By Courtney Dentch
The budget, which passed Aug. 11 more than four months after the April 1 deadline, provides for a $600 million aid package for the city, including $288 million in additional funds for city schools and approval for the property tax rebate and Earned Income Tax Credit that Mayor Michael Bloomberg had requested. But Pataki, who received the budget bills Friday, has not signed off on the deal hammered out by the Republican-controlled Senate and the Democratic-dominated Assembly. The Republican governor is looking to shave more than $1 billion off the total, but it was unclear which areas he might target, a spokesman for the state Division of the Budget said.”The only area he said he's not going to bother was education,” said state Assemblywoman Barbara Clark (D-Queens Village).The budget calls for $288 million more in school aid for New York City as part of a statewide increase in education funding of $750 million. The total figure for New York City education was unavailable.State Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone) voted against the education package, along with many Senate Democrats, because the budget did not address the court-mandated reforms that are needed to ensure that school funding is allocated equally, she said. The reforms were based on the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit started out of New York City, which prevailed when the state Appellate Division ordered the Legislature to develop a new funding formula to ensure city students get the same opportunities as their upstate counterparts.The lawmakers were deadlocked over school funding proposals and sessions were adjourned when the July deadline passed. The court appointed a panel of mediators to address the issue.”While we restored the governor's cuts, there was no attempt to comply with the CFE,” Stavisky said.Stavisky offered a hostile amendment to the education budget that would have allocated $700 million in CFE operating aid for high needs districts, including those in New York City, and would have added capital funds to provide space as schools reduce class sizes, she said.The City University system also fared well under the budget. CUNY, including Queens and York colleges and LaGuardia and Queensborough community colleges, was slated to receive $1.4 billion in capital assistance. The budget also restored $115 in base aid per full-time student for the community colleges.”It could be more,” Stavisky said. “The community colleges rely on that.”But the Legislature restored cuts to the Tuition Assistance Program proposed by Pataki.The long-awaited budget also includes the state's okay for changes to city taxes. The city asked for a property tax rebate to help homeowners who shouldered the 18.5 percent hike last year to close a city budget gap. Bloomberg pushed this rebate, which will give land holders an average of $400 back.Low-income city residents will also get a break on their income taxes, thanks to an Earned Income Tax Credit proposed by Council Speaker Gifford Miller (D-Manhattan). The credit will allow families earning less than $34,000 a year to receive a break on their city income taxes of up to $215.The state also took a step toward absorbing the costs of Family Health Plus, the state-run health insurance program. The counties had been paying for the program, but the state will take on half the cost – $202 million – this year and include the rest next year.”This will help not only New York City but every other county in the state, since the cost of health care has become astronomical,” said John Googas, chief of state for state Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose).The budget was passed 133 days after the annual April 1 deadline and set a new record for the latest budget. The state has not approved a budget on time in more than 20 years, drawing wide-ranging criticism and earning the title of most dysfunctional legislature from New York University's Brennan Center of Justice.Many of the borough legislators were looking forward to putting the budget behind them and tackling other issues, including raising the minimum wage, a bill the governor vetoed, and reforming the Rockefeller drug laws, which set harsh mandatory minimum prison terms. “The budget is one we can live with,” Stavisky said. “What bothers me is that there are so many issues that were not dealt with. We should have overridden the governor on minimum wage, we should have done something with the Rockefeller laws.”Reach reporter Courtney Dentch by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 138.
