Albany poised for rare early budget

ALBANY - It's like 1983 again at the state Capitol.

Lawmakers started taking up budget bills on Tuesday night and hoped to finish all 14 pieces of legislation by Wednesday night - giving New York its first early budget in nearly three decades.

"We're going to pass it early," Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Nassau) vowed.

Skelos and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) both expressed optimism over completing the budget after officials earlier in the day had suggested the process might stretch into Thursday.

"I don't want the Legislature or the governor to be bogged down in stuff that should not be delaying the budget," Skelos said.

The last time a state budget was finished before the March 31 deadline was 1983, when Gov. Cuomo's dad, Mario, was in his first year in office.

That $31.5 billion spending plan called for $1 billion in tax hikes and 11,000 layoffs. It also contained $150 million for new prisons.

By contrast, the $132.5 billion current budget deal closes a $10 billion deficit without any new broad-based taxes. It also seeks to close as many as six state prisons.

"We appreciate the Legislature's swift efforts and commitment to passing this transformational budget plan," said Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto.

Lawmakers began debating the first portions of the budget even as the language of other, more critical measures - including spending for education and health care - was still being negotiated and printed.

Watchdogs warned that lawmakers, let alone the public, would have little chance to read the bills before they're adopted.

"By Albany standards, it is open, but it is not an open process," said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group.

gblain@nydailynews.com

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