Andrew Cuomo Reform education

ALBANY — Inside the Capitol, lawmakers and advocates on Tuesday will begin poring over the tens of billions of dollars in Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposed state budget.
But across the street in City Hall, all eyes will be on about 0.005 percent of it — or $7.85 million — that will make or break city finances this year.
Cuomo's promise of the money, announced by Mayor Jerry Jennings in October when he unveiled his own 2012 budget, provided a key bridge that enabled the city to balance its books without either a property tax increase for homeowners or a second consecutive year of steep job and program cuts while at the same time giving raises to some workers who had gone three years without them.
On Monday, a Jennings administration official said the mayor and his aides "still feel confident" that the money will be in the governor's budget, even if some details, like how it will be repaid, are not yet clear.
The stakes are indisputably high: Jennings' budget also projected using more than half of the city's reserves, with not enough left behind to fill the gap should the state not come through.
Jennings' initial plan floated in 2010 on the eve of Gov. David Paterson's final budget asked for a five-year, nearly $40 million advance on the state's 33-year agreement to make payments in lieu of taxes to the city on the Empire State Plaza.


Cuomo also would not say whether a Tier VI pension package was included in the budget. Cuomo did, however, say the state's pension system is in dire need of reform.
Last year, Cuomo pushed hard for a Tier VI plan that failed to pass through the Legislature.
"It's hard to reform a pension system," Cuomo said. "It affects many employees, many powerful public employee unions and politically it's difficult to get legislators to do this."
He said cutting the taxpayer burden to pay for what he called "unsustainable" state and local government costs for public pensions is essential.
"It's hard to reform a pension system," he said. "It affects many public employees, very powerful public employee unions and, politically, it's hard to get the Legislature to do."
Though Cuomo refused to say whether the proposed budget would decrease spending for the second consecutive year, he said the state's finances were in better shape this year than in 2011.
"The work we did last year will pay dividends this year," Cuomo said. "Last year, from just a budget point of view, where we had a true crisis — we had a $10 billion deficit. We had chaos.
"We have a much better budget situation on the numbers, we have a better working environment and I think a lot of the management changes we made last year have redounded to our benefit."
Cuomo would not speculate on whether he would use emergency spending bills to push through his budget if it faces opposition in the Legislature.