RYE BROOK — Negotiators have struck the framework of a deal to reopen 55 state parks and

historic sites in time for the Memorial Day weekend, Dov. David Paterson confirmed this morning.

"The Legislature has made the tough choices to my satisfaction that will enable us to

reopen the parks," Paterson said on a Manhattan radio show.

Paterson said that the Legislature "basically has accepted" his plans to reduce spending by

about $74 million on the Environmental Protection Fund as part of an overall package to steer

more money to the parks.

Negotiators from his staff and the Legislature worked on the parks deal until 4 this

morning, Paterson said on WOR.

"If the Legislature comes in this morning and find this is to their liking ... then the parks

will be open," Paterson said.

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A formal agreement is expected to be announced Thursday in Albany.

"The parks will be open," Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said in an interview Wednesday

during a brief stop at the Democratic Party convention meeting here this week.

"I know there's a tentative, three-way deal, and I look forward to not only keeping the

parks open through this weekend, but hopefully through the summer," said Senate Democratic

Conference Leader John Sampson said Wednesday

The Legislature earlier this week rejected a Paterson plan to dip into the state's

Environmental Protection Fund to pay for the operations of the 41 state parks and 14 historic

sites that were officially shut down last week, as well as funding for other still-open parks.

Shutting down the 55 sites, Paterson estimates, would save $6 million this year.

A government official close to the talks said Wednesday night the deal calls for cutting

the environmental fund, which supports a range of environmental programs from land purchases

to money for the Buffalo Zoo. The governor in January proposed cutting the fund, in order to

help with the state's deficit, to $143 million. The official said the deal on the table, which

could still evolve in overnight talks, would lower that to $134 million, which is more than

$70 million lower than the fund had last year.

The state parks component would be broken off from the Environmental Protection Fund

program as Paterson proposed this week, but money to reopen the parks would come from revenues

the state gets from real estate transfer taxes — which now go to fund the environmental

fund.

Also being looked at are new revenue-raising ideas, including an "e-waste" fee imposed on

industry — and so likely passed onto consumers — to encourage recycling of

electronic components, such as computer parts. The deal envisions closing down the portion of

the state budget that pertains to parks and the Environmental Protection Fund, even though the

full budget has not yet been adopted.

Environmental groups were already preparing for a defeat on the environmental fund issue.

"The governor has proposed to pick-pocket the Environmental Protection Fund to make up for

his own errors in failing to fund the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation,"

said David Gahl, policy director at Environmental Advocates of New York, an umbrella advocacy

group.

"And in this high-stakes game of political chicken, the Legislature appears to have

flinched," he added.

Gahl said that while the final details of an agreement have not yet been released, "this

looks like bad fiscal policy, bad public policy and a bad deal for New York's environment."

Negotiators were working the issue between Albany and Rye Brook, where some legislative

negotiators spent time working the parks issue while attending the Democratic convention here.

Republican lawmakers said the parks should never have closed in the first place, and that

the popular public facilities were held hostage as negotiating tools between the Democratic

governor and Democratic-controlled Legislature.

"Democrats in the Senate and Assembly must understand that the late budget, which is now 56

days late and counting, is having serious consequences for New Yorkers and their families,"

said Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos, a Long Island Republican.

The state's fiscal year began April 1.

"I'm optimistic that we're close," Paterson said of a parks deal. But, he added, "What I'm

not optimistic about is that it's taking so long to find $5 million to extend the opening of

the parks through the summer when the Legislature is nearly $2 billion away from the executive

branch in balancing the budget."

The state is facing a $9.2 billion deficit.

"I think everything is moving in the right direction and hopefully [today] we can vote on a

bill," Sen. Antoine Thompson, a Buffalo Democrat who chairs the Senate environmental

committee, said of the parks issue.