget crisis.

“This kills me to stand here in a park knowing that I have probably closed down 41 parks and 14 other cultural sites and reduced funding for seven others, and I don’t want to do that. It pains me to do that. It’s just that that’s how dire our financial situation is,” he said. “We are in the worst recession this state has ever had, and it’s an unfortunate casualty, as is health care, as is education. I don’t feel like furloughing workers. I don’t want to lay anybody off. I don’t want to do any of these things. But there were those who didn’t make tough decisions in the past that have dumped this on my lap, and it is my charge and it is my conviction not to leave these problems to the next governor.”

He later added, “We don’t want to close any parks down. We don’t want to shut down any historic sites. We don’t want to kill the summer for anyone. This is unfortunately the difficult situation that we’re in financially,” he said.

The governor, Senate and Assembly have been unable to agree on how to close a $9.2 billion budget deficit. The fiscal year began April 1, and lawmakers have been passing weekly bare-bones budget-extender bills to keep state operations going as negotiations continue. Paterson is currently being sued by several unions over his proposal to furlough state workers one day a week for eight weeks (for a total of $250 million in workforce reductions) . A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order last week that prevents the furloughs from going forward until the case is heard in court.

“I thought that the collective sacrifice of the many was better than the unemployment of the few when unemployment is really the catalyst for our economic problem right now,” Paterson told reporters today.

The governor predicted that many school-board budgets would be voted down tomorrow. “People will be very surprised when the public, not the Legislature, not the governor, but the public votes down a lot of those plans, saying spend less money, saying you can’t spend money that you don’t have, saying that it’s time for us to make the tough decisions to get out of this recession and back to prosperity,” he said. “We’re not going to do it by borrowing or taxing or putting off problems to tomorrow which we need to address today.”

The average spending increase school districts are asking for Tuesday is 1.4 percent, according to state Education Department statistics.  The tax levy would grow by an average of 3.2 percent around the state, compared to the five-year average of 4.8 percent. Paterson has proposed cutting school aid by $1.4 billion in the current budget year. The Senate has agreed to that amount, but the Assembly wants to cut $800 million.