Reports Circulate That Legislative Pay Raise May Be Part of Budget Deal

ALBANY – Reports are circulating among state officials that a legislative pay raise may be on the table as part of the final negotiations of a budget deal between lawmakers and Governor Pataki.Officials are privately discussing the possibility of Mr. Pataki supporting a pay raise for lawmakers in exchange for their support for lifting the cap on charter schools in the state.The deal would be similar to an agreement made between the governor and lawmakers in 1998, when Mr. Pataki agreed to support a 38% legislative pay raise and the Senate and the Assembly allowed both the State University of New York and the Board of Regents to issue 50 charters for schools.Lawmakers have not received a pay raise since then, and both educational bodies have reached their allotted charter caps, leading some officials to suspect that another deal is in the offing.Lawmakers interviewed, however, said they do not intend to give themselves raises, though such increases typically happen between Election Day in November and Christmas. Their salaries currently stand at just less than $80,000.Mr. Pataki in his executive budget called for the creation of an additional 200 charter schools, 50 of which would be authorized in New York City.The Democratic Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, has opposed the measure and the Senate’s majority leader, Joseph Bruno, said the charter school issue should be settled after the budget is settled. The budget that lawmakers submitted to the governor last week rejected Mr. Pataki’s measure to lift the cap.The governor’s budget office refused to comment on the specifics of budget negotiations. By next week, Mr. Pataki must decide whether to veto portions of the budget or allow it to become law.Lawmakers interviewed yesterday said they did not think that pay raises have entered into negotiations but said the governor was pushing hard for the approval of more charter schools.Another possibility of a deal on charter schools could tie in with the Legislature’s plan to give New Yorkers property tax rebates.Mr. Pataki’s office has raised constitutional questions about the plan, accusing lawmakers of illegally tampering with the language on the governor’s own property tax rebate measure, under which only those schools districts that control spending would be eligible for the rebates. The Senate and the Assembly deleted that restriction in their budget.Conceivably, Mr. Pataki could resubmit legislation identical to what was approved by lawmakers to avoid a legal showdown between the executive and legislative branches.

Reports Circulate That Legislative Pay Raise May Be Part of Budget Deal

Reports Circulate That Legislative Pay Raise May Be Part of Budget Deal

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