<!--Mark Scheer--><table width="234" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" background="http://static.cnhi.zope.net/flashpromo/niagaragazette/images/byline_234x60.jpg" height="60"><tr><td><div align="center"><font size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By Mark Scheer</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></font><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="mailto:mark.scheer@niagara-gazette.com">mark.scheer@niagara-gazette.com</a></font></div></td></tr></table>
Get moving.
That was the message Gov. David Paterson had for state lawmakers when asked about New York’s financial situation during a stop Monday morning at a plant in Niagara Falls.
Paterson, who has been prodding members of the Legislature to come up with a plan to address the state’s $3.2 billion deficit, said he would require lawmakers to stay in Albany over the Thanksgiving weekend if he felt it necessary to get something accomplished.
“Whatever it takes to make this process work, I will consider,” Paterson said during a visit to the newly re-opened Globe Specialty Metals plant on Highland Avenue.
Paterson sent a letter to members of the state Assembly and Senate over the weekend urging them to make cuts in education and health care to help reduce the state’s deficit. The letter came in the wake of a Nov. 19 report from Moody’s Financial Service, one of the financial organizations that sets the state’s bond rating. Moody’s has warned that if the state does not address its financial crisis, it runs the risk of having its bond rating lowered, a situation that would result in it paying higher interests rates. The news comes as state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli submitted a report of his own, saying at its present course the state may not have enough cash to meet its financial obligations by mid-December.
On Monday Paterson said it is incumbent upon members of both legislative houses to grasp the dire nature of the situation, set aside their reluctance to make cuts to schools and health care facilities and do what is necessary to avoid bigger problems by year’s end. At this point, Paterson said “every day counts.”
“Every day costs us money,” he said. “It’s not an actual day that you fall off the cliff. It’s more like you’re rolling off the cliff because everyday we are delaying our payments and bringing us closer to that day that day of reckoning when the state becomes insolvent.”
State Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte, D-Lewiston, attended Monday’s event at Globe. Following the announcement over the silicon manufacturing company’s plans to expand into the development of materials for the solar panel industry, DelMonte said she and other lawmakers understand the governor’s message and how desperate the situation has become. The challenge, she said, is finding the proper solutions to make the cuts as palatable as possible. DelMonte headed back to Albany following Monday’s press conference.
“Obviously, everything is on the table,” she said. “We have to work with every program, every service.”
