NEW YORK LAWMAKERS WILL CUT THEIR SPENDING TOO

Rochester, N.Y.--  As a pissed-off electorate waits anxiously for fiscal sanity and while Gov. Andrew Cuomo calls for a new era of spending restraint, both houses of the state Legislature are vowing to make cuts to their operating budgets, which have been steadily growing for several years.

The Republican-led Senate will submit a budget bill aimed at reducing spending from the current fiscal year by about 10 percent.

And the Democratic-ruled Assembly plans to re-submit a budget bill that includes a reduction in internal spending, but it remains unclear how much money will be cut.

Republicans, who regained a 32-to-30 majority in the Senate after Democrats held power for two years, plan to spend $91.9 million.

Spending in the Senate is expected to top $100 million by the end of the current 2010-11 fiscal year, which is March 31.

"Just like families are doing all across this state, we are going to do more with less," said Senate Republican spokesman Scott Reif. "We expect to spend 10 percent less than Democrats spent when they were in the majority."

The 150-member Assembly, which is on track to spend $102.3 million this fiscal year, anticipated spending the same amount in the coming 2011-12 fiscal year, according to budget documents.

But now Assembly officials said they plan to cut spending.

"After the governor made his budget presentation, we will be making additional reductions in the final budget," said Sisa Moyo, a spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan. "We had already come out with no increase and we're working additional reductions."

The legislative budgets for the Assembly and Senate cover expenses that includes staff salaries, official vehicle usage and office supplies.

Cuomo, a Democrat, submitted a $132.9 billion spending plan that cuts 2.3 percent from last year's budget. The proposal, which legislators have until April 1 to approve, relies on cuts to health care and education aid to close a $9 or $10 billion dollar deficit.

He is also seeking across-the-board cuts of 10 percent to state agencies and $450 million in concessions from public employees.

Republicans in the Senate claim the former Democratic majority overspent its budget by about $14 million. The Senate shed about 130 jobs in January, which were mostly Democratic hires.

Sen. Thomas Libous, R-Binghamton, said the Democratic conference needs to reduce its payroll by an additional 42 percent by March 3 to meet a $15.2 million budget for the Democratic conference.

"We've made significant payroll reductions to bring spending down to appropriate levels and further reductions are ongoing," said Austin Shafran, a spokesman for Senate Democrats.

The GOP already knocked down the total payroll of the Democrats this year from $41 million to $28 million.

Democrats have blamed the excess spending on the result of the leadership coup of 2009, when two lawmakers switched parties for one month and action in the chamber ground to a standstill.

After the legislators returned to the Democratic fold, they were given extra staff, raising the overall cost.

Republicans were also given an increase in their payroll budget as a result of the coup, from $18.5 million to $23 million.

New York has one of the most expensive legislatures in the country, trailing only California and Pennsylvania for overall cost.