Lawmakers agree on $132.6B state budget

 In a deal that left all sides declaring political victory, lawmakers Tuesday announced agreement on a $132.6 billion state budget for the 2012-13 fiscal year, in time to make the April 1 deadline.

Under the plan, the size of the budget would decline for the second straight year, something that officials say hasn't occurred in decades -- although the decrease is attributable to a decline in federal matching funds.

Lawmakers said they plan to begin voting on the budget -- which typically includes more than 10 lengthy pieces of legislation -- by Wednesday and end by Friday, two days before the start of the state's fiscal year. If all goes as planned, it would mark just the third time since 1983 that New York has adopted timely budgets in two consecutive years.

"For the second straight year, New York State has worked and created a balanced budget based on fiscal responsibility, job creation, government efficiency and the premise that we must invest in our communities," Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said.

The road to a timely agreement was paved long ago. Cuomo and legislative leaders had a handshake deal to raise school and heath care aid 4 percent a year ago. And in December, they agreed to raise taxes on high earners -- individuals earning $2 million or more annually and families earning $3 million or more. The tax hike covered the bulk of a $3 billion deficit the state faced.

By settling the typically most contentious issues ahead of time, lawmakers acknowledge that finding consensus on an overall state spending plan came easier than in previous years.

Cuomo got most of his agenda approved, including the creation of a vast infrastructure fund dubbed New York Works and a powerful new gambling commission that he will control. Cuomo called the infrastructure fund the "cornerstone" of his job-creation agenda.

Republicans who control the Senate touted the timeliness of the budget, flat spending levels and what they called a return to orderly government.

"Dysfunction has gone out the window," said Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), referring to the gridlock that marked Democrats' control of the chamber in 2009-10. "For the second year in a row, we're going to have an early budget. Spending is down from the previous year. . . . The positive to that is that we're showing we're controlling government spending and this will result in creating more private-sector jobs."

The Democrat-led Assembly said it successfully boosted housing funds and the basic welfare grant for families. The state had promised an incremental hike in welfare grants, with the final bump, 10 percent, set for 2011. But Cuomo delayed the grant last year and proposed only a 5 percent hike this year, citing the state's slow economy. Instead, families will get the 10 percent hike this year.

Both the Senate and Assembly highlighted their successful push to boost community college aid 7 percent, which will help county governments.

"The budget includes much needed increases in education spending, including an increase in base aid for community colleges for the first time in five years," said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), "and vital restorations to programs that protect our state's neediest citizens."

But not everyone crowed.

The state's largest public employee union blasted what it called Cuomo's "self-serving" job claims and the legislature's lack of stomach to fight the governor.

"New Yorkers should understand that the governor's claims of job creation are just a lot of self-congratulatory political nonsense," Danny Donohue, president of the Civil Service Employees Association said.

What's in state budget deal for LI

Some Long Island highlights of the $132.6 billion budget that state lawmakers say they will vote on this week:

12.9 percent of the overall $805 million increase in aid to schools, preserving LI's "traditional" share of education funds

21.5 percent of state transportation funding

$4 million in Nassau and Suffolk's Medicaid costs subject to state takeover, beginning in fiscal 2013-14

$1.4 million in accelerated aid payments to the City of Long Beach

$50,000 to study a redevelopment plan for land around Belmont Racetrack

$500,000 for increased staff at Stony Brook University's Advanced Energy Center

50 new red-light cameras in each county

OTHER ITEMS: permission for Suffolk Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. to seek bankruptcy protection from creditors; money for a future additional track on the Long Island Rail Road line from Farmingdale station to Ronkonkoma.