By NICK REISMAN
Gannett Albany Bureau
ALBANY -- State lawmakers are vowing to do more with less.
As Gov. Andrew Cuomo calls for a new era of fiscal restraint, both houses of the state Legislature are vowing to make cuts to their operating budgets, which have been steadily growing over the last 15 years.
The Republican-led Senate will submit a budget bill aimed at reducing spending from the current fiscal year by about 10 percent.
And the Democratic-ruled Assembly plans to re-submit a budget bill that includes a reduction in internal spending, but it remains unclear how much money will be cut.
Republicans, who regained a one-seat, 32-30 majority in Senate after Democrats held power for two years, plan to spend $91.9 million. Spending in the Senate is expected to top $100 million by the end of the current 2010-11 fiscal year, which is March 31.
"Just like families are doing all across this state, we are going to do more with less," said Senate Republican spokesman Scott Reif. "We expect to spend 10 percent less than Democrats spent when they were in the majority."
The 150-member Assembly, which is on track to spend $102.3 million this fiscal year, anticipated spending the same amount in the coming 2011-12 fiscal year, according to budget documents.
But now Assembly officials said they plan to cut spending.
"After the governor made his budget presentation, we will be making additional reductions in the final budget," said Sisa Moyo, a spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan. "We had already come out with no increase and we're working additional reductions."
The legislative budgets for the Assembly and Senate cover expenses that includes staff salaries, official vehicle usage and office supplies.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, submitted a $132.9 billion spending plan that cuts 2.3 percent off of last year's budget. The proposal, which legislators have until April 1 to approve, relies on cuts to health care and education aid in order to close a $10 billion deficit.
He is also seeking across-the-board cuts of 10 percent to state agencies and $450 million in concessions from public employees.
Republicans in the Senate claim the former Democratic majority over spent their budget by about $14 million. The Senate shed about 130 jobs in January, which were mostly Democratic hires.
Sen. Thomas Libous, R-Binghamton, said the Democratic conferences needs to reduce their payroll by an additional 42 percent by March 3 in order to meet a $15.2 million budget for the Democratic conference.
"We've made significant payroll reductions to bring spending down appropriate levels and further reductions are ongoing," said Austin Shafran, a Senate Democrats spokesman.
The GOP already knocked down the total payroll of the Democrats this year from $41 million to $28 million.
Democrats have blamed the excess spending on the result of the leadership coup of 2009, when two lawmakers switched parties for one month and put action in the chamber at a standstill.
After the legislators returned to the Democratic fold, they were given extra staff, raising the overall cost.
Republicans were also given an increase in their payroll budget as a result of the coup, from $18.5 million to $23 million.
Susan Lerner, of the advocacy group Common Cause New York, said that despite the cuts, it's unlikely that constituents are getting the best bang for their tax dollar.
"There have been layers of largesse, numbers of parking spaces, the TV studios, the printing plants, photo studios and it's all on the public's dime," Lerner said. "What is being done to look at those perks in a revenue shortfall situation? There's a lot of fat to cut in this budget."
A report by Gannett's Albany Bureau last year found that the cost of running the 212-member Legislature went up 182 percent in the past 30 years, while inflation went up 164 percent in the same period.
New York has one of the most expensive legislatures in the country, trailing only California and Pennsylvania for overall cost.