Paterson Says He’ll Suspend Pay Raises for Workers

[The Northerner]

Source: New York Times

ALBANY — Gov. David A. Paterson said on Thursday that he would unilaterally withhold scheduled pay raises for thousands of state workers because New York had too little cash to afford them.

The decision, which public employee unions are likely to challenge in court, came after union leaders refused to renegotiate a contract with the state that granted union workers a 4 percent raise beginning on April 1.

The governor and state lawmakers are struggling to close a $9 billion state budget gap and have yet to agree on a new budget, which is now more than a week overdue. A series of emergency bills, containing short-term appropriations for essential government functions, have kept the state in business since the fiscal year ended on March 31.

Mr. Paterson will suspend the raises by including no money for them in his next emergency bill, which the Legislature will probably pass in the next few days.

The governor said he had been forced to withhold billions of dollars in school aid and municipal assistance in recent months to ensure that the state did not run out of money. Some of those decisions have been challenged in court.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/09/nyregion/09budget.html