[NYAPRS Enews] Paterson Suspends State Pay Raises, Budget Extender Amidst Ongoing Negotiations

[Harvey Rosenthal]

Paterson Says He'll Suspend Pay Raises for Workers

By Nicholas Confessore And Jeremy W. Peters  New York Times  April 8,
2010

 

ALBANY - Gov. David A. Paterson said Thursday that he would unilaterally
withhold scheduled pay raises for thousands of state workers because New
York had too little cash to afford them.

The decision, which public employee unions are likely to challenge in
court, came after union leaders refused to renegotiate a contract with
the state that granted union workers a 4 percent raise beginning on
April 1.

The governor and state lawmakers are struggling to close a $9 billion
state budget gap and have yet to agree on a new budget, which is now
more than a week overdue. A series of emergency bills, containing
short-term appropriations for essential government functions, have kept
the state in business since the fiscal year ended on March 31.

Mr. Paterson will suspend the raises by including no money for them in
his next emergency bill, which the Legislature will probably pass in the
next few days.

The governor said he had been forced to withhold billions of dollars in
school aid and municipal assistance in recent months to ensure that the
state did not run out of money. Some of those decisions have been
challenged in court.

"I am just shocked and amazed that every time you ask the special
interests or the unions for some kind of sacrifice that the answer is
either 'no' or 'I'm going to sue you,' " Mr. Paterson said Thursday
after a private meeting with the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver. "The
state has run out of money twice, for the first time in its history, in
the last four months. We're doing everything to keep the ship afloat.
And some people are just very reticent or unable to recognize the
gravity of the crisis."

Danny Donahue, the president of the Civil Service Employees Association,
the state's largest public employees' union, said in a statement that
Mr. Paterson's decision was "more evidence of his administration's
incompetence."

Mr. Paterson's "unilateral delay of a fairly negotiated raise for
C.S.E.A.-represented state employees is wrong and the governor knows
it," Mr. Donahue said.

Kenneth Brynien, president of another union, the New York State Public
Employees Federation, said in a statement, "We will take every action
necessary to ensure our members get their negotiated raises."

Mr. Brynien and Mr. Donahue met with Mr. Paterson on Wednesday to
discuss how to resolve the impasse, but those talks appear to have been
fruitless. The governor is seeking to persuade the unions to agree to
salary concessions to help balance the budget.

The latest emergency bill covers a week's worth of government operations
and biweekly paychecks due on April 22 for about 50,000 workers, meaning
that the move will save the state only $3.4 million. But administration
officials said the governor was likely to continue withholding the money
in future emergency bills, while pursuing a long-term negotiation with
the unions.

The state is scheduled to pay $433 million in raises over the course of
the fiscal year.

While Mr. Paterson acknowledged that he had no legal authority to cancel
the raises, he said the state's cash crunch had left him with little
choice but to delay them.

"The delay is because we don't have the resources to pay them right
now," he said. "How is the court going to make the state use money that
would only drive us into insolvency?"

The raises were part of labor contracts that were signed under Mr.
Paterson's predecessor, Gov. Eliot Spitzer, and that are due to expire
next year.

Traditionally, governors have used the threat of layoffs to convince
unions to reopen their salary contracts. But last June, as part of a
deal to save New York billions of dollars in future pension costs for
state employees, Mr. Paterson agreed not to lay off any state workers
until the end of this year.

The broader budget negotiations between the governor and the Legislature
appeared to be proceeding just as slowly this week. Mr. Paterson and Mr.
Silver both suggested that no deal was imminent.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/09/nyregion/09budget.html?pagewanted=prin
t 

--------------

 

Senate Leader: Budget Should Be Done In "The Next Week Or So"

By Cara Matthews  Gannett News Service April 8, 2010

 

   Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson, D-Brooklyn, said this
afternoon that he believes state workers are entitled to their 4 percent
raises, but they should be open to the idea of voluntary give-backs to
help the state get out of its budget crisis.

   "They have a contract. The contract is binding, and therefore they
have all rights given to them by the law to make sure it's enforced. If
I represented them, I would push for that the contract be enforced,"
said Sampson, a lawyer, adding that he's "on the side of the people."

   Gov. David Paterson's administration announced today that the state
is delaying the unions' 4 percent pay hikes, which were scheduled to
take effect April 1. That prompted  one of the unions to say it would
use whatever legal means available to force the state to make good on
the raises.

