ALBANY – Gov. Paterson said this morning that his “fear” is that the state won’t have an adopted budget at all this year because nervous lawmakers aren’t willing to make the tough spending cuts that are needed.
That’s why, he said, he decided announced yesterday that he would begin slashing state spending on his own in the weekly appropriation bills he’s been sending to the Legislature ever since the new fiscal year began April 1 without a budget in place.
“This (no budget) is a fear that I have and in order to counteract it they (lawmakers) are going to have to come past my weekly appropriations, where if they don’t want to have a budget at least they’re going to have to address the cuts we have to make,” Paterson said during an interview on the John Gambling radio show.
The state has a long history of late budgets but this year is different because of a $9 billion-plus projected deficit and an unprecedented anger among voters that has lawmakers fearful they’ll be kicked out of office if they radically slash spending.
Paterson, who is not seeking election in November, has, for now, ruled out across the board tax hikes and large scale borrowing, making it more difficult for lawmakers to avoid painful budget cuts.