LI business leaders to back pension reform

Long Island business leaders were scared silly by an independent budget panel that Tuesday forecast a $530-million deficit for Suffolk through 2013.

The leaders plan a rally Wednesday to support Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's proposal to reform pensions.

In a news release, the leaders called the report "grim," adding, "One of the biggest drivers of the budget shortfall is the unbridled increase in pension costs."

Sheldon Sackstein, Hauppauge Industrial Association founder Jack Kulka, Long Island Builders' Institute CEO Mitch Pally and Long Island Business Council chairman Bob Fonti will be at the HIA's office in Hauppauge at 10 a.m.