Newsday

Legislature overturns 119 vetoes to enact $93B budget hiking taxes, aid to schools
By Jordan Rau and Andrew Metz

Albany - A rare bipartisan alliance in the State Legislature yesterday overrode
Gov. George Pataki's 119 budget vetoes, imposing new income and sales taxes and
providing school districts $1.1 billion more than the governor proposed.

It was the first time in 21 years that a New York governor's fiscal plan has
been entirely superseded by state lawmakers. Yet shortly afterward, Pataki also
vetoed a legislative aid package that would allow New York City to raise its own
income and sales taxes to stave off financial ruin.

"We rescued the taxpayers of this state," said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver
(D-Manhattan). "I know many are celebrating this moment, but I just want to
repeat, it didn't have to happen. We did everything possible to negotiate with
the governor. He chose to be out on his own."

Calling it "a sad day for New Yorkers," Pataki acknowledged that the $93 billion
spending plan was now the official state budget. "Instead of putting this
financial crisis behind us, as my budget would have done, this makes the
financial crisis worse going forward," he said.

Legislative leaders urged Pataki to accept defeat and re-establish a working
relationship with them. "It is time to move on, to heal some of whatever the
hurt is that is there," said Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Brunswick).
"Now it is up to the governor to just move forward and look forward."

What comes next is unclear. The one-quarter percent sales tax increase is
scheduled to go into effect June 1, but Pataki aides say it may not be possible
to implement it on time. The income tax surcharge - on individuals making more
than $100,000 a year and married couples earning above $150,000 annually - is
retroactive to the beginning of the year, but that, too, requires complicated
administrative steps.

Pataki says both were unconstitutionally enacted, and he has an array of options
to try to block them. He is considering suing the Legislature on the grounds it
has overstepped its authority. And he did not rule out refusing to administer
the state spending plan, up to and including declining to collect the new taxes.

Any of those moves could force the Court of Appeals to adjudicate a
constitutional crisis; cases on similar legal disputes from 1998 and 2001 have
yet to make it to the state's highest court, though most of the lower court
rulings have favored Pataki.

One certainty is that school districts will be receiving the $14.4 billion aid
package designed by the Legislature. Pataki said he would release that money,
although he maintains it is a "false promise" that the state cannot afford.

It was an embarrassingly lopsided defeat. The overrides passed unanimously in
the Republican-led Senate; and as many as 12 of the 47 GOP Assembly members -
including several from Nassau - broke with Pataki to join the 102 lawmakers in
the Democratic majority on restoring school aid.

"We wanted to support the governor, but we couldn't do it in the face of real
property tax increases that would have gone through the roof," said Assemb.
Robert Barra (R-Valley Stream).

Only 35 of the 212 members of the Legislature consistently stuck with Pataki.
"We are seeing the fruits of a broken, dysfunctional system," said Assemb.
Thomas Barraga (R-West Islip).

Even before he issued his city veto, Pataki aggressively lobbied lawmakers to
adopt his alternative bailout plan, which would substitute 4,500 video slot
machines for the tax increases as the major revenue raiser. But he appeared to
have made little headway, and legislative officials said they would go ahead
Monday with a final override vote.