HTN: State Budget Update

As part of the new state budget, an increased tax on electric and gas companies stands to add about three dollars and 65 cents to the average household's utility bill. Advocates for low-income utility customers say the higher bills will hurt struggling families. Nearly 330-thousand residential customers were shut off for nonpayment of their bills in 2008. Budget watchdog E.J. McMahon of the conservative Empire Center for New York State Policy Institute is slamming the 132-billion dollar spending plan . McMahon predicts in two years, the budget gap, quote "will be the size of the Grand Canyon."