Paterson gets cold reception in Albany on belt-tightening ideas
ALBANY — Gov. David A. Paterson picked an unusual spot — an island in the Caribbean — to float a trial balloon that his administration wants to cut deeply from current aid to public schools and get salary or other givebacks from public employee unions to avoid layoffs.
But, 1,700 miles away in the Capitol, the ideas landed with a thud Monday even before the governor’s plane touched down from a five-day trip to Puerto Rico and St. Maarten.
Danny Donohue, the politically potent president of the Civil Service Employees Association, accused the governor of trying to “play politics through the media.”
The union flatly ruled out reopening the contract it agreed to with the state just a year ago. Union officials said Paterson should first raid a rainy day fund, collect taxes on Indian cigarette sales and trim “bloated” political patronage jobs as ways to help close the deficit.
Meanwhile, schools around the state were bracing for Paterson to put education aid on the chopping block when he comes out with his list of ideas Wednesday morning on how to resolve a $1.5 billion gap in the fiscal year that ends next March 31. Lawmakers are scheduled to return to Albany next week for a special session to consider his plan.
Those districts most at risk are ones that have not built up strong reserves to accommodate a midyear school aid cut, the likes of which have not been seen in New York since 1991.
In Buffalo’s case, the school system has a rainy day fund not dedicated for any specific purpose of about $34 million. If it had to, it could tap into that to avoid classroom disruptions, said Gary Crosby, the district’s chief financial officer.
But that would leave less money in reserve to deal with the real financial tsunami that is coming in the state’s 2009 budget that is projected by Paterson to be $12.5 billion in the hole already.
If the cuts are significant enough, Crosby said it could force classrooms to be consolidated, with larger class sizes and layoffs of teachers. “That is a really ugly situation,” he said.
Officials with the state School Boards Association said midyear cuts are especially challenging for schools to deal with because there is little time to impose savings on budgets that are not already part of contracts with teachers, transportation services and other components of school budgets. Deep midyear cuts could force schools, especially those without deep enough reserves, to cancel everything from after-school programs to art and music classes.
But Paterson also will run into a wall in the Legislature. Senate Republicans, as well as a number of Democrats, vowed before last Tuesday’s elections — in which the GOP lost control of the Senate — that school spending would not be cut in midyear.
“Our position as a conference has not changed,” said Senate GOP spokesman John McArdle.
Sunday, Paterson told the New York Times he was looking at midyear school aid cuts, reductions in Medicaid spending, as expected, and wants unions to amend their current contracts to help the state save money. But the Democratic governor’s ideas were not warmly received by union leaders.
Monday, Paterson officials provided no details of any plans, which will come out Wednesday. Risa Heller, a Paterson spokeswoman, said the plan will call for cuts in “virtually” every area of the budget “through shared sacrifice.”
Donohue, the CSEA boss, said Paterson’s contract idea is “counterproductive and disappointing.”
Stephen Madarasz, a CSEA spokesman, said Paterson has been “repeatedly” told the union won’t reopen contracts.
“It opens up a can of worms,” Madarasz said, adding that hundreds of other state and local contracts could face a similar fate. He noted the deals were put together only last year.
“Everybody realizes we’re going through a tough time, but the state knew they could be going through a tough time when they entered into the contract, plain and simple,” Madarasz said.
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