ALBANY---Gov. Eliot Spitzer went on the attack against the proposed budget bill of the Senate Majority, saying that it would add more than $3 billion in new spending.

Citing a preliminary analysis prepared by the Division of the Budget, Spitzer said the Senate Majority bill would add $3.2 billion in new "All Funds" spending. The Senate Majority claimed its bill would add only $1 billion to the General Fund, and failed to note the All Funds impact of its budget plan, Spitzer said.

According to the Governor's office, the Senate bill would increase All Funds spending growth by 9.1 percent over 2006-07 spending. Under the Executive Budget proposal, All Funds spending increases by only 6.3 percent from the current year.

Spitzer said the Senate bill would wipe out state reserves and quadruple the projected General Fund gap in 2008-2009 from $2.2 billion to $8.3 billion. Under the Senate plan, the out-year gap in 2010-11 would grow to an unmanageable level of $14 billion.

"The Senate Majority is spending billions of dollars the state doesn't have with complete disregard of any commitment to fiscal discipline," said Spitzer. "They removed vital health care programs and replaced them with millions in new spending on the wrong programs. "Adoption of their proposal would be ruinous to the state."

Spitzer also said the Senate Majority's budget proposal represented a setback in efforts to reach a timely budget.

"A proposal of this nature cannot form the basis of meaningful negotiation," the Governor said. "Anyone who would endorse such a position simply does not understand or doesn't care about the serious fiscal challenges facing the state."

Below is a comparison of the Executive budget proposal, Assembly budget bill and Senate budget bill. The numbers listed are conservative estimates of the spending included in the legislative proposal.

2007-08 One-House Bills Comparison Of 2007-08 Budget Indicators
3-14-07

© 2007 North Country Gazette