Spitzer says $575 million budget surplus might go toward health care, reserves

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) during a news conference on Monday said that some of the additional $575 million in state revenue expected next year likely will be spent on health care and placed in reserves, the Albany Times-Union reports.

The additional revenue, primarily from income taxes, is more than Spitzer expected when he released his fiscal year 2008 state budget proposal in January.

Spitzer said, "We have a negotiation that reached a consensus figure of $575 million of additional revenues that we can use; it doesn't necessarily mean we spend it."

Spitzer added that some of the funds could be placed in reserves, which he called "probably too thin."

He said, "To the extent that we use some of it, and we probably will and should, in health care, it must be pursuant to" priorities outlined in his budget proposal, including "prevention, detection, research and smart public policy that focuses on patients, not institutions."

Spitzer made his comments as hospital, nursing home and health care labor lobbyists call for the state Legislature to reject the proposed budget (Albany Times Union, 3/6).