Legislature goes home with state budget undone

ALBANY - It is unclear when the $136-billion state budget will be completed because one house of the legislature went home Thursday without taking up a bill raising taxes to pay for the previously approved spending.

State Senate chief John Sampson (D-Brooklyn) ordered an adjournment while he attempts again to reach a compromise with Gov. David A. Paterson and the Assembly speaker on thorny budget issues. Sampson said senators would return to the Capitol once there is a deal on a contingency plan in case New York doesn't receive a promised $1 billion in Medicaid funds from Washington.

Sampson declined to say when the Senate would reconvene, though top aides said it was unlikely to be next week because of vacations and the looming deadline to collect signatures on petitions to secure ballot lines for re-election in the fall.

"I feel the budget is passed," Sampson told reporters. "Government will continue to operate. There is the revenue piece, which we will deal with in a relatively short time frame."

Other state officials from both political parties disagreed, saying the Senate's inaction had left New York without a completed budget. The revenue bill raises about $1 billion by suspending temporarily the sales-tax exemption on clothing and shoe purchases under $110 and ending in 2011-12 the STAR property-tax exemption for homeowners earning more than $500,000 per year, among other actions.

"In the face of fiscal uncertainty, New Yorkers need action," said Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, a Democrat. "Stay in Albany and get the job done."

Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) agreed, saying Democrats "have increased spending dramatically and now they refuse to do the revenue side, so you have a phony budget."

In the Assembly, the final budget bill passed 88-56 after three hours of debate. The lower chamber adjourned at 11:53 last night.

While state government won't shut down, aides to DiNapoli said the delay in lawmakers' approving the tax increases meant less money would be collected and a cash crunch could develop in March. The budget is 93 days late, surpassing all but five of the past 25 budgets.

However, Sampson Thursday insisted that postponing final passage of the budget was fiscally responsible. If Congress doesn't approve the additional Medicaid money, he said, New York would have a new, $1-billion deficit that would require more spending cuts later this year. "A responsible budget means having a responsible backup plan," he said, though days earlier he downplayed the need for a plan.

Sampson also denied he lacked the votes to pass the budget bill.

Meanwhile, Paterson spent Thursday vetoing 6,900 spending items in the legislative budget bills adopted Monday. The process was broadcast live on the Internet and by last night, he had completed 4,700 of the vetoes. With Michael Amon