Cuomo's budget challenges for 2012-13

Funding issues addressed in Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's proposed 2012-2013 budget include:

TRANSPORTATION

MTA funding restored

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's budget spared the Metropolitan Transportation Authority from any cuts and restored funding it was in danger of losing.

Cuomo last month amended the MTA Payroll Mobility Tax to exempt small business owners in the state -- a move that threatened to cost the agency $250 million annually. In his executive budget released Tuesday, Cuomo set aside $250 million generated from his tax-reform legislation to make up for the lost revenue.

"The MTA greatly appreciates the governor's continued support," agency spokesman Kevin Ortiz said.

The budget also includes $770 million in new state funding toward the MTA's capital plan, which calls for major infrastructure projects, including its East Side Access plan to link the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal, through 2014.

Cuomo's budget also allows the MTA to increase the amount of money it can borrow by $7 billion from the current limit of around $40 billion.

The budget also includes $1.16 billion in new funding for repair and maintenance of roads and bridges in the state.

-- Alfonso A. Castillo

ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT

Parks funds added

Cuomo generally holds the line on state agency budgets relating to energy and the environment, and looks to private funding and tax credits to carry out a $2 billion plan for a new "energy highway" from upstate energy sources with downstate markets.

Jerry Kremer, chairman of New York Affordable Reliable Energy Alliance, an industry group, said the energy highway "has a long way to go, but you have to start somewhere."

Environmental groups applauded Cuomo's decision to maintain the state Environmental Protection Fund at $134 million, and welcomed the allocation of $94 million for rehabilitation of state parks and historic sites.

"It's going to allow the state to reverse decades of under-investment to the state parks, which has led to a system that's in disrepair," said Eileen Larrabee, associate director of the Alliance for New York State Parks.

The budget for the state Department of Environmental Conservation, excluding a federal infrastructure grant of $160 million in last year's budget, remained steady at about $872.9 million. "To see the DEC won't be slashed and burned is a relief," said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment.

The budget also includes $102 million in new funding for flood control, coastal erosion and dam safety projects.

-- Mark Harrington

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Development grants continue

Cuomo's budget continues a competition for businesses and developers to vie for $1 billion in state tax credits and grants. Projects in Nassau and Suffolk counties secured $101.6 million in last year's contest.

In releasing his budget, Cuomo vowed to tackle unemployment by spending more than $1 billion to repair roads, bridges, sewers and state parks.

James Pratt III, chairman of the contracting company Pratt Brothers Inc. in Bay Shore, praised the governor's spending priorities and urged lawmakers "to ensure that the traditional regional funding allocations are honored so that Long Island receives its fair share."

Under Cuomo's plan, Empire State Development Corp., the state's principal business aid organization, would see its appropriation more than double to $741.8 million from this year's $259.6 million. The increase is due to building projects in Albany, Buffalo and for SUNY, among others.

Other agencies, such as the departments of Labor, Financial Services and Agriculture, are in line for modest reductions year over year.

Still, the spending plan "is good news ... as it doesn't raise taxes and holds the line on spending," said Kevin Law, president of the Long Island Association business organization.

-- James T. Madore

HEALTH CARE

Tobacco programs cut

The proposed budget cuts the state's tobacco prevention and control programs by $5 million, down to $34 million, drawing criticism from the American Heart Association, which wants the funding to increase.

"Heart disease remains the number one killer of New Yorkers and places massive strains on our economy," Julianne Hart, government relations director for the association, said in a statement.

Cuomo's budget centralizes the administration of an early intervention program that provides services to disabled children younger than 3 and requires health insurance companies to cover the service in their networks.

The budget also establishes a health care exchange where employers and individuals could purchase health insurance.

The exchange, required under 2010 federal health care reform laws, , would allow 1 million uninsured New Yorkers to obtain health insurance. It would be financed by the federal government, Cuomo said. A bill the Assembly passed last year to create an exchange was not brought to a vote in the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) said the exchange creation would be reviewed. "This is not something that has to happen immediately," Skelos said.

Cuomo's budget also calls for an electronic system for death records be created in partnership with the funeral industry to modernize death registrations.

-- Ted Phillips

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Police recruiting restored

New York State Police would begin training recruits after a three-year hiatus.

Funding for the agency would hold, at near $720 million with two training classes for as many as 230 new recruits. That would keep the force at 4,458 officers, down almost 10 percent from the peak in 2009.

For law enforcement overall, the administration proposes $4.6 billion, essentially unchanged, and advances the governor's proposal to require DNA testing of everyone convicted of any felony or penal misdemeanor. It now applies to all penal felonies and 36 misdemeanors.

Cuomo's budget increases the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services budget by $68 million, or 13 percent, to $586 million. More grants to counties are expected to help develop a single public safety communications network.

-- The Associated Press