Legislative leaders have agreed to spend $1.9 billion more in 2003-2004 than Governor Pataki has proposed. They have not specified how they would pay for it, but a number of tax-increase proposals are reported under consideration.

The new spending would mainly be in education, health care, and higher education, a release from the Senate majority said. The details will be negotiated over the next 10 days with the goal of having the Legislature consider a full budget when it returns to Albany after a break of approximately 10 days.

"The leaders expressed their belief that they are addressing the urgent needs of the people of New York State and hope that the Governor would join them in this process before a final budget is concluded," the release said.

A final budget should also include agreement on additional revenue assistance for New York City "to address critical budget needs identified by Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council," the release said.

The Buffalo News, citing legislative sources, said new spending would include $700 million for public schools, $225 million for higher education programs, and $750 million for health care programs such as Medicaid. Other new funds would make pork-barrel spending possible, the report added.

Spokesmen for the Pataki administration criticized the announcement.

"It's outrageous that while the state is facing an $11.5 billion shortfall, the Legislature would propose nearly $2 billion in massive spending increases while refusing to say what they would spend the money on or how they intend to pay for it," a spokesman for the Governor told the Buffalo News.

The agreement further increases the possibility that the Legislature will approve a budget without the involvement of the Governor in the negotiations, challenging him to veto the extra spending and raising the possibility of a legislative override of such a veto.

The agreement to increase spending and, in all likelihood, increase taxes comes amid strong evidence from polls showing that New Yorkers prefer reduced government activity to higher taxes.

Several recent polls of New Yorkers show that the ongoing high-profile efforts of tax-and-spend advocates are not convincing New Yorkers that higher taxes are a good idea.

• A Marist College poll shows that 55 percent of New Yorkers think New York should close its state budget gap by cutting state jobs (35 percent) or cutting services (20 percent)-while only 38 percent want to close the state budget gap by raising taxes.
  
  
• A poll of Central New Yorkers by the Syracuse Post-Standard asked respondents to choose between "tax increases with spending cuts" or "spending cuts only" to close the gap. As the paper noted in a March 30 editorial, nearly half-49.4 percent-preferred "spending cuts only"; 40.4 percent picked tax increases with spending cuts."
  
  
• A December poll by Quinnipiac College showed that New Yorkers by a significant margin prefer cuts in government to higher taxes. More than half of New Yorkers polled (52 percent) said the state should cut services to balance the budget, the poll showed. In contrast, only 34 percent of responding New Yorkers said the state should raise taxes.
  
  That poll had asked if respondents preferred "raising taxes to keep state services at their current level or cutting state services to keep taxes at their current level?" The poll did not include questions about reducing taxes or cutting costs by making government more efficient.