Newsday (Suffolk Edition) from Melville, New York • 3

NY Budget Cut in Compromise in administrative positions and salaries But the restrictions also could have an immediate political impact Along with proposals to limit school costs and to place state mandates on school programs they could oonvince a bloc of conservative Republican legislators to vote for the budget BUDGET 209 Pg 3 C-8 3 of 6 Mach 11 McB The Conservative bloc has called for more cuts possibly enough to avoid a hike in any tax Hie bloc consists of five senators and seven assemblymen enough to prevent passage of the budget in either House unless GOP leaders can persuade some Democrats to support the Republican package The conservatives are led by Sen John Hughes of Syracuse and include most of the Syracuse-area Republicans Behind them apparently is Stephen Rogers publisher of the very conservative Syracuse newspapers The papers have repeatedly urged legislators from that area to prevent any tax increases The power of the newspapers waa illustrated in 1966 when their editorials were credited with defeating a popular Republican assemblyman who had voted for the first sales tax Sometime yesterday one of private planes picked up Rogers in Syracuse flew him to Albany for a private luncheon meeting with the governor and then took him home Today' Rogers was to meet with the Syracuse area legislators after which they were expected to announce whether they Continued on Page 8 NY Delays Paying Bills Fund shortage also holds up thousands of tax refunds rBy Jon Margolis Newsday Albany Bureau Albany The Republican majority of the Legisla- ture was to be presented today with a revised state budget which has been cut deeply by about $700-000000 but selectively in a manner that appears to bear Gov thumb imprint Even with the cuts however the budget that the leaders were to present today holds the line on school aid and calls for at least $400000000 in new or higher taxes Hie new money is likely to be raised an extra penny on the state sales tax higher business taxes and increased levies on cigarets and liquor with the exact amount of the increases still to be determined The state income tax apparently will not be raised Though the cuts represent the deepest slash ever made in a proposed Rockefeller budget the governor seemed to have stopped the earlier legislative effort to make across-the-board reductions in the $845 billion proposal that he- submitted Feb 1 Sources in both the Legislature and in the state administration said that the emphasis was on cutting the low-priority items altogether and keeping the more important programs going at full steam In addition the sources said Rockefeller and legislative leaders have agreed to follow the budget with new laws restricting the way in which state agencies can spend money State departments and agencies now have considerable leeway over distributing their budgets The result according to many legislators is that some departments are top-heavy with highly paid administrators Though the mechanics of the-proposed laws could not be determined yesterday a source dose to the budget-cutting process said that there would be legis- lation designed to limit the central administrative costs of departments As an example he said the new budget would "cut down on the Mental Hygiene Department without reducing the number of employes who actually help patients" If those restrictions are imposed the long-range effect could be important because the state bureaucracy has grown steadily in recent years especially By Anthony Marro Newsday Albany Bureau Albany The state is reportedly holding up payment on about $200000000 worth of bills because of a temporary shortage of money The deficiency has also led to staff shortages which have delayed the return of thousands of state income-tax refunds In addition officials in the Budget Division are planning to use $99000000 worth of bond anticipation notes in a manner that one slate government source described as "questionable" and another termed "imaginative bookkeeping to say the least" Hie funds would be used to help offset the shortage until the new state fiscal year begins Thursday A spokesman for the Budget Division denied yesterday that state agencies had been ordered to defer paying bills until after April 1 "We have to meet our obligations Slowing payments just adds to next he said Other state government sources said however that Uie state was believed to be delaying payment on about $200000000 in bills By law' the state is required to end its fiscal year with a balanced budget Because revenues have been lower than anticipated Controller Arthur Levitt a Democrat has predicted that the slate will end the fiscal year about $300-000000 short Gov Rockefeller who has also conceded that the state might end up in the red said recently that the state might have to use the so-callea stabilization to balance the budget Hie fund is built up in years when there is a revenue surplus to handle such emergencies There is only about $151000000 in the fund however A spokesman for the Budget Division said yesterday that to avoid a deficit the state has not bent Continued on Page 8 Youngsters Picket for Clean and "Snow White and the Seven But when confrontation was over Cunniff had once again demonstrated his willingness to give the public what it wants He told the pickets aged 10 to 12 that he would seek permission from the theater owner to give them a Saturday Kiddie Matinee Provided of course that it paid face it the main thing here for is to make money" Cunniff told the children most of whom go to Hiawatha Elementary School give By John Hildebrand Lake Ronkonkoma It was the ultimate confrontation in an age of confrontation Behind the swinging glass doors of the Ronkonkoma Theater was 300-pound manager Fred Cunniff self-proclaimed impresario of movies preparing to show his two features of the evening and "Animal Love" Outside were a dozen snub-nosed elementary school children with picket signs and petitions demanding a chance to see you Saturday afternoons glad but up to you kids whether keep it or "My mother says we can come every a voice replied A dozen heads nodded After meeting with Cunniff on the sidewalk outside the theater several of the children remarked that their sally against the theater seemed more fruitful than a similar one staged by their parents about four years ago In 1967 when the theater began specializing in films local housewives organized a boycott against neighboring shops in an unsuccessful attempt to bring pressure against the theater Cunniff who has such productions as "Love Men and Wanting coming up defended his line of goods on economic grounds living here is to play the sexploitation products strictly for the sex he said the theater was running regular stuff we were getting 20 or 30 people a Now he estimates the audience numbers about 250 adults they picketed and nothing said the sjiokcsman for group of young pickets 1 1-year-old Katie Smyth of 20 Peter Rd "Now liappened because going to get what Katie then handed Cunniff a sheaf of petitions seeking a Saturday matinee She said that they contained 781 signatures of local residents Earlier ths demonstrators had marched in front of the theater for about an hour with signs that said Scenes Are Out Clean Movies Are and With Up With in reference to film ratings While Katie argued that the Ronkonkoma is the only theater within walking distance of the homes her father Erank Smyth stood by quietly The only parent present Smyth said that lie and other parents had encouraged tlie demonstration Did the parents feci that a Saturday matinee would be good for them too? "Certainly it said Smyth choosing his words carefully our children able to see some good movies and it helps parents get rid of us on Saturday a 10-year-old chimed in 3 Newsday TT.