ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York’s Legislature, once determined to be the most dysfunctional in the nation, has passed a historically difficult budget on time amid the heckling of protesters.
Early Thursday, the Assembly passed its final budget bills in the $132.5 billion budget that cuts spending 2 percent. The Republican-led Senate had completed it bills before midnight.
“Yes, there’s pain,” said Sen. Hugh Farley, a Schenectady County Republican, acknowledging the chanting on four floors of the Capitol. “But there’s pain for everybody. We are solving a huge problem, and we are bringing back New York state to the Empire State again.”
Final negotiations and delays in printing the bills made for a tense night as lawmakers worked through the snags and raced to adopt the budget by midnight Wednesday. It is just the fourth adopted by the annual April 1 deadline since 1983.
The budget would eliminate a $10 billion deficit caused by years of overspending, overtaxing and overdependence on Wall Street. Through negotiations with the Legislature, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed budget increased about $250 million but was offset by equal reductions that left record cuts to schools, public universities and health care for the poor.
Late Wednesday night, lawmakers and Cuomo agreed on how to divide $230 million in restorations of base operating aid for school districts. Under that agreement, New York City schools will get $51 million, Long Island schools will get $45 million and upstate schools will get $134 million.
The statewide cut in school aid remains historic at $697 million.
The budget contains no tax increases or significant borrowing.
Public school teachers, college instructors, students, New York City renters and health care advocates were among the protesters. One protester was arrested after state police said he hit a legislative staffer with a cymbal. The staffer wasn’t injured. The protester, whose name wasn’t available, was charged with misdemeanor possession of a weapon and harassment, a violation, said Maj. William Sprague.
In anticipation of the protests, the Legislature closed some public areas in the Capitol in what may be the first significant effort to limit public access in 30 years.
The Senate lobby and one of two public galleries were closed. The Senate’s Republican majority said the gallery was closed because its metal detector broke, apparently within the last few days. The Assembly’s Democratic majority closed its upper public gallery, saying it was necessary to consolidate limited security staff.
Instead, protesters roamed the halls of the Capitol.
“Our house! Our money!” protesters chanted. “They say cutback, we say fight back!”
Some carried signs that said, “Eat the rich!” It was one of many attacks on the failure to adopt the Assembly proposal to charge millionaires an income tax surcharge that could ease or eliminate cuts. Cuomo and Senate Republicans said it was a job killer.
