ALBANY — Forget forking over $25 for those hip, retro-colored new license plates next spring.

State leaders threw in the towel tonight on a provision they all agreed to last April requiring all drivers to get new license plates as part of a revenue-raising plan for the deficit-riddled state budget.

After a week of signaling a possible retreat, Gov. David Paterson said he's happy to back away from the new plates. Some Senate Democrats — following protest howls last April by Senate Republicans — had recently begun complaining, too, about the initiative that they, too, voted for last April.

And, adding a final voice tonight, the two leaders of the state Assembly made it official.

"On behalf of our respective conferences, we have agreed that the Assembly will act to repeal the requirement for New Yorkers to obtain new license plates after April 1, 2010. The plan to issue new license plates for all vehicles will not go forward. We understand that the Governor is committed to this repeal, and we will work with him," Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb said in a rare joint statement.

The government leaders used the public statements to get out in front of protests planned for Monday in Albany by county clerks, who have been getting much political mileage at home from their opposition to the license plan. Indeed, it was more than a plan: Paterson and the

Legislature approved it just back in April as a way to help balance the budget, and new plate designs already were completed and set to go for next spring.

Unclear is where the sides will get the money — or cuts — to replace the license plate revenues.

"County clerks, who are coming to Albany Monday, are encouraged to bring alternative savings suggestions with them, which is something they have failed to do so far," Paterson said.

Senate Republicans, who opposed the license plate fees last spring, used the retreats by Paterson and Silver to push for other changes to the already-enacted budget. Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos said Albany should now restore the STAR property tax rebates eliminated this year and overturn big SUNY hikes that were approved in the budget.

Skelos called the license plate initiative a "lame-brained plan" that was part of a budget that grew overall by $12 billion and raised more than $8 billion in various taxes and fees.

Erie County Clerk Kathy Hochul called the reversal "a major victory" for New Yorkers. "And they don't come around very often," she said of such victories for taxpayers.

Hochul dismissed suggestions that the governor and lawmakers will merely turn to other revenue sources to make up the difference for the lost license plate fees.

"No one is suggesting new fees to offset this," she said of her talks with lawmakers. "I'm not sure why they don't cut something."