   The governor and lawmakers are still in negotiations on a budget for
the 2010-11 fiscal year, which started last week. The state is facing a
$9.2 billion deficit, which they have to deal with. Sampson said he
planned to meet with the governor and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver,
D-Manhattan, tomorrow.

   Sampson said he hoped to reach a budget deal "within the next week or
so."

   Negotiations continue over how the state can help the failing New
York City OTB, Sampson said, adding he hopes lawmakers will be able to
pass some kind of interim solution early next week. He said the deal
would not make any changes at Yonkers OTB, which has been discussed as
possibly needing to take a financial hit to help save New York City OTB.

   "At this point in time hopefully our goal is to maintain what
presently exists," he said.

   Sampson said no decision had been made on whether to attach a tax on
medical marijuana to help with the state's fiscal crisis. The
Legislature appears poised to pass legislation this year to legalize the
use of marijuana for medical reasons.

 

http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2010/04/08/senate-leader-budget-should-b
e-done-in-the-next-week-or-so/ 

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Paterson to Issue Second Budget Extender

Karen DeWitt  New York Public Radio  April 7, 2010

 

ALBANY, NY (WXXI) - State lawmakers, on their first full day back at the
Capitol after a nearly week and a half vacation, appear no closer to a
budget agreement than they did before their break. Governor Paterson
plans to issue another two week spending extender to keep the state
operating. 

State lawmakers say despite the long Passover- Easter break, they have
not been idle, and have been meeting on how to resolve a $9 billion
dollar budget gap and agree on a budget that is now one week overdue. 

Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson says he's been meeting with other
top Democrats, including Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, to discuss a
plan by Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch to borrow $2 billion
dollars, among other issues.

" I did a lot during the vacation, working with our staff," said
Sampson. "We came up with different revenue alternatives.

Senator Sampson was not willing to immediately say what those revenue
alternatives might be. 

"I don't have them presently in front of me," said Sampson, who promised
to get them to reporters later in the day. A request to his spokesman
for details went unanswered.

Senator Sampson met privately with Governor Paterson and Lieutenant
Governor Richard Ravitch to discuss the budget at a posh steakhouse in
Brooklyn, a gathering first reported in the New York Times. Senate
Republican Leader Dean Skelos complains that the 30 GOP Senators have
been left out, and he says that's also holding up the process.

"I wasn't invited to that, even for an appetizer," said Skelos. 

Skelos says Democrats don't want to meet with Republicans or hold
conference committees, because they are unwilling to reveal what they
intend to do to close the multi billion dollar gap.

"They're afraid to go public, because they don't want to talk about the
taxes they're going to raise and the borrowing they're going to do,"
said Skelos. "Until the very last minute when they plop it on the desk
and say take it or leave it'".

There is one topic that both Democrats and Republicans do agree on. They
believe Governor David Paterson should not be holding up funds for
planned road and bridge repairs around the state. Paterson did not
include the transportation funds in his emergency budget extender, and
says he does not intend to put it in a new emergency spending measure
that he'll send to lawmakers this week. Senator Sampson says the work
should continue as planned.

"Those road projects need to continue to go on," Sampson said. 

Republican Leader Skelos says delaying the projects makes no sense, and
just keeps construction workers out of a job.

"They're hurting," Skelos said.

Governor David Paterson, who also came to the Capitol for the first time
in over a week, continued to press for his proposed tax on sugared soft
drinks, saying it will combat childhood obesity by reducing the
consumption of soda, and provide more funds for health care.

Senate Leader Sampson says the proposed soda tax is not on the table. 

Paterson rejected an idea from the Working Families Party to further tax
Wall Street bonuses, saying there isn't enough money there anymore. He
says bonuses are smaller and many are now paid in non taxable stocks. 

The governor says he's working on another bare bones budget extender to
take the state through the middle of April. He says by issuing austerity
spending plans, he hopes legislators get the message that the state is
out of money and that business as usual cannot continue. 

"We're not, in a sense, giving the option that we can go on and on
without addressing this situation," said Paterson. "We have
unprecedented financial problems."

Paterson would not answer when asked whether any more meetings with
legislative leaders were planned, but did say he thought "excuses and
distractions" are only making the budget later. 

 

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wxxi/news.newsmain/article/1/0/1633676
/WXXI.Local.Stories/Paterson.to.Issue.Second.Budget.Extender 

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