FYI: Governor Pataki’s budget proposal pleased almost no one yesterday. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver dismissed it outright; Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno said the cuts were too severe. Pataki offered Mayor Bloomberg a fraction of the aid he’d asked for. The plan actually cuts $450 million in education aid and $150 million in welfare money for the city–and offers none of the commuter taxes and tolls Bloomberg has floated. Pataki’s proposed $1.2 billion cut to Medicaid, including raising the share of outpatient and clinic costs counties must pay from 25 percent to 37 percent, are also expected to hit New York City hardest. Outside of the city, Pataki’s higher education cuts, including a 15 percent decrease for community colleges and a $1,200 SUNY tuition hike, bothered even Bruno. While state workers’ unions complained that the 5,000 jobs Pataki wants cut, which may include 1,500 layoffs, don’t include the rash of layoffs his education and health care cuts are likely to prompt at the local level. Housing advocates, however, praised the proposal’s $80 million plan for new housing to replace the troubled adult home system. And AIDS lobbyists hailed new funding for ADAP, while criticizing $6 million in cuts to other AIDS programs. Read the text of the governor’s speech. [1/30/03]