Hometown News: Albany Budget Deal Could Hurt Upstate

The state legislature has passed a plan which is intended to eliminate a one-and-a-half-billion-dollar budget deficit this year. The measure will increase fees on health insurance policies, and use money from the state university system and a low-cost hydropower program to close the gap. Not everybody thinks these are good ideas. It will likely take lawmakers and Governor Paterson a lot longer to close the deficit in next year's budget, which is estimated at over 13-billion. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is again pushing a "millionaire's tax," and other tax increases.