Idea of Cuts to Health Care and Education Causes a Stir

Hospital advocacy groups and public employees unions have a message for Gov. David A. Paterson: Not so fast.

Following Mr. Paterson’s comments over the weekend that he would most likely ask for deep cuts in money for schools and Medicaid, and might even try to renegotiate labor contracts, the groups that would bear the brunt of those losses pushed back forcefully on Monday.

The president of the state’s largest union of public workers, the Civil Service Employees Association, flatly rejected the idea of reopening union contracts — a move that would allow the state to renegotiate wages and benefits that are less costly.

The union’s president, Danny Donohue, said Mr. Paterson’s suggestion was counterproductive. “The governor knows, or should know, that reopening contracts is not acceptable to C.S.E.A.,” Mr. Donohue said in a written statement. “Any serious businessperson knows that a contract is a contract.”

Randi Weingarten, head of New York City’s public school teachers’ union, the United Federation of Teachers, warned that cutting financing midyear threatened chaos for districts that have already budgeted for the current school year.

“When you do something midyear, you destabilize the entire school system,” Ms. Weingarten said. “Budget cuts next year are bad enough. But at least you’ve planned for them.”

Hospital groups, which said they were still trying to manage the effects of the reductions approved by the Legislature in August, said they would resist further cuts unless there was a sense of shared sacrifice.

“We will fight in an animated and energetic way if somehow health care is being targeted, because lives are at stake here,” said Kenneth E. Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association, a group that lobbies on behalf of hospitals. “If everybody’s pitching in, then we’ll try to pitch in.”

And some suggested that it would be premature to start cutting so deeply now when it was not known yet if Congress would pass a financial stimulus package that included assistance for the states.

“We’re two months away from a new administration coming to Washington in which there’s a clear indication that they intend to help,” said Daniel Sisto, president of the Healthcare Association of New York State.

As resistant as teachers unions and hospital groups might be to having their budgets trimmed, plugging the expected $1.5 billion budget deficit without their help would be virtually impossible. Financing for health care and education represents the two largest items in the state’s budget.

That reality seems to have sunken in with some. Some union leaders and health care officials said they could not assume that any area of the budget would be untouchable when the Legislature convenes for a special session on Nov. 18 to try to close the deficit.

“We’re in a very serious situation,” Ms. Weingarten said. “I think that lots of things have to be looked at this time.”

Added Mr. Sisto: “Certainly everybody recognizes this is a massive problem and that all sectors have to participate in solving it.”

The targets of Mr. Paterson’s proposed cuts have ideas of their own about how they would like to see the budget gap closed. Two of the most commonly cited fiscal solutions are tapping into the state’s $1.2 billion reserve and raising income taxes on the state’s highest earners.

“Where’s the personal income tax? Where’s the rainy-day fund? Where’s education? What’s being done about medical malpractice to lower our cost of business?” Mr. Raske said.

As of now, the governor is unwilling to go along with some of the fixes that others are suggesting. He has said he is opposed to tapping the rainy-day reserves. He has also said he would not support a tax increase.

Mr. Paterson also faced criticism that his budget office had not adequately planned for the shortfall and did not have a solid approach to solving it. Some noted that the governor had already called the Legislature back in August to cut the budget because the state’s original projections were wrong.

“This should be done in one comprehensive manner,” Mr. Sisto said, adding that he thought the budget for the fiscal year that starts in April and the current deficit should be tackled in one session early in 2009. “I would like to take a closer look at their projections for 2009-10 instead of acting on the figures of the week.”

Mr. Paterson’s comments that money for schools and Medicaid would likely be cut were a harsh reminder to the groups that represent teachers and hospitals that in this battered economy, their status as protected species appeared to be coming to an end.

“None of us in our adult lifetimes have seen a situation like this,” Ms. Weingarten said.