ALBANY – The battle over the state budget has come down to this: $1.1 billion.

That’s the difference between counter proposals offered yesterday by the Republican-led Senate and the Democrat-led Assembly – a small figure compared to the roughly $106 billion the state has to work with in the public negotiations that begin here this week, but a giant one in light of the multitude of interests that will be vying for a piece of the pie.

Two months after Governor Pataki unveiled his own $105.2 billion budget in January, the Assembly and the Senate offered plans of their own yesterday. Each would increase spending by at least $1 billion. All three parties have agreed in recent weeks that the state has more than $500 million extra to play with since Mr. Pataki unveiled his own spending plan January 17.

The governor’s budget was lauded by some for proposing modest changes to Medicaid and criticized by others for ignoring a court order to spend billions more on public education in New York City. Mr. Pataki’s decision to appeal that ruling has enabled legislators to craft budgets roughly within the boundaries established by him. Both chambers, however, are roundly rejecting the governor’s planned cuts in state spending on health care.

The Senate began to pass budget bills yesterday after securing from Mr. Pataki’s staff 11 changes on budgetary language. The Assembly issued a more general resolution that would enable bipartisan negotiations between the Legislature and the governor to begin in earnest this week. Serious budget negotiations have not started this early in years, causing some here to say they think lawmakers might pass a budget by the April 1 deadline for the first time since 1984.

Major hurdles remain.

The Assembly plan would remove the current tax on clothing items costing $110 or less. Mr. Pataki had proposed offering a pair two-week exemptions on purchases of clothing and footwear costing less than $250.

The Assembly’s plan would also broaden an income-tax surcharge on wealthy New Yorkers that was imposed on a temporary basis two years ago, to expire later this year. Mr. Pataki had proposed accelerating its expiration.

And the Assembly’s plan rejects increased assessments on hospitals and nursing homes that were included in the executive budget.

“Our resolution begins the process of finding real solutions to Medicaid and health care in New York State while rejecting the governor’s annual list of wrong choices,” Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Democrat of Manhattan, said at a press conference.

The governor responded to the Assembly plan by saying he is opposed to new taxes. He recommended instead saving the unexpected new revenue to restore “structural balance” to the state’s finances.

“The budget that is ultimately adopted has to be soundly balanced,” Mr. Pataki said. “I want to make sure we have reserves in excess of $1 billion.”

On education, the Assembly proposes to spend $255 million more than the governor statewide. On transportation, the Assembly is proposing to help finance the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s capital plan, along with repairs to upstate roads and bridges, with a $2.9 billion bond act, to be put to voters in a statewide referendum next fall. Of that, $1.6 billion would go to the MTA.

Total spending in the Assembly plan would be $107.1 billion, $1.9 billion more than the executive budget. The Senate is proposing to spend $106 billion, or about $800 million more than the governor’s budget. The final budget figure is likely to be somewhere in between those figures.

Like the Assembly, the Senate is proposing to reject $465 million in cuts and fees affecting hospitals and nursing homes. The Senate leadership said it would plug the hole with surplus revenue. The Senate is rejecting in its bills the governor’s proposal to cut the state’s Tuition Assistance Program and a proposed tuition increase. The Senate is also proposing to place the question of transportation borrowing before voters in November.

A budget analyst with the Empire Center for New York State Policy, E.J. McMahon, called the referendum proposals a better alternative to secretive borrowing approved by state authorities. He said the Assembly’s plan to make permanent the income tax hike on wealthy New Yorkers would be the first permanent increase in the top rate in 30 years.

“It’s essentially a by-the-book class warfare strategy,” Mr. McMahon said. “It sends the message that investment capital is not welcome here.”

Mr. Pataki, in a press conference late yesterday afternoon, criticized both legislative proposals as anti-competitive. “I think they spend too much,” he said.