ALBANY — With talks still stalled over how to close the state’s budget deficit, Gov. David A. Paterson said Monday that schools, as well as hospitals and nursing homes, should prepare for cuts in state aid.

“I’m not going to agree to a deal that doesn’t have some cuts in health care and education,” Paterson said in an interview with The Buffalo News. The two areas account for more than half the budget’s spending, which is now running $3.2 billion in the red, and he has proposed more than $1 billion in cuts to those two areas.

The governor called it “outrageous” that some lawmakers, chiefly Senate Democrats, want to replace planned education cuts with one-shot borrowings or tax increases.

“I just don’t feel that my colleagues have been willing or able to confront the seriousness of the situation,” he said, quickly adding that his barbs were not directed at the Assembly Democratic leadership.

With some whispering that lawmakers will merely pass a measure to resolve just part of the deficit, the governor said that such a route only delays the problem. “Right here, right now, I think this is the poignant moment where a stand has to be taken,” Paterson said.

By Monday night, the sides were still apart, as the 212- member Legislature returned earlier in the day to what could be, like last week, another fruitless exercise to close the gap anytime soon.

Senate Democratic Conference Leader John L. Sampson of Brooklyn said education is one of the key issues holding up a deal. “Zero cuts to education — that’s where we’re at,” he said, “at this point in time.”

Earlier in the day, an influential senator began the latest effort to get Paterson to enforce current laws to begin collecting taxes on cigarette sales by Indian retailers. Sen. Carl Kruger, D-Brooklyn, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said the state could collect $1.6 billion over the next year if the Seneca Nation and other tribes are required to end tax-free sales. He said threats of violence over any collection efforts should be ignored by the state.

“All I can say is, collect the tax, and those who choose to break the law should suffer the consequences of their actions,” said Kruger, who also was quietly promoting another plan to raise taxes on health maintenance organizations, a move that critics say would be passed on to policyholders.

The governor, while accusing Kruger of “making up” grossly inflated revenue estimates for cigarette tax collections, said he is considering a plan to enforce the collection law. “But,” he added, “I don’t want to do it at the sacrifice of injury or loss of life.” He said a threat assessment by the State Police estimates that it will cost up to $2 million a day to “protect the public” if the collection effort is begun.

The Indian tax became the latest quagmire in the debate in Albany over how to close the deficit.

Instead of a budget deal, lawmakers took up four unrelated bills, dealing with mortgage- foreclosure protections for consumers and letting localities give loans to residents for certain green upgrades to their homes.

“People are looking at us, and they really want us to take action,” State Sen. Michael H. Ranzenhofer, R-Clarence, admonished the Democrats on the floor. “They want us to cut spending like they’re doing in their families.